One of the provisions of the new state budget allows homeowners to remove foliage on municipally-owned land next to public waterways. That measure takes effect in October. Democratic State Representative David Leland of Columbus says the provision was not subject to committee hearings prior to passage of the budget, so he has proposed a measure that would restore the law to it's pre-budgetary form.
Leland's plan is unlikely to pass out of the Republican-controlled legislature. Governor John Kasich vetoed a similar provision lawmakers included in the 2013 budget bill. The City of Columbus, the Ohio Sierra Club, the Ohio Environmental Council, Friends of the Scioto River, and Friends of the Lower Olentangy Watershed are among the groups opposed to the provision. Columbus Division of Water Administrator Rick Westerfield says many of the local properties in question are located around reservoirs, and protect water quality by filtering pollutants.
