Ohio Revised Code Search

...party in interest appearing before the public utilities commission regarding examination and cross-examination of witnesses, presentation of evidence, and other matters; (b) May take appropriate action with respect to residential consumer complaints concerning quality of service, service charges, and the operation of the public utilities commission; (c) May institute, intervene in, or otherwise participate in ...

... complaints or forward the calls to the public utilities commission's call center.

...knowledge and experience to practice in public utility proceedings. (B) No person who is in the employ of or acting in an official capacity with any public utility, subject to regulation by the public utilities commission or who is pecuniarily interested in, or holds stocks or bonds of any such utility or is a candidate for elective public office may be appointed to the office of the consumers' counsel or be appoint...

...preclude the consumers' counsel from serving as a member of the reserve of the armed forces of the United States or the Ohio organized militia. The counsel shall not engage in any other occupation or business, but shall devote full time to the duties of the office of consumers' counsel.

...Before entering upon the duties of his office, the consumers' counsel shall subscribe to an oath of office, which shall be filed in the office of the secretary of state, and shall give bond of five thousand dollars with a sufficient surety approved by the treasurer of state. After approval the bond shall be filed with the secretary of state.

...The consumers' counsel shall be considered a state officer for the purpose of section 24 of Article II, Ohio constitution.

...The salary of the consumers' counsel shall be determined by the consumers' counsel governing board but shall be in pay range 49 as set forth in section 124.152 of the Revised Code.

...The office of the consumers' counsel shall be in Columbus.

...The public utilities commission shall supply the consumers' counsel, without cost to the counsel, with all books, maps, charts, and such other items as may be necessary for carrying out the purposes of Chapters 4909. and 4911. of the Revised Code.

...sses-sion of the consumers' counsel are public records.

...The consumers' counsel may, whenever called upon by any officer, board, or commission of this state or of any political subdivision of this state, furnish any data or information to the officer, board, or commission. All officers, boards, or commissions of this state or of any political subdivision of this state, may furnish to the counsel, upon his request, any data or information which he requests in the discharg...

... civil service, shall not be considered public employees for purposes of Chapter 4117. of the Revised Code, and shall serve at the pleasure of the counsel. The counsel may also employ such clerical employees, including clerks and stenographers, as are necessary to carry out Chapters 4909. and 4911. of the Revised Code or to perform his duties and exercise the powers conferred by law upon him. These clerical employee...

...In the employment of engineers, experts, or other assistants, the consumers' counsel may make use of the services of engineers and experts employed by any university operated by this state in a manner provided by mutual arrangement between the counsel and the trustees and faculty of the university. Any necessary information, data, and equipment of the university shall be placed at the disposal of the counsel and paid...

...re the public utilities commission involving the fixing of any rate, joint rate, fare, charge, toll, or rental charged for commodities or services by any public utility, the plant or property of which lies wholly within this state. Where the property of a public utility lies partly within this state, the jurisdiction of the consumers' counsel extends to that part of the plant or property which lies within this state,...

...rations located in, an area served by a public utility or whenever in his opinion the public interest is served, may represent those consumers or corporations whenever an application is made to the public utilities commission by any public utility desiring to establish, modify, amend, change, increase, or reduce any rate, joint rate, toll, fare, classification, charge, or rental. The consumers' counsel may appear be...

...ts, and papers in the possession of the public utilities commission at any time.

...There is hereby created a nine-member consumers' counsel governing board consisting of three representatives of organized groups representing each of the following areas: labor; residential consumers; and family farmers. No more than five members of this board may be members of the same political party. The members of the board shall be appointed by the attorney general with the advice and consent of the senate. No...

...lier or such governmental aggregator serving or proposing to serve customers of a particular natural gas company, as defined in section 4929.01 of the Revised Code, shall be assessed under this section until after the commission, pursuant to section 4905.26 or 4909.18 of the Revised Code, has removed from the base rates of the natural gas company the amount of assessment under this section that is attributable to the...

...Any utility to which the consumers' counsel makes an inquiry on behalf of a residential customer concerning that customer's billing, or the availability, unavailability, or quality of that customer's service shall respond to the consumers' counsel on the merits of that inquiry within a reasonable time. If a definitive response cannot be made within three weeks of the making of the inquiry, the utility initially shall...

...If the consumers' counsel governing board determines that the appointment of a deputy consumers' counsel is necessary to ensure the full and proper performance of the powers and duties of the consumers' counsel, the board may appoint a deputy consumers' counsel. The board may assign the deputy consumers' counsel any of the duties and powers of the consumers' counsel, and the deputy shall perform the assigned duties a...

