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As Introduced
136th
General Assembly
Regular
Session
H. B. No. 773
2025-2026
Representatives Williams,
Klopfenstein
Cosponsors: Representatives Manning,
Salvo, Workman, Brennan, Peterson, King, Daniels, Kishman, Newman,
Glassburn, Creech
To
amend sections 5537.01 and 5537.04 and to enact section 5537.31 of
the Revised Code
to
require the sale of E15 blended fuel at turnpike service facilities
and a feasibility study related to the sale of biodiesel fuel at
those facilities.
BE
IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:
Section
1.
That
sections 5537.01 and 5537.04 be amended and section 5537.31 of the
Revised Code be enacted to read as follows:
Sec.
5537.01.
As
used in this chapter:
(A)
"Commission" means the Ohio turnpike and infrastructure
commission created by section 5537.02 of the Revised Code or, if that
commission is abolished, the board, body, officer, or commission
succeeding to the principal functions thereof or to which the powers
given by this chapter to the commission are given by law.
(B)
"Turnpike project" means any express or limited access
highway, super highway, or motorway constructed, operated, or
improved, under the jurisdiction of the commission and pursuant to
this chapter and approved by the governor, including all bridges,
tunnels, overpasses, underpasses, interchanges, entrance plazas,
approaches, those portions of connecting public roads that serve
interchanges and are determined by the commission and the director of
transportation to be necessary for the safe merging of traffic
between the turnpike project and those public roads, toll booths,
service facilities, and administration, storage, and other buildings,
property, and facilities that the commission considers necessary for
the operation or policing of the turnpike project, together with all
property and rights which may be acquired by the commission for the
construction, maintenance, or operation of the turnpike project, and
includes any sections or extensions of a turnpike project designated
by the commission as such for the particular purpose. Each turnpike
project shall be separately designated, by name or number, and may be
constructed, improved, or extended in such sections as the commission
may from time to time determine. Construction includes the
improvement and renovation of a previously constructed turnpike
project, including additional interchanges, whether or not the
turnpike project was initially constructed by the commission.
(C)
"Infrastructure project" means any public express or
limited access highway, super highway, or motorway, including all
bridges, tunnels, overpasses, underpasses, interchanges, entrance
plazas, approaches, and those portions of connecting public roads
that serve interchanges, that is constructed or improved, in whole or
in part, with infrastructure funding approved pursuant to criteria
established under section 5537.18 of the Revised Code.
(D)
"Cost," as applied to construction of a turnpike project or
an infrastructure project, includes the cost of construction,
including bridges over or under existing highways and railroads,
acquisition of all property acquired either by the commission or by
the owner of the infrastructure project for the construction,
demolishing or removing any buildings or structures on land so
acquired, including the cost of acquiring any lands to which the
buildings or structures may be moved, site clearance, improvement,
and preparation, diverting public roads, interchanges with public
roads, access roads to private property, including the cost of land
or easements therefor, all machinery, furnishings, and equipment,
communications facilities, financing expenses, interest prior to and
during construction and for one year after completion of
construction, traffic estimates, indemnity and surety bonds and
premiums on insurance, title work and title commitments, insurance,
and guarantees, engineering, feasibility studies, and legal expenses,
plans, specifications, surveys, estimates of cost and revenues, other
expenses necessary or incident to determining the feasibility or
practicability of constructing or operating a turnpike project or an
infrastructure project, administrative expenses, and any other
expense that may be necessary or incident to the construction of the
turnpike project or an infrastructure project, the financing of the
construction, and the placing of the turnpike project or an
infrastructure project in operation. Any obligation or expense
incurred by the department of transportation with the approval of the
commission for surveys, borings, preparation of plans and
specifications, and other engineering services in connection with the
construction of a turnpike project or an infrastructure project, or
by the federal government with the approval of the commission for any
public road projects which must be reimbursed as a condition to the
exercise of any of the powers of the commission under this chapter,
shall be regarded as a part of the cost of the turnpike project or an
infrastructure project and shall be reimbursed to the state or the
federal government, as the case may be, from revenues, state taxes,
or the proceeds of bonds as authorized by this chapter.
(E)
"Owner" includes all persons having any title or interest
in any property authorized to be acquired by the commission for
turnpike projects under this chapter, or the public entity for whom
an infrastructure project is funded, in whole or in part, by the
commission under this chapter.
(F)
"Revenues" means all tolls, service revenues, investment
income on special funds, rentals, gifts, grants, and all other moneys
coming into the possession of or under the control of the commission
by virtue of this chapter, except the proceeds from the sale of
bonds. "Revenues" does not include state taxes.
