The online versions of legislation provided on this website are not official. Enrolled bills are the final version passed by the Ohio General Assembly and presented to the Governor for signature. The official version of acts signed by the Governor are available from the Secretary of State's Office in the Continental Plaza, 180 East Broad St., Columbus.
|
(127th General Assembly)
(Substitute House Bill Number 129)
AN ACT
To authorize for a two-year period a pilot program
that allows the members of the Ohio Developmental
Disabilities Council, the Ohio Statewide
Independent Living Council, the Governor's Council
on People with Disabilities, and the facility
governing board and judicial advisory board that
govern or advise on the STAR Community Justice
Center in Franklin Furnace, Ohio, to be present at
board meetings by teleconference or interactive
video teleconference, and to require reports on
the effects of member participation in meetings in
this manner.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio:
SECTION 1. For a period of two years immediately following
the effective date of this act, a pilot program is hereby
authorized that allows the Ohio Developmental Disabilities
Council, the Ohio Statewide Independent Living Council, the
Governor's Council on People with Disabilities, and the facility
governing board and the judicial advisory board that are created
under section 2301.51 of the Revised Code and that are involved in
governing and advising on the STAR Community Justice Center
located in Franklin Furnace, Ohio, each to adopt a rule that
authorizes its members to be present at council or board meetings
open to the public by teleconference or interactive video
teleconference, in lieu of being present in person at those
meetings, in order to be considered present or to vote at those
meetings and for purposes of determining whether a quorum is
present at those meetings, provided that a minimum of three
members must be physically present to participate and to count
towards a quorum at those meetings, and provided further that
during the second year of the pilot program a council or board
shall hold at least one meeting at which members must be
physically present to participate and to count towards a quorum. A
council or board that desires to
allow its members to participate
in meetings in this manner shall
adopt a rule that does all of
the following:
(A) Authorize the participation of the council's or
board's
members in the pilot program;
(B)
Establish a method to authenticate the identity of a
member who
will be present at those meetings by teleconference or
interactive
video teleconference;
(C) Establish a policy regarding the distribution and
circulation of appropriate documents to the council or board
members, the public, and the media in advance of the meeting by
teleconference or interactive video teleconference.
SECTION 2. If a rule described in Section 1 of this act is
adopted by a council or either or both the facility governing
board or the judicial advisory board, the council or the Executive
Director of the STAR Community Justice Center shall each submit,
not
later than eighteen months after the effective date of this
act,
to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Minority
Leader of the House of Representatives, the President of the
Senate, and the Minority Leader of the Senate a report that
describes the effects on the operation of the council or board of
member participation in council or board meetings by
teleconference or interactive video teleconference. The report
shall describe any additional costs the council or board incurred,
and any cost savings the council or board realized, through member
participation in council or board meetings in this manner. The
report shall include a description of the notice given of each
council or board meeting held during the period of the pilot
program, an account of attendance by board members, the public,
and the media at each council or board meeting held during the
period of the pilot program, summaries or copies of comments by
the public and the media concerning council or board meetings held
by teleconference or interactive video teleconference, a copy of
the minutes and an itemized list of the costs of each meeting held
during the period of the pilot program, and an account of local
media coverage of council or board meetings held by teleconference
or interactive video teleconference.
If any of the recipients of the report determines that the
results of the pilot program described in Section 1 of this act
could be profitably applied to meetings of all public bodies or
only to public bodies whose members must travel long distances to
attend meetings of the public body, the recipient may recommend
the relevant type of legislation for introduction.
|