Representatives of Ohio municipal water systems told the Senate Local Government Committee on the third hearing of Senate Bill 118 that the bill would shift the financial burden of unpaid tenant utility bills from landlords to municipal utilities and, ultimately, to all ratepayers.

Tony Searls, commercial services superintendent for Greater Cincinnati Water Works, testified that "Senate Bill 118 is an unfunded mandate that would increase cost for all customers to provide a benefit for a small segment, landlords of residential properties." He told the committee GCWW serves about 240,000 accounts representing more than 1,100,000 customers and said the utility already notifies both landlords and tenants multiple times and uses payment plans and assistance referrals before pursuing liens.

Tyler Converse, president of the Association of Ohio Drinking Water Agencies and superintendent of the Canton Water Department, told senators the association represents systems serving more than 5,000,000 Ohio residents and opposed SB 118 "which, if enacted, will significantly and unnecessarily restrict municipalities in recovering delinquent utility bills." Converse urged the committee to work with sponsors on an alternative framework his group circulated in a June 12 letter that would, among other steps, exempt wastewater charges, cap landlord liability for single‑family rentals to a small number of months' charges, require mutual notification between landlords and utilities, and create internal review boards for disputes.

Witnesses said operational differences between drinking water and wastewater systems make a one‑size‑fits‑all statute impractical: drinking water utilities can physically shut service at a property valve, while wastewater systems lack an equivalent operational shutoff. Both Searls and Converse said complying with SB 118 as written would require new software, staffing, and data‑security protections to track tenants and could raise rates across customer bases by several percentage points to pay for those functions.

Committee members pressed witnesses on local examples. Converse acknowledged recent, city‑specific arrearages such as reporting that Toledo has more than $66 million in delinquent water bills, and he said that large backlogs present a difficult collection challenge but do not change the association’s concerns about how the proposed statute would be implemented statewide. Canton was cited as an example where roughly 42,500 accounts produced about 200 liens last year, a rate witnesses described as well under 1 percent of accounts.

No committee vote occurred at the hearing. The session was recorded as the committee’s third hearing on Senate Bill 118; senators and witnesses agreed to continue discussions and review the June 12 proposal offered by water utilities.

The committee adjourned without taking formal action.