Latest news with #Bill6
Toronto Star
6 days ago
- Politics
- Toronto Star
Homeless encampments always trigger despair, but Ford's government is adding deep shame to the mix
Ever walk through an encampment? The hopelessness and despair you likely felt may eventually be compounded by a sense of shame in response to Bill 6, the Safer Municipalities Act. As of June 5, it gave police the authority to dismantle encampments, levy fines of up to $10,000 and threaten imprisonment for up to six months. But instead of offering a solution, Bill 6 simply shifts homelessness to an alternate location. Opinion articles are based on the author's interpretations and judgments of facts, data and events. More details
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Aloha payphones: Honolulu to remove ‘outdated' city accessories
HONOLULU (KHON2) — Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi signed a law that updates sidewalk regulations, as the city's Department of Parks and Recreation works to remove more than 100 payphones from the city. Bill 6 was introduced by Councilmember Tyler Dos Santos-Tam and eliminates long-defunct structures in city code such as freight elevators, freight chutes and more. According to the city, the targeted structures have not been used in years and are often targets of vandalism. 'No public value,' City looks to remove Hawaii payphones 'Our modern city deserves modern ordinances,' Dos Santos-Tam said. 'Each and every one of our payphones stopped working years ago, and freight chutes belong to another era. This bill is about making space to focus on the tools and technologies that serve the public today.' The DPR has worked to remove the payphones since 2024, while also working with local historians to preserve any notable elements of the old phones before they are demolished. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Ohio regulators begin House bill 6 hearings as lawmakers mull anti-corruption legislation
Aerial photograph of the OVEC-operated Kyger Creek Power Plant in Cheshire. (Getty Images.) The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio on Tuesday kicked off several weeks of hearings related the House Bill 6 scandal. The proceedings braid together three different cases tied to FirstEnergy's scheme to bribe lawmakers and regulators to bail out nuclear and coal plants. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Meanwhile in Washington, D.C., an Ohio Congresswoman wants to expand the definition of an 'official act' to ensure corrupt politicians can't wriggle out of accountability. At the same time, state lawmakers in Ohio are mulling campaign finance changes that would allow corporations and unions to make unlimited contributions to dark money groups like the ones at the center of the HB 6 scandal. The HB 6 hearings bring together almost two dozen attorneys representing utilities, consumers, and several interested parties from the energy and manufacturing industry. As part of the proceedings, each party gets a chance to cross examine witnesses. Several FirstEnergy officials who previously refused to testify citing their Fifth Amendment rights will take the stand in coming hearings. State utility regulators preparing for Ohio House Bill 6 hearing But after years in the works, the proceedings didn't exactly burst out of the gate. Attorneys sparred before starting about what evidence was admissible and the correct order of cross examination. Once the show got on the road, an auditor from Blue Ridge Consulting named Donna Mullinax took the stand to discuss a 2021 report on FirstEnergy's capital recovery rider. Utility companies in Ohio can get approval to state regulators to charge customers for investments in improving their infrastructure. The company recoups that investment by tacking a surcharge on consumers' bills known as a rider. The Blue Ridge audit dug into FirstEnergy's books to determine whether the company's expenditures were reasonable. Auditors determined that the company's 'revenue requirements calculation is not unreasonable,' but state regulators later asked for a closer look. In that expanded scope audit, Blue Ridge found more than 20 payments to organizations related to former PUCO Chairman Sam Randazzo. 'I didn't know who he was,' Mullinax told attorneys for the Ohio Consumers' Counsel. In all, the report indicated FirstEnergy funneled roughly $14.4 million to the Randazzo-connected entities, and many of those payments lacked supporting documents like a contract or purchase order. DeWine says Randazzo's ties to First Energy were well known, but the evidence of this is lacking As part of a 2021 deferred prosecution agreement, FirstEnergy acknowledged paying a $4.3 million bribe to Randazzo, identified as 'public official B,' for 'performing official action in his capacity as PUCO Chairman to further FirstEnergy Corp.'s interests.' This Friday, FirstEnergy's former Senior Vice President, Dennis Chack will testify. He's the first of six high ranking officials who used to worked at FirstEnergy who will take the stand. Chack previously pled the Fifth, but has been granted immunity from prosecution to share information relevant to the case. Last week, U.S. Rep. Emilia Sykes, D-OH, joined six other lawmakers last week introducing what they're calling their 'End Corruption Now' agenda. The proposals include a lifetime ban on members of congress lobbying and requiring members put investments in a blind trust, among others. Sykes' Closing Bribery Loopholes Act zeroes in on the definition of an 'official act.' She pointed to charges against former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, who accepted lavish gifts from a political donor. A federal district court convicted him of wire fraud among other charges and the appeals court affirmed the ruling. But in 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned his conviction. 'The court ruled that those favors did not meet the very narrow definition of an official act under federal law,' Sykes argued. 'That decision blew a hole in anti-corruption safeguards and set precedent that made it easier for public officials to sell access, influence and prestige without facing any consequences.' She explained the issue is important to her in light of Ohio's recent history; Sykes was serving in the Ohio House at the time of HB 6's passage and voted against the bill. She argued Ohio 'had a lot of work to do' in the wake of the scandal that landed former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder behind bars. Attorneys for Householder, Borges 'hopeful' following pardon for Cincinnati politician 'Unfortunately, that work has not started in the state house of Ohio,' Sykes argued, and so she's attempting to address the problem at the national level. Just two months ago, state lawmakers finally approved legislation eliminating the HB 6 rider propping up aging coal plants. More recently, the Senate's version of the state budget includes provisions allowing corporations and labor unions to make independent expenditures in political campaigns — like running ads for or against a given candidate. Unlike donating directly to a candidate's campaign, which is capped, independent expenditures have no upper limit. With the Senate's changes in place, the money FirstEnergy funneled to dark money groups controlled by Householder would be perfectly legal, so long as the expenditures were properly reported. 