Interested Party Testimony on HB 372 — Ohio Municipal League, House Commerce and Labor Committee (2022)

Summary

This is interested party testimony on HB 372 to the House Commerce and Labor Committee, dated March 29, 2022, addressed to Chair Stein, Vice Chair Johnson and Ranking Member Lepore-Hagan. It closes with Kent Scarrett, Executive Director of the Ohio Municipal League. The testimony says HB 372 would require a local board of appeals to hold a hearing on an appeal of a building official's order within 72 hours, rather than the 30 days allowed in current law, and that this timeframe could negatively impact municipal boards. The League states its support for proposed amendment AM2408, which would require a municipal board of appeals to hold a hearing within five days after the request is made, and for virtual expedited hearings.

Summary drafted by a model from the document's text below and checked by script against that text before publication. It is a navigation aid, not a reading of what the document proves. Where AI is used

Full text

         TESTIMONY TO THE HOUSE COMMERCE AND LABOR COMMITTEE

                              INTERESTED PARTY TESTIMONY

                                              HB 372

                                          March 29, 2022

Chair Stein, Vice Chair Johnson, Ranking Member Lepore-Hagan, and members of the House
Commerce and Labor Committee, thank you for the opportunity to write regarding our position
on HB 372.

HB 372 would allow for expedited appeals to municipal boards of building appeals, as well as
county boards of building appeals and the Ohio Board of Building Appeals. The bill would
require that a local board of appeals must hold a hearing on an appeal of an order by a building
official within 72 hours, rather than the 30 days allowed in current law. This extremely reduced
timeframe could negatively impact the ability of municipal boards of building appeals to execute
their duties effectively.

The League is supportive of proposed amendment AM2408, which would change the
legislation’s current requirement that a local board of appeals must hold a hearing on an appeal
of an order by a building official within 72 hours. The amendment would instead require a
municipal board of appeals to hold a hearing within five days after the request is made. The
League is also supportive of the provision in the bill would allow expedited hearings to be held
virtually.

Allowing local boards of appeals five days rather than three to hold a hearing will give local
officials adequate time to do their jobs effectively, rather than mandating that they execute their
duties within an extremely reduced timeframe. This amendment will enable local officials to
effectively serve their communities within a shorter timeframe, as the original bill intended, as
well as give them greater flexibility to execute these expedited hearings virtually.

Thank you for your consideration of our position and our support of this amendment.

Sincerely,


Kent Scarrett
Executive Director
Ohio Municipal League


File and source

File

2022-03-29_commerce-labor_testimony_hb372ipomlwritten.pdf

Size

171,158 bytes

SHA-256

8ecf503f2edd66e92ce411b8e4ddd79d2d45ae0e835f08d94e9ba0eedec3a746

Our copy

2022-03-29_commerce-labor_testimony_hb372ipomlwritten.pdf

Original

No public link identified.