It is with tremendous pride that The Buckeye Institute announces our intrepid president and chief executive officer Robert Alt will be recognized with the 2026 Thomas A. Roe Award for Excellence in Leadership. Established in 1992 and named after the now-late businessman and generous philanthropist, the Thomas A. Roe Award pays tribute to those whose achievements have greatly advanced public policy solutions grounded in free-market principles—particularly in the state policy movement—recognizing leadership, innovation, and accomplishment.

The Buckeye Institute submitted written testimony to the Ohio House Energy Committee on Ohio House Concurrent Resolution 35, which calls on Congress to expedite energy production. In his testimony, Greg R. Lawson, a senior research fellow at The Buckeye Institute, applauded lawmakers for adopting reforms championed by The Buckeye Institute and called House Concurrent Resolution 35 “the logical next step” to “modernize and streamline federal regulatory policies” and expedite energy production across the country to meet growing demand.

The Buckeye Institute submitted written testimony to the Ohio House Finance Committee on the policies in Ohio House Bill 413, which will shine a light on the work of local government. In his testimony, Greg R. Lawson, a research fellow at The Buckeye Institute, noted that local governments and jurisdictions are already required to make tax collection and spending information available upon taxpayer request. House Bill 413 simply “streamlines that process.”

America’s upcoming 250th birthday offered a special opportunity to examine how we, as a nation, teach the American Founding. That was the focus of The Fund for American Studies’ 2026 Annual Conference, “Developing Courageous Leaders: Revitalizing Civic Education and America’s Founding Principles.” Robert Alt, The Buckeye Institute’s president and CEO, joined the discussion on a panel “Protecting Liberty Through Separation of Powers,” which also featured Judge Janice Rogers Brown, U.S. Circuit Court Appellate Judge, D.C. Circuit (retired).

In a new policy memo, The Buckeye Institute urged Ohio policymakers to pursue reforms to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to avoid being hit with a $321 million bill for high rates of fraud, waste, and abuse. Rea S. Hederman Jr., vice president of policy at The Buckeye Institute, outlined reforms that are necessary because the federal government “now requires states with a six percent or higher erroneous payment rate to pay between five and 15 percent of benefit costs.”

The Buckeye Institute testified before the Ohio House Finance Committee on the policy in Ohio House Bill 645, which, if adopted, would make state government better stewards of Ohio’s taxpayer dollars and make state government more accountable to voters by implementing zero-based budgeting, which forces government officials to justify the use of every taxpayer dollar rather than simply maintaining—or increasing—government spending on programs that may have outlived their usefulness.

The Buckeye Institute commented on Ohio’s March 2026 jobs report from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, saying, “The first months of 2026 saw slow job growth in the Buckeye State, but March closed out the first quarter on a positive note. And while national economic growth accelerated in the first quarter of 2026, so did inflation. Higher gas prices and inflation remain a threat to the economy, but for now, Ohio workers are benefiting from an above-average job market.”

The Buckeye Institute filed an amicus brief in D.A. v. Tri County Area Schools, calling on the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case and tell Tri County Area Schools that their students’ political speech—even when it is expressed on a Let’s Go Brandon shirt—is protected by the First Amendment. “The petitioners’ choice of attire, fashionable or not, clearly conveyed a political message without using profanity and is therefore protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.”

The Buckeye Institute filed its brief asking the Ohio Supreme Court to accept jurisdiction in Vanderveer v. Ohio Association of Public School Employees (OAPSE) and either hold it pending the court’s decision in Sheldon v. OAPSE or consolidate it with Sheldon—one of The Buckeye Institute’s other cases seeking to end union wage theft practices that is pending Ohio Supreme Court review.

The Buckeye Institute scored another legal victory, this time for Kevin Chandler, Amy Clark, and Charles C. Perry, Jr.—The Buckeye Institute’s clients in Chandler v. OAPSE. After court-ordered mediation, the Ohio Association of Public School Employees (OAPSE) and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) agreed to return all of the money taken from Mr. Chandler, Mrs. Clark, and Mr. Perry’s paychecks after the three had ended their union membership.