(G)
"Public roads" means all public highways, roads, and
streets in the state, whether maintained by a state agency or any
other governmental agency.
(H)
"Public utility facilities" means tracks, pipes, mains,
conduits, cables, wires, towers, poles, and other equipment and
appliances of any public utility.
(I)
"Financing expenses" means all costs and expenses relating
to the authorization, issuance, sale, delivery, authentication,
deposit, custody, clearing, registration, transfer, exchange,
fractionalization, replacement, payment, and servicing of bonds
including, without limitation, costs and expenses for or relating to
publication and printing, postage, delivery, preliminary and final
official statements, offering circulars, and informational
statements, travel and transportation, underwriters, placement
agents, investment bankers, paying agents, registrars, authenticating
agents, remarketing agents, custodians, clearing agencies or
corporations, securities depositories, financial advisory services,
certifications, audits, federal or state regulatory agencies,
accounting and computation services, legal services and obtaining
approving legal opinions and other legal opinions, credit ratings,
redemption premiums, and credit enhancement facilities.
(J)
"Bond proceedings" means the resolutions, trust agreements,
certifications, notices, sale proceedings, leases, lease-purchase
agreements, assignments, credit enhancement facility agreements, and
other agreements, instruments, and documents, as amended and
supplemented, or any one or more or any combination thereof,
authorizing, or authorizing or providing for the terms and conditions
applicable to, or providing for the security or sale or award or
liquidity of, bonds, and includes the provisions set forth or
incorporated in those bonds and bond proceedings.
(K)
"Bond service charges" means principal, including any
mandatory sinking fund or mandatory redemption requirements for the
retirement of bonds, and interest and any redemption premium payable
on bonds, as those payments come due and are payable to the
bondholder or to a person making payment under a credit enhancement
facility of those bond service charges to a bondholder.
(L)
"Bond service fund" means the applicable fund created by
the bond proceedings for and pledged to the payment of bond service
charges on bonds provided for by those proceedings, including all
moneys and investments, and earnings from investments, credited and
to be credited to that fund as provided in the bond proceedings.
(M)
"Bonds" means bonds, notes, including notes anticipating
bonds or other notes, commercial paper, certificates of
participation, or other evidences of obligation, including any
interest coupons pertaining thereto, issued by the commission
pursuant to this chapter.
(N)
"Infrastructure fund" means the applicable fund or funds
created by the bond proceedings, which shall be used to pay or defray
the cost of infrastructure projects recommended by the director of
transportation and evaluated and approved by the commission.
(O)
"Net revenues" means revenues lawfully available to pay
both current operating expenses of the commission and bond service
charges in any fiscal year or other specified period, less current
operating expenses of the commission and any amount necessary to
maintain a working capital reserve for that period.
(P)
"Pledged revenues" means net revenues, moneys and
investments, and earnings on those investments, in the applicable
bond service fund and any other special funds, and the proceeds of
any bonds issued for the purpose of refunding prior bonds, all as
lawfully available and by resolution of the commission committed for
application as pledged revenues to the payment of bond service
charges on particular issues of bonds.
(Q)
"Service facilities" means service stations, restaurants,
and other facilities for food service, roadside parks and rest areas,
parking, camping, tenting, rest, and sleeping facilities, hotels or
motels, and all similar and other facilities providing services to
the traveling public in connection with the use of a turnpike project
and owned, leased, licensed, or operated by the commission.
(R)
"Service revenues" means those revenues of the commission
derived from its ownership, leasing, licensing, or operation of
service facilities.
(S)
"Special funds" means the applicable bond service fund and
any accounts and subaccounts in that fund, any other funds or
accounts permitted by and established under, and identified as a
"special fund" or "special account" in, the bond
proceedings, including any special fund or account established for
purposes of rebate or other requirements under federal income tax
laws.
(T)
"State agencies" means the state, officers of the state,
and boards, departments, branches, divisions, or other units or
agencies of the state.
(U)
"State taxes" means receipts of the commission from the
proceeds of state taxes or excises levied and collected, or
appropriated by the general assembly to the commission, for the
purposes and functions of the commission. State taxes do not include
tolls, or investment earnings on state taxes except on those state
taxes referred to in Section 5a of Article XII, Ohio Constitution.
(V)
"Tolls" means tolls, special fees or permit fees, or other
charges by the commission to the owners, lessors, lessees, or
operators of motor vehicles for the operation of or the right to
operate those vehicles on a turnpike project.