'Let me clear, when we allow public officials to use their power for personal gain and shield them from accountability, it undermines democracy itself,' Sykes insisted. 'This bill and the broader end corruption now agenda is about restoring public trust and ensuring that no one — no one — is above a law,' she said. 'Not a governor, not a president, not a Speaker of the House.' Follow Ohio Capital Journal Reporter Nick Evans on X or on Bluesky. 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Yahoo
03-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
State utility regulators preparing for Ohio House Bill 6 hearing
Natural gas meter with pipe on wall. Stock photo from Getty Images. Ohio utility regulators are gearing up for hearings on FirstEnergy's role in the House Bill 6 scandal. Former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder is behind bars — although seeking a presidential pardon — for overseeing the largest corruption case in state history. FirstEnergy funneled about $60 million to a dark money group controlled by Householder. The former speaker used that money to secure his own leadership position and influence passage of HB 6. The measure propped up a pair of nuclear plants and aging coal facilities by tacking a rider onto consumers' monthly bills. But that's just the broad strokes. Nearly five years on from Householder's indictment, questions remain about how exactly the scheme unfolded and where FirstEnergy officials got the money for it. Half a dozen former FirstEnergy officials in government affairs and c-suite positions are set to testify in a PUCO hearing next week. Four of them previously pled the Fifth and have since received immunity from a Franklin County judge. At the heart of the case, the Ohio Consumers' Counsel wants to demonstrate whether FirstEnergy used the money it got from average consumers to bribe state officials. In January, former FirstEnergy executives Charles 'Chuck' Jones and Michael Dowling were indicted on federal racketeering charges. Last year, state officials filed more than 40 charges against the executives as well as the man they bribed, former PUCO chairman Sam Randazzo. Last week, a judge in Summit County dismissed theft charges against Jones and Dowling, but they still face several other state criminal charges. The PUCO proceedings focus on the employees one rung below Jones and Dowling, attempting to show how money moved in the scheme by gathering testimony from the foot soldiers who answered to FirstEnergy's leadership. Four of the witnesses previously refused to testify, citing their Fifth Amendment protections against self-incrimination. A Franklin County judge ordered them to testify and granted them 'the broadest possible immunity' from prosecution. Ohio indictments provide a better picture of squalid relationships that spurred massive scandal The PUCO will also hear from Steven Strah, the former CFO who took over FirstEnergy following Jones' ouster, and Robert Reffner, the company's chief legal officer at the time of the scandal. The Ohio Consumers' Counsel subpoenas argue consumers were wrongly charged more than $6.6 million, and another $7.4 million was incorrectly listed as a capital expenditure. Compelling testimony, the filings argue, 'will help establish how and why FirstEnergy improperly misallocated House Bill 6 costs to the FirstEnergy Utilities.' 'We look forward to getting answers for FirstEnergy consumers and holding FirstEnergy accountable,' Ohio Consumers' Counsel Maureen Willis said in a statement. 'Justice for FirstEnergy consumers is long overdue.' Just over a month ago, state lawmakers voted to put an end to the House Bill 6 rider tacked on to ratepayers' monthly bills. The legislation won't take effect until August. Democrats in the Ohio House, meanwhile, argue the door remains open for next House Bill 6. 'No law in Ohio prevented this scandal,' state Rep. Bride Rose Sweeney, D-Westlake, argued at a press conference last month. 'And since, not one law has even remotely been truly attempted to fix this massive injustice.' Sweeney, and state Reps. Chris Glassburn, D-North Olmsted, Dani Isaacsohn, D-Cincinnati, and Desiree Tims, D-Dayton, have filed bills that would require contribution disclosures to or so-called dark money groups, institute penalties for undermining signature gathering campaigns and bar companies that make contributions from receiving state contracts. The PUCO will hold a procedural hearing this morning, with the evidentiary portion of the case beginning next week, on June 10. The hearings themselves will likely take several days. Follow Ohio Capital Journal Reporter Nick Evans on X or on Bluesky. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
CTV News
31-05-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Rally in downtown Kitchener to protest controversial provincial bills
'Rally for People and Planet' at Carl Zehr Square in downtown Kitchener on May 31, 2025. (Hannah Schmidt/CTV News) A 'Rally for People and Planet' was held in downtown Kitchener on Saturday. Dozens of people gathered at Carl Zehr Square to hear from Aislinn Clancy, the deputy leader for the Green Party of Ontario and MPP for Kitchener Centre. Rally for People and Planet Kitchener Carl Zehr Square Aislinn Clancy Kitchener Centre MPP Aislinn Clancy speaks at the 'Rally for People and Planet' at Carl Zehr Square in downtown Kitchener on May 31, 2025. (Hannah Schmidt/CTV News) The event focused on two proposed provincial laws – Bill 5 and Bill 6. Bill 6 targets homeless encampments and drug use in public spaces. If passed, police officers would have more power to arrest anyone in a public space, including a tent, who is in possession of an illegal substance. Those individuals would then face tougher penalties, including up to six months in prison or a fine of up to $10,000. Advocates have argued that punitive measures often fail to address the issues causing homelessness and may, in fact, make them worse. Bill 5, meanwhile, seeks to speed up development for certain projects, like mining, and create 'special economic zones' where provincial and municipal laws would be suspended. The Ring of Fire is one the sites identified by the province.