...As used in this chapter: (A) "Aggrieved person" means a person with duties and obligations under sections 153.64, 3781.27, and 3781.28 to 3781.32 of the Revised Code and divisions (A) and (B) of section 3781.26 of the Revised Code and who is directly involved with or impacted by the alleged compliance failure, as identified in the request for inquiry, of another person with duties and obligations under sections 153....

...fication system shall register with the public utilities commission and pay a safety registration not to exceed fifty dollars annually, which the commission may lower if the commission determines lowering the registration to be necessary. The commission shall administer and oversee the registration process. Failure to register shall result in a fine of not more than two thousand five hundred dollars. (B) The commiss...

...later than ten business days after receiving a request under this section, notify the person responsible for the alleged compliance failure that the request was made.

...If a request for an inquiry is made under section 4913.05 of the Revised Code, the person responsible for the alleged compliance failure may, not later than thirty days after being notified under that section, respond to the request, providing any information that the person considers relevant to the request. The response may include an admission of the compliance failure.

...sion shall conduct an inquiry upon receiving a request made under section 4913.05 of the Revised Code. The inquiry shall be limited to whether there was a compliance failure. (B) During an inquiry conducted under this section, the staff shall examine relevant facts regarding the alleged compliance failure and may request records verification, informal meetings, teleconferences, photo documentation, and any other doc...

...The public employees retirement board may establish and maintain a qualified governmental excess benefit arrangement that meets the requirements of division (m) of section 415 of the "Internal Revenue Code of 1986," 100 Stat. 2085, 26 U.S.C.A. 415, as amended, and any regulations adopted thereunder. If established, the arrangement shall be a separate portion of the public employees retirement system and be maintained...

... become exempt from contribution to the public employees retirement system pursuant to section 145.03 of the Revised Code or ceases to be a public employee for any cause other than death, retirement, receipt of a disability benefit, or current employment in a position in which the member has elected to participate in an alternative retirement plan under section 3305.05 or 3305.051 of the Revised Code, upon applicatio...

...east five years of service credit, the public employees retirement board shall include the amount specified in rules adopted by the board in the amount payable under section 145.40 of the Revised Code to the member, or under division (B) of section 145.43 of the Revised Code to a beneficiary or beneficiaries of the member, unless at the time of death the member was a disability benefit recipient. The amount sp...

...ection, on application, a member of the public employees retirement system who is also a member of one or both of the other retirement systems and has ceased to be a public employee for the purposes of this chapter may be paid, in accordance with section 145.40 of the Revised Code, the member's accumulated contributions to the public employees retirement system, plus any applicable amount calculated under section 145...

...member shall remain in the employees' savings fund, except that the account of a member who has less than five calendar years of contributing service credit or is a member of the state teachers retirement system or the school employees retirement system may be transferred to the income fund if by the end of the fifth calendar year following the calendar year in which the last contribution was received the member has ...

...mp sum. Subject to rules adopted by the public employees retirement board, a member who designates two or more persons as beneficiaries shall specify the percentage of the lump sum that each beneficiary is to be paid. If the member has not specified the percentages, the lump sum shall be divided equally among the beneficiaries. The last designation of any beneficiary revokes all previous designations. The member's m...

...duly executed on a form provided by the public employees retirement board and signed by the member. A designation under this section is not valid unless received by the board prior to the member's death. A beneficiary designation made under this section applies to the PERS defined benefit plan or PERS defined contribution plan in which the member participated or, if the member participated in both the defined benefi...

...tirement allowance as determined by the public employees retirement system. (B) If a deceased member had, except as provided in division (B)(7) of this section, at least one and one-half years of contributing service credit, with, except as provided in division (B)(7) of this section, at least one-quarter year of contributing service credit within the two and one-half years prior to the date of death, or was recei...

...n application on a form approved by the public employees retirement board, to one of the following in the order given: (1) The person the retirant or disability benefit recipient has designated in writing duly executed on a form provided by the board, signed by the retirant or disability benefit recipient, and filed with the board. If more than one such designation has been made, the person last designated shall be ...

...The surviving spouse of a member who dies on or after the effective date of this amendment may continue any service credit purchase the member initiated before death. A purchase shall be considered to have been initiated before the member's death if the member made one or more payments for the purchase before death. Any service credit purchased under this section shall be applied under the provisions of this...

