The Akron Legal News

Bill would ease burden on disabilities council

TIFFANY L. PARKS
Special to the Legal News
Published: August 1, 2014

Legislation pending in the Ohio Senate seeks to eliminate several restrictions that make it difficult for the Ohio Governors Council on People with Disabilities to carry out its assigned powers, according to the council’s vice chairman.

“The GCPD exists to advise the governor and General Assembly on statewide disability issues, promote the value of diversity, dignity and the quality of life for people with disabilities (and) be a catalyst to create systemic change to promote awareness of disability-related issues that will ultimately benefit all citizens of Ohio,” Charles Beatty said.

“The GCPD has been struggling with some limiting restrictions on its operation in the Ohio Revised Code for some time.”

One such restriction, Beatty said, stems from the governor being required to annually appoint a council chair and replace members whose terms have expired.

“Unfortunately, the demands of his office many times cause appointments to be made after the position has been vacated,” he said, noting that there are more than 100 boards and commissions in Ohio.

“It takes a lot of time for such appointments to be properly vetted and made which, many times, causes positions to be unfilled for an indefinite time past the expiration of an appointment.”

Beatty said because appointments for GCPD are for a finite period of time, in the case of the council chair, the current process has caused the GCPD be in stasis without leadership.

“Granted, the GCPD can appoint a temporary “acting chair” but there is little that person can do except chair almost meaningless meetings,” he said.

“They are reluctant to continue existing policies or institute new polices, either of which the new chair appointee may not want continued. This situation causes a loss of direction for the GCPD and has caused a feeling of “why bother serving on the GCPD?” among many of its members.”

Beatty said Senate Bill 283, sponsored by Sen. Kevin Bacon, R-Columbus, would alleviate such issues.

The proposed legislation would require a member of the council to remain in office following the end of their term until a successor is appointed.

The bill also aims to increase the term of the council chair from one year, with the possibility of a second term, to a nonrenewable two-year term.

SB 283 also requires the executive director of the Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities Agency to provide an executive secretary, meeting space, office furniture and equipment to the GCPD.

In addition to problems associated with annual chair appointments, Beatty said the current one-year terms are limiting with regard to creativity.

“With only five productive meetings a year (the sixth meeting has been the yearly award and recognition meeting), it is very difficult for an incoming chair to introduce new ideas, discuss and implement them,” he said.

Beatty said if the chair is appointed late, that further decreases their opportunity to make an impact.

Aside from term issues, Beatty said the meaning of the following sentence in state law has been the subject of many hours of discussion over the years: “The governor’s council on people with disabilities shall be assigned to the rehabilitation services commission for ‘administrative purposes.’”

He said term “for administrative purposes” has never been successfully defined.

“This bill defines the support the GCPD will receive from The Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities Agency. Unfortunately, there is a big problem of timing at this time,” he said, adding that if the measure is not in effect by mid-August, the GCPD will still only consist of eight appointed members of the 21 authorized.

“Four of the remaining members were just appointed in 2014, thus there will only be four experienced GCPD members to provide continuity. We tried to avoid the need for last-minute action by contacting my state representative in October 2012.”

Beatty said communication programs resulted in the bill’s provisions not being introduced at an earlier date.

“Sen. Bacon has kindly introduced SB 283 to help the GCPD but, as noted earlier, it needs swift action and the inclusion of an emergency clause to get it into effect by Aug. 13, 2014,” he said, urging other lawmakers to back the proposed legislation.

“I humbly ask for your support in adopting this bill to enable the GCPD to have the ability to make their operations more efficient and timely.”

SB 283 is before the House State and Local Government Committee.

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