(W)
"Credit enhancement facilities" means letters of credit,
lines of credit, standby, contingent, or firm securities purchase
agreements, insurance, or surety arrangements, guarantees, and other
arrangements that provide for direct or contingent payment of bond
service charges, for security or additional security in the event of
nonpayment or default in respect of bonds, or for making payment of
bond service charges and at the option and on demand of bondholders
or at the option of the commission or upon certain conditions
occurring under put or similar arrangements, or for otherwise
supporting the credit or liquidity of the bonds, and includes credit,
reimbursement, marketing, remarketing, indexing, carrying, interest
rate hedge, and subrogation agreements, and other agreements and
arrangements for payment and reimbursement of the person providing
the credit enhancement facility and the security for that payment and
reimbursement.
(X)
"Person" has the same meaning as in section 1.59 of the
Revised Code and, unless the context otherwise provides, also
includes any governmental agency and any combination of those
persons.
(Y)
"Refund" means to fund and retire outstanding bonds,
including advance refunding with or without payment or redemption
prior to stated maturity.
(Z)
"Governmental agency" means any state agency, federal
agency, political subdivision, or other local, interstate, or
regional governmental agency, and any combination of those agencies.
(AA)
"Property" has the same meaning as in section 1.59 of the
Revised Code, and includes interests in property.
(BB)
"Administrative agent," "agent," "commercial
paper," "floating rate interest structure," "indexing
agent," "interest rate hedge," "interest rate
period," "put arrangement," and "remarketing
agent" have the same meanings as in section 9.98 of the Revised
Code.
(CC)
"Outstanding," as applied to bonds, means outstanding in
accordance with the terms of the bonds and the applicable bond
proceedings.
(DD)
"Ohio turnpike system" or "system" means all
existing and future turnpike projects constructed, operated, and
maintained under the jurisdiction of the commission.
(EE)
"Ohio turnpike and infrastructure system" means turnpike
projects and infrastructure projects funded by the commission
existing on and after July 1, 2013, that facilitate access to, use
of, and egress from the Ohio turnpike system, and also facilitate
access to and from areas of population, commerce, and industry that
are connected to the Ohio turnpike system.
(FF)
"E15 blended fuel" means gasoline that contains more than
ten and not more than fifteen volume per cent ethanol.
(GG)
"Authorized motor fuel retailer" means any person licensed
in this state to offer motor fuel for retail sale to the public and
under contract with the commission to sell such motor fuel at a
service facility connected to the Ohio turnpike system.
Sec.
5537.04.
(A)
The Ohio turnpike and infrastructure commission may do any of the
following:
(1)
Adopt bylaws for the regulation of its affairs and the conduct of its
business;
(2)
Adopt an official seal, which shall not be the great seal of the
state and which need not be in compliance with section 5.10 of the
Revised Code;
(3)
Maintain a principal office and suboffices at such places within the
state as it designates;
(4)
With respect to the Ohio turnpike system and turnpike projects, sue
and be sued in its own name, plead and be impleaded, provided any
actions against the commission shall be brought in the court of
common pleas of the county in which the principal office of the
commission is located, or in the court of common pleas of the county
in which the cause of action arose if that county is located within
this state, and all summonses, exceptions, and notices of every kind
shall be served on the commission by leaving a copy thereof at its
principal office with the secretary-treasurer or executive director
of the commission;
(5)
With respect to infrastructure projects only, sue and be sued in its
own name, plead and be impleaded, provided any actions against the
commission shall be brought in the court of common pleas of Franklin
county, and all summonses, exceptions, and notices of every kind
shall be served on the commission by leaving a copy thereof at its
principal office with the secretary-treasurer or executive director
of the commission.
