Hillyer House Bill 175 Heads to Governor

COLUMBUS – State Representative Brett Hillyer (R-Uhrichsville) announced today that Substitute House Bill 175 has passed out of the Ohio House of Representatives and will soon head to the desk of Governor DeWine for his signature. 

House Bill 175 strives to align the definition of ephemeral features within Ohio with federal policy. 

The Bill adds transparency to the process by requiring minutes to be taken at meetings of the Interagency Review Team and makes these meetings subject to public records law. Per the request of the Ohio EPA, they may take up to 24 months to review and adopt guidelines established by the Interagency Review Team.

The Ohio Municipal League, B&N Coal, Ohio Chamber of Commerce, Home Builders Association, Coal Association, AGC, Ohio Realtors, and the Consumer Energy Alliance among many others support this legislation. 

Furthermore, after many meetings and conversations with interested parties, the Ohio EPA has taken a neutral approach to the legislation, switching their original position of opposition. 

“House Bill 175 is an important piece of legislation that has been altered throughout the committee process to leave us with a very clean cut piece of legislation that will address the issues brought forward by constituents of mine when this process began,” said Hillyer.