(A) There is hereby established a technical advisory committee to assist the director of the Ohio coal development office in achieving the office's purposes. The director of development services shall appoint to the committee one member of the public utilities commission and one representative each of coal production companies, the united mine workers of America, and electric utilities , as well as two people with a background in coal research and development technology, one of whom is employed at the time of the member's appointment by a state university, as defined in section 3345.011 of the Revised Code. In addition, the committee shall include four legislative members. The speaker and minority leader of the house of representatives each shall appoint one member of the house of representatives, and the president and minority leader of the senate each shall appoint one member of the senate, to the committee. The director of environmental protection shall serve on the committee as an ex officio member. Any member of the committee may designate in writing a substitute to serve in the member's absence on the committee. The director of environmental protection may designate in writing the chief of the air pollution control division of the agency to represent the agency. Members shall serve on the committee at the pleasure of their appointing authority. Members of the committee appointed by the director of development services and, notwithstanding section 101.26 of the Revised Code, legislative members of the committee, when engaged in their official duties as members of the committee, shall be compensated on a per diem basis in accordance with division (J) of section 124.15 of the Revised Code, except that the member of the public utilities commission and, while employed by a state university, the member with a background in coal research, shall not be so compensated. Members shall receive their actual and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their duties.

(B) The technical advisory committee shall review and make recommendations concerning the Ohio coal development agenda required under section 1551.34 of the Revised Code, project proposals, research and development projects submitted to the office by public utilities for the purpose of section 4905.304 of the Revised Code, proposals for grants, loans, and loan guarantees for purposes of sections 1555.01 to 1555.06 of the Revised Code, and such other topics as the director of the office considers appropriate.

(C) The technical advisory committee may hold an executive session at any regular or special meeting for the purpose of considering research and development project proposals or applications for assistance submitted to the Ohio coal development office under section 1551.33, or sections 1555.01 to 1555.06, of the Revised Code, to the extent that the proposals or applications consist of trade secrets or other proprietary information.

Any materials or data submitted to, made available to, or received by the development services agency or the director of the Ohio coal development office in connection with agreements for assistance entered into under this chapter or Chapter 1555. of the Revised Code, or any information taken from those materials or data for any purpose, to the extent that the materials or data consist of trade secrets or other proprietary information, are not public records for the purposes of section 149.43 of the Revised Code.

As used in this division, "trade secrets" has the same meaning as in section 1333.61 of the Revised Code.

Amended by 131st General Assembly File No. TBD, HB 471, §1, eff. 12/19/2016.

Amended by 130th General Assembly File No. 25, HB 59, §101.01, eff. 9/29/2013.

Amended by 129th General AssemblyFile No.28, HB 153, §101.01, eff. 6/30/2011.

Effective Date: 06-26-2003; 12-30-2004; 06-27-2005

Related Legislative Provision: See 129th General AssemblyFile No.39, SB 171, §4 .

Note: The amendment to this section by 129th General AssemblyFile No.10, SB 5, §1 was rejected by voters in the November, 2011 election.