Leadership

General Assembly Recesses for the Summer

The House and the Senate called it a day Wednesday night and went home for the summer.  We’ll use the break to take legislators on tours through manufacturing facilities in their districts.  If you’d like us to arrange such a tour for a legislator, let Rob Brundrett know.  It is the best way to educate legislators about the importance of creating a manufacturing-supportive business climate.

Unemployment Comp Relief on the Way!

Addressing a long standing OMA goal, the House, Senate, and Kasich administration this week outlined a tentative plan to pay off the state’s $315M unemployment compensation debt owed to the federal government.

The debt has triggered increasing yearly penalties on employers’ FUTA taxes.  Paying off the debt will eliminate the federal penalties.  Thus, employers will see their FUTA tax per employee drop from a projected $168 per year to the standard $42 per employee.

Under the plan, the state would retire the debt through a loan from state coffers that will be repaid by employer surcharges next year.  Surcharges are estimated to be $45-50 per employee.  Thus, employers will have a net savings of $75 per employee in 2017.

Legislation will be introduced and passed next week to execute the plan.

With the debt soon to be retired, the state must now focus on making the Ohio unemployment compensation system actuarially sound by passing House Bill 394;  its solvency measures will help ensure that Ohio does not have to borrow such sums again in the future.

What’s in Ohio’s Medical Marijuana Bill? (video)

OMA Connections Partner, Working Partners®, an organization that helps employers implement and manage their drug-free workplace programs, has created this short video about some of the provisions of House Bill 523.

“Safe to Eat”

The National Academy of Sciences this week issued a report largely dismissing purported harmful effects of genetically engineered (GE) food.  The report states, “Genetically-engineered crops are as safe to eat as their non-GE counterparts, they have no adverse environmental impacts, and they have reduced the use of pesticides.”

The National Academy of Sciences is a group funded by the U.S. Congress to provide expert scientifically-based advice on a wide range of issues.

Manufacturing Summer Camp for 5th & 6th Graders

New for June 2016 is the Manufacturing Institute Summer Day Camp!

It’s a week long Summer Day Camp with a manufacturing focus for 5th & 6th grade students to be held at Auburn Career Center’s Fab Lab.

Camp details include: Two exciting week long sessions in June with a cohort of 25 fifth/sixth grade campers per week. The curriculum includes financial literacy, marketing, manufacturing a project, and advanced manufacturing site tours. Campers will manufacture their own Mars Rover or prosthetic arm!  On the fifth day parents, friends, and loved ones will be invited to a showcase breakfast where campers will highlight their week.

Sponsored by AWT Foundation in collaboration with Lake/Geauga Educational Assistance Foundation and the office of U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown.  Here is more information.

Supreme Court Affirms Jurisdiction, Moves to Expedite State Drug Price Controls Proposal

This week a divided Ohio Supreme Court issued a ruling in the Ohio Drug Price Relief Act challenge.  At issue is whether drug price control activists may proceed with a proposed statutory initiative in 2016.  Earlier this year, the OMA filed suit to deter the ballot issue from proceeding citing fraudulent petition collection practices and policy concerns over placing price controls on manufactured products (pharmaceuticals in this is case) in the Ohio Revised Code through the initiated statute process.

In its ruling, the court wisely rejected procedural maneuvers by drug pricing activists to limit the court’s jurisdiction over the ballot proposal and force drug price controls into the Ohio statutes.  The court agreed to allow our challenge to continue that fraudulent petition circulator statements and unlawful signature activities should not be counted.

In a separate but related Motion and Procedural Ruling, the court established an expedited hearing schedule and posed certain legal questions to both sides.  “Our lawyers will be very busy over the next few months responding to this schedule and protecting manufacturing against single-issue activists who try to buy their way into Ohio’s statutes without going through any legislative process,” commented the OMA’s Ryan Augsburger.

Ohio Ranked 10th Best for Business Climate

In its annual rankings of the best and worst states for business Chief Executive magazine ranked Ohio 10th best.

Ohio jumped 12 places in one year, and has moved up 34 spots since 2010.  That’s the year that John Kasich was elected governor.

See the Ohio rankings here.

The rankings were established by survey of 513 CEOs across the country.

Governor Kasich Ends Presidential Bid

In an emotional press conference, Governor Kasich suspended his presidential campaign Wednesday evening.  The governor was the last major candidate to enter the race (on July 21, 2015) and was the last candidate challenging Donald Trump.

Governor Kasich earned 154 delegates.  He’ll go to the Cleveland Republican convention with the ability to help shape the policy platform.

Congratulations on the race, Governor, and welcome home!

OMA Director Appointed to Republican Convention Platform Committee

Columbiana County’s Dave Johnson was one of two individuals appointed to the GOP convention platform committee by Governor Kasich this week (every state gets to select committee members).  This important committee establishes the “platform” upon which the party will run in this year’s election.

Dave Johnson is CEO of Summitville Tiles, Inc., and a director and former chairman of the OMA.

Congratulations, Dave!

House Committee Moves Medical Marijuana Sub Bill

The House Select Committee on Medical Marijuana accepted a substitute version of House Bill 523 on Wednesday and unanimously reported the bill on Thursday.  This sets up a House floor vote for next Tuesday, potentially leaving the Senate three weeks to refine and pass the bill prior to the scheduled break for campaign activity.  The bill competes with potential fall ballot amendments to gain some form of marijuana legalization in Ohio.

The updated proposal added more details on how the proposed Medical Marijuana Control Commission would regulate the drug.  Among the most contentious issues, the bill would bar patients from smoking the drug but would allow vaporization.  The bill also prevents patients from growing their own product, but allows for use of oils, tinctures, plant material, edibles, and patches.

Two additional documents were released: Sub HB 523 Outline and HB 523 Comparison Document.  We’ll continue to apprise members as employer-impact analyses are developed.