Bay Village: Mayor Koomar’s Ohio Public Policy Legislative Update

The Ohio Senate and House both unanimously passed emergency legislation to begin to address a myriad of issues created by the outbreak of COVID-19. House Bill 197, which originally was a tax correction measure, served as the vehicle for a large omnibus amendment. Governor Mike DeWine signed the emergency measure today. Several of the provisions of the bill are temporary and are to be effective only during the emergency period established by Executive Order 2020-01D but not later than December 1, 2020. Below are some of the highlights of the legislation.

Tax Modifications
  • Aligns the state tax filing deadline to the delayed federal deadline of July 15th.
  • Extends date for estimated payments.
  • Waives interest payments.
  • Waives the “20-day rule” under municipal income tax for employees working from home for the duration of the health emergency plus 30 days.
Education
  • Waives state testing and report cards for this academic year.
  • Freezes EdChoice eligibility at 2019-2020 levels.
  • Lifts the cap on granting credit for distance learning.
  • Permits high school seniors to graduate who were on track prior to COVID-19.
Health Care and Medicaid
  • Temporarily provides recent nursing graduates certificates to practice.
  • Permanently changes the scope of practice for certified registered nurse anesthetists.
  • Authorizes the Medicaid Director to classify certain
    • Medicaid providers as COVID-19 community providers, requests the Director of Budget and Management to designate additional funds related to the COVID-19 outbreak for Medicaid payments to COVID-19 community providers, makes payments to COVID-19 community providers, and facilitates payments to COVID-19 community providers by transferring funds to the Departments of Developmental Disabilities and Mental Health.
Public Entities
  • Members of a public body may conduct and attend hearings by means of teleconference, video conference, or any other similar electronic technology
  • Prohibits public water service disconnections.

Collection Service Suspended

Republic Industries has notified the city that the following services have been suspended due to health concerns over manual pick up. Accordingly, the yard waste pick up scheduled to start on April 14th and the bulk pick up scheduled for April 21st have been suspended. We are discussing options with Republic relative to a drop off location in the city for a day in April. Stay tuned.
Trash and recycling will continue as scheduled.

Due to the State of Ohio’s Stay-at-home Executive Order, Effective Immediately, please be advised that ALL Simple Recycling collection operations in the Cleveland market are temporarily suspended. This will remain in effect until further notice.