...after death to two, three, or four surviving beneficiaries designated at the time of the member's retirement. Unless required under division (C) of this section, no portion allocated under this plan of payment shall be less than ten per cent. The total of the portions allocated shall not exceed one hundred per cent of the member's lesser allowance. (C) A member shall select a plan of payment as follows: (1) Sub...

...'s earnable salary to the employees' savings fund, except that the public employees retirement board may raise the contribution rate to a rate not greater than ten per cent of the employee's earnable salary. (B) The head of each state department, institution, board, and commission, and the fiscal officer of each local authority subject to this chapter, shall transmit to the system for each contributor subseq...

...(1) On and after December 13, 2000, the public employees retirement board shall credit interest to the individual accounts of contributors, except that interest shall not be credited to the individual account of a PERS or other system retirant, as defined in section 145.38 of the Revised Code, for contributions received during the period described in division (B)(4)(a) or (b) of section 145.38 of the Revised Code. Fo...

...ndividual's account in the employees' savings fund as follows: (1) If this section takes effect on or before December 31, 2000, interest shall be calculated on amounts on deposit on December 31, 1998. (2) If this section takes effect after December 31, 2000, interest shall be calculated on amounts on deposit on December 31, 1999.

... 2000; (5) An amount determined by the public employees retirement board that is not greater than six per cent per annum, compounded annually, on and after December 13, 2000. (B) For the purpose of determining the reserve value of a contributor's annuity, the rate of interest shall be as follows: (1) Four per cent per annum, compounded annually, for contributors retiring before October 1, 1956; (2) Three per ...

...(A) Each employer shall pay to the public employees retirement system an amount that shall be a certain per cent of the earnable salary of all contributors to be known as the "employer contribution," except that the public employees retirement board may raise the employer contribution to a rate not to exceed fourteen per cent of the earnable salaries of all contributors. (B)(1) On the basis of regular intere...

...Upon a finding that an employer failed to deduct contributions pursuant to section 145.47 of the Revised Code during a period of employment for which such contributions were required, a statement of delinquent contributions shall be prepared showing the amount the contributor and employer would have contributed had regular payroll deductions been taken. Simple interest from the end of each calendar year at a ra...

...e shall contribute to the employees' savings fund the rate determined under division (A)(1) of this section plus an additional percentage specified by the public employees retirement board, which shall initially be one per cent of the employee's earnable salary and shall not be increased to more than two per cent of the employee's earnable salary. (B) Notwithstanding section 145.48 of the Revised Code, the pu...

...stallments, an amount certified by the public employees retirement board, which equals the employer obligation as described in section 145.12 or 145.69 of the Revised Code. In addition, the board shall add to the employer billing next succeeding the amount, with interest, to be paid by the employer to provide the member with contributing service credit for the service prior to the date of initial contribution t...

...(A) As used in this section and section 145.53 of the Revised Code, "transitional liability" means an amount equal to the employer obligation due under division (A) of section 145.51 of the Revised Code for the months of October, November, and December of 2007. (B) The transitional liability is payable in three installments on or before December 31, 2008, December 31, 2009, and December 31, 2010. (1) The first inst...

...(A) From the employer obligation for the month of February 2008, under section 145.51 of the Revised Code, an amount equal to the portion of the employer obligation attributable to section 145.86 of the Revised Code for the months of October, November, and December of 2007, shall be credited to the PERS defined contribution plan to satisfy the portion of the transitional liability attributable to section 145.86 of th...

...The public employees retirement board shall estimate annually the amount required to defray the expenses of the administration of the public employees retirement system in the ensuing year. If in the judgment of the board, as evidenced by a resolution of that board in its minutes, the amount in the income fund exceeds the amount necessary to cover the ordinary requirements of that fund, the board may transfer t...

...The deductions provided for in this chapter shall be made notwithstanding that the minimum compensation provided for by law for any contributor is reduced thereby. Every contributor is deemed to consent to the deductions made and provided for in this chapter. Payment less the deductions shall be a complete discharge and acquittance of all claims and demands whatsoever for the services rendered by such person during ...

...The right of an individual to a pension, an annuity, or a retirement allowance itself, the right of an individual to any optional benefit, any other right accrued or accruing to any individual, under this chapter, or under any municipal retirement system established subject to this chapter under the laws of this state or any charter, the various funds created by this chapter, or under such municipal retirement system...

...to any person pursuant to action of the public employees retirement board vests a right in such person, so long as the person remains the recipient of any benefit of the funds established by section 145.23 of the Revised Code, to receive such retirement allowance, annuity, pension, or other benefit at the rate fixed at the time of granting such retirement allowance, annuity, pension, or other benefit. Such righ...