Ohio Watch

Action: Passed June 2026, sponsored by Rep. David Thomas (R-Jefferson, HD-65). Would have exempted submetering companies from public utility regulation while requiring PUCO registration and a complaint process. DeWine vetoed it roughly two weeks later, calling the model fundamentally flawed and citing loss of supplier choice and assistance program access for submetered tenants.

Money: Nationwide Energy Partners CEO Michael DeAscentis II and his wife Melanie gave $25,000 to Vivek Ramaswamy on June 5, the same week the bill moved. Same-week contributions also went to House Speaker Matt Huffman and Sen. Shane Wilkin. Cleveland.com reported apartment utility industry donors gave close to $72,000 to top Ohio lawmakers and Ramaswamy around passage. Legislative leaders sharply denied any connection. No one has been charged with anything.

Status: The veto leaves the Ohio Supreme Court ruling in place, so companies that buy power wholesale and resell it at a profit remain regulated as public utilities. The sponsor says he will keep working on it and an override is possible before session ends in December. Rival approach: HB 265 (Fischer, R-Boardman / Brennan, D-Parma) would regulate submeterers as public utilities outright.

Read: The veto reads as the system working. It is closer to arbitration. Capital fractions collided, the executive picked one, and the underlying arrangement is untouched pending December. Meanwhile PJM capacity prices went from roughly $29 per megawatt-day two years ago to more than $329, and the bill lands on tenants either way.

Composition: Seated May 2026. Co-chairs Sen. Brian Chavez (R-Marietta) and Rep. Adam Holmes (R-Nashport). Six Republicans, two Democrats: Reps. Claggett, Workman, and Glassburn (D-North Olmsted); Sens. Reineke, Wilkin, and Blackshear (D-Dayton). Multiple public hearings since late May with testimony from residents, environmental researchers, anti-data-center organizers, and lobbyists for Amazon, Google, Meta, and Microsoft.

Action: In June, Chavez took testimony from the committee and grafted a substantial policy rewrite onto a measure originally written only to study the issue. It touches tax breaks, nondisclosure agreements, water use and testing, utility billing, and local government impacts. Sen. Bill DeMora (D-Columbus) objected to a timeline that contemplated a floor vote a day after introduction.

Conflicts on the record: Chavez chairs Senate Energy and Public Utilities and owns Reno Oil & Gas and Chavez Well Service, and is CEO of Deeprock Disposal Solutions. A January 2026 ethics complaint from Washington County for Safe Drinking Water alleged undisclosed stakes in five oil and gas companies. JLEC took no action within the 14-day statutory window and the complaint expired without investigation. It was never adjudicated on the merits. Chavez denies wrongdoing; Senate Republicans called the filing a smear. Holmes has publicly announced a Vistra/Meta nuclear arrangement in his region.

Related: Ohio EPA is still reviewing a proposed permit changing data center water discharge rules. Google is building a $500 million, 373-acre data center in northwest Ohio over neighbor objections and two tax abatements. Conserve Ohio's 25MW ban amendment failed to reach the ballot.

Calendar: Judge Susan Baker Ross, Summit County Common Pleas. Jury selection expected Sept 18, retrial set for Sept 28. The first trial of former FirstEnergy CEO Chuck Jones and former SVP Michael Dowling ended in a hung jury in March 2026 after nine days of deliberation, with 10 of 12 jurors favoring guilt. A Summit County grand jury reindicted both on expanded charges in early June. Both have pleaded not guilty in the state case and in a pending federal case that has no trial date and appears to be waiting on the state outcome.

New: On June 29, US District Judge J. Philip Calabrese dismissed a $20 million suit against Jones, ruling he had no legal duty to disclose the dark money payments to the SEC and investors. Larry Householder, serving 20 years, is seeking a pardon from President Trump through counsel.

What jurors did not hear the first time: Householder's status as a convicted recipient of FirstEnergy money was excluded, as were statements by FirstEnergy lawyers identifying Jones and Dowling as the people who made the payments, and the company's deferred prosecution agreement admission that it paid $4.3 million to Sam Randazzo's firm.

Ohio Watch note: Trial exhibits included messages in which Dowling described DeWine and Husted performing "battlefield triage" to install Randazzo as PUCO chair. Jon Husted has never been charged with any crime in connection with HB 6 and denies wrongdoing.

PJM capacity prices have set records in back-to-back auctions, rising from about $29 per megawatt-day two years ago to more than $329, driven largely by data center demand. Reporting in July put some Ohio summer electric bills above $800. Nine Ohio companies filed WARN notices in June affecting more than 900 workers, including Schwebel Baking Company closures hitting 480 workers in Hebron and Youngstown. AdImpact projects $749 million in Ohio political advertising this cycle.

Sean Dunn, Husted adviser, and his reported paid relationship with a Columbus lobbying firm. FBI search activity involving an Ohio voting rights organization. Ohio Supreme Court candidate fields for the two 2026 seats. Chavez data center omnibus bill number and current floor status. Each is held here rather than published until confirmed against primary records.