Representatives testified before the Ohio Senate Finance Committee on Oct. 29 in support of Amended House Bill 434, saying the measure corrects two unintended consequences from recent budget legislation and requested an emergency clause to implement fixes immediately.

Representative Willis, a joint sponsor, told the committee the bill "is not only a unanimously bipartisan effort, but a narrowly tailored critically needed fix to some unintended consequences of our budget bills from this General Assembly." He said the first correction removes an erroneous driver-education requirement that has been applied to certain applicants for limited-term licenses, including military, federal and diplomatic personnel who hold valid foreign drivers licenses. "Under the current law...certain applicants for limited term licenses have been forced unexpectedly to satisfy driver education requirements and requirements that were never intended to apply to them," Willis said.

Willis said the error affected foreign liaison officers arriving to work at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and risked interfering with operations there. "It only took about 2 weeks after the...transportation budget bill came into effect in July to find out from the 3 star lifecycle management center commander that we had caused a serious problem with a large number of foreign liaison officers," he said.

The second change would expand a pilot uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) program for first responders. Willis said the enacted language limited grant participation to municipal corporations and "left out our townships and our counties and only, left that tailored for municipalities," excluding many rural fire and EMS units. The substitute language would allow counties, townships and rural first-responder agencies to apply for ODOT/Fly Ohio grants and federal clearances to use unmanned aerial systems.

Representative Lampton, the joint sponsor, said Wright-Patterson and its contractors are major employers in his district and urged prompt action. Both sponsors asked the committee to include an emergency clause to prevent further disruption to military liaison personnel and to allow first responders to apply quickly for federal clearances and training offered through Fly Ohio and the UAS Center.

Committee members asked no additional questions on the bill at the hearing. The sponsorstestimony focused on correcting the statutory drafting errors and making the UAS grant eligibility uniform across local governments. No formal committee vote was recorded on HB 434 during the Oct. 29 Finance Committee session.