(6)
Construct, maintain, repair, police, and operate the turnpike system,
and establish rules for the use of any turnpike project;
(7)
Issue revenue bonds of the state, payable solely from pledged
revenues, as provided in this chapter, for the purpose of paying any
part of the cost of constructing any one or more turnpike projects or
infrastructure projects;
(8)
Fix, and revise from time to time, and charge and collect tolls by
any method approved by the commission, including, but not limited to,
manual methods or through electronic technology accepted within the
tolling industry;
(9)
Acquire, hold, and dispose of property in the exercise of its powers
and the performance of its duties under this chapter;
(10)
Designate the locations and establish, limit, and control such points
of ingress to and egress from each turnpike project as are necessary
or desirable in the judgment of the commission and of the director of
transportation to ensure the proper operation and maintenance of that
turnpike project, and prohibit entrance to such a turnpike project
from any point not so designated;
(11)
Make and enter into all contracts and agreements necessary or
incidental to the performance of its duties and the execution of its
powers under this chapter, including participation in a
multi-jurisdiction electronic toll collection agreement and
collection or remittance of tolls, fees, or other charges to or from
entities or agencies that participate in such an agreement; the
commission also may enter into agreements with retail locations,
including deputy registrars, to allow the general public to acquire
electronic toll collection devices, commonly known as transponders,
from the retail locations for such reasonable fees as are established
by the commission;
(12)
Employ or retain or contract for the services of consulting
engineers, superintendents, managers, and any other engineers,
construction and accounting experts, financial advisers, trustees,
marketing, remarketing, and administrative agents, attorneys, and
other employees, independent contractors, or agents that are
necessary in its judgment and fix their compensation, provided all
such expenses shall be payable solely from the proceeds of bonds or
from revenues of the Ohio turnpike system;
(13)
Receive and accept from any federal agency, subject to the approval
of the governor, and from any other governmental agency grants for or
in aid of the construction, reconstruction, repair, renovation,
maintenance, or operation of any turnpike project, and receive and
accept aid or contributions from any source or person of money,
property, labor, or other things of value, to be held, used, and
applied only for the purposes for which such grants and contributions
are made;
(14)
Provide coverage for its employees under Chapters 4123. and 4141. of
the Revised Code;
(15)
Fix and revise by rule, from time to time, such permit fees,
processing fees, or administrative charges for the prepayment,
deferred payment, or nonpayment of tolls and use of electronic
tolling equipment or other commission property;
(16)
Adopt rules for all of the following:
(a)
The issuance of citations by a policing authority, the issuance of
citations through administrative means, and the issuance of invoices
by the commission to any person that fails to pay the tolls or fees
established for the use of any turnpike project;
(b)
The issuance of a second invoice to any person who fails to remit
payment of a toll or fee to the commission for more than thirty days
after issuance of the first invoice and for the imposition of
associated late fees;
(c)
The implementation of procedures whereby a person may dispute an
invoice with the commission through an administrative hearing at the
commission's principal office as authorized under section 5537.041 of
the Revised Code;
(d)
The implementation of procedures whereby a person may appeal the
decision of an administrative hearing in the manner described in
section 5537.041 of the Revised Code.
(17)
Approve funding and authorize agreements with the department of
transportation for the funding of infrastructure projects recommended
by the director of transportation pursuant to the criteria
established by rule under section 5537.18 of the Revised Code
;
(18)
Adopt rules related to equipment standards, safety compliance,
timelines, and funding agreements for the installation, retrofitting,
or other construction associated with ensuring that E15 blended fuel
is made available by authorized motor fuel retailers at service
facilities in accordance with section 5537.31 of the Revised Code
.
(B)
The commission may do all acts necessary or proper to carry out the
powers expressly granted in this chapter.
(C)
As used in this section and section 5537.041 of the Revised Code,
"person" has the same meaning as in section 1745.05 of the
Revised Code.
Sec.
5537.31.
(A)
Not later than July 1, 2027, the Ohio turnpike and infrastructure
commission shall contract with one or more authorized motor fuel
retailers to ensure that each service facility connected to the Ohio
turnpike system offers for sale E15 blended fuel in pumps that are
adjacent to or comparable to all other forms of fuel offered for sale
at those service facilities.
(B)
The installation, retrofitting, or other construction associated with
ensuring each service facility is capable of selling E15 blended fuel
is a turnpike project. As such, the costs associated with the project
may be paid from revenues, state taxes, or the proceeds of bonds as
authorized under this chapter. The commission may also seek federal
grants that are available for alternative fuel infrastructure or
other funds available through similar incentive programs.
(C)(1)
Prior to July 1, 2027, the commission shall include the following in
its annual comprehensive financial report made under division (E) of
section 5537.17 of the Revised Code:
(a)
Information regarding the installation progress and costs of the
turnpike project required by this section;
(b)
Once each installation is completed, certification of the
availability of E15 blended fuel at each service facility.
(2)
Beginning July 1, 2027, the commission shall certify each year the
continued availability of E15 blended fuel at each service facility
in the annual comprehensive financial report.
Section
2.
That
existing sections 5537.01 and 5537.04 of the Revised Code are hereby
repealed.
Section
3.
The
Ohio Turnpike and Infrastructure Commission shall conduct a
feasibility study for the installation, retrofitting, or other
construction associated with ensuring each service facility along the
turnpike is capable of selling biodiesel fuel. As part of the study,
the Commission shall perform a cost analysis related to the expansion
of fuel options to include biodiesel fuel and an analysis of what
infrastructure, if any, would need to be changed to accommodate a
biodiesel pump at the service facilities.
The
Commission shall complete the feasibility study not later than twelve
months after the effective date of this section.