Ohio House Bill 78 the "modernization" of general corporation law is on its way to Ohio Gov. Taft for his signature. This bill is anything but, a modernization of corporation law. Rather than making corporate law more transparent and providing for disclosure, HB78 makes corporate law more opaque and provides for secrecy.
HB78, also grants further legal immunities to corporate directors and officers. It changes the focus of the law from having directors/officers proving they were not acting against shareholder interests to saying they were not acting against shareholder interests!
I found out about this bill on Columbus Day and started alertring our USWA and AFL-CIO worthies in Ohio. HB 78 was total stealth legislation.
The corporations wanted it and wanted it bad and none of our friends of labor in the general assembly had tipped us off!
At this point we are still not sure what all is in this bill or what it all means. This bill is not strictly a labor bill because it will have an effect on the citizens of Ohio in general. The bill could effect such diverse constituencies as 401(k)'s invested in an employee's own company's stock, esops, savings and loans, widows&orphans and tax abatements etc. etc.
Our friends of labor have said on this legislation, whoever thought organized labor would be interested in a corporate law bill? Our friends of labor have forgotten that we negotiate and deal with corporations everyday and in everyway. If HB78 had been a labor law bill---you can be damn sure the corporations would have been all over it!
So far, only two Ohio newspapers have picked up on this story. One of the two newspapers planning stories is thanks to Seth Ackerman of Fair/Extra!
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