The Buckeye Institute commented on the newly released jobs report from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, saying, “Ohio’s private sector added 20,900 new jobs in April, easily offsetting the small, 2,500 downward revision to the March report. With April’s report, Ohio’s private sector employment is averaging 15,000 new jobs a month, indicating that businesses intend to hire at a strong clip in 2025.”

The Buckeye Institute commented after Governor Mike DeWine signed Ohio House Bill 15 into law. “With the signing of House Bill 15, Ohio is now a national leader in smart, free-market energy policy. While more work remains to ensure cost transparency and protect consumers from overpaying for costly infrastructure, The Buckeye Institute-championed policies are pro-consumer and pro-business—ending costly, uncompetitive subsidies, bringing back greater predictability in public utility rate cases, and incentivizing new energy development.”

Rea S. Hederman Jr., executive director of the Economic Research Center and vice president of policy at The Buckeye Institute, commented after the Ohio General Assembly passed Ohio House Bill 15. Once signed, the policies in the bill will help ensure a healthy supply of affordable, reliable energy to meet growing demand. The bill now goes to Governor DeWine for his signature. “The passage of Ohio House Bill 15 is the best news for Ohioans worried about affordable, reliable energy in more than a quarter of a century.”

In The Columbus Dispatch, The Buckeye Institute calls for a more competitive, more transparent, less subsidized energy market, writing, “The rapidly evolving 21st century economy runs on electricity and demand for reliable power shows no signs of abating. Without affordable electricity, Ohio risks losing economic market share to states with more energy and lower energy prices. That’s an avoidable risk not worth taking.”
 

The Buckeye Institute commented on the newly released jobs report, saying, “In March, Ohio’s unemployment rate continued to climb to 4.8 percent, up from 4.7 percent. At the same time, the national unemployment rate increased from 4.1 to 4.2 percent. However, the labor force participation rate increased again to 62.6 percent, the highest rate in six months, outpacing the national average of 62.5 percent.”

In The Center Square, The Buckeye Institute and the Mississippi Center for Public Policy look at Mississippi’s bold tax reform, writing, “No one likes paying taxes. April 15th is a time of dread for most taxpayers. But this April, Mississippians have a reason to cheer because of the state legislature’s actions and Gov. Tate Reeves. Mississippi is poised to become one of the top ten states for income tax policy and can look forward to more jobs and economic prosperity for generations.”

In a new policy brief, Advancing Healthcare Technology, The Buckeye Institute urges lawmakers to create a “regulatory sandbox” so that AI innovators can develop new medical technologies in a flexible, safe regulatory environment that lowers costs and cuts red tape. An AI healthcare sandbox “will allow healthcare providers, AI developers, and policymakers to collaborate and responsibly test novel technologies related to drug development, medical imaging, disease diagnosis, gene therapy, medical research, and health data management...” 

The Buckeye Institute commented after the Ohio House passed House Bill 96—Ohio’s biennial budget, which now goes to the Ohio Senate for consideration. “The budget passed by the Ohio House includes several good policies that prioritize the needs of Ohio’s K-12 students, improve Ohio’s higher education system, and put reasonable guardrails on the state’s ever-growing Medicaid program. However, this budget assumes a rosy financial picture that is not certain.”
 

The Buckeye Institute filed public comments with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services supporting Ohio’s 1115 Medicaid Work and Community Engagement Waiver application that, if approved, will allow the state to implement work and education requirements for healthy adult Ohioans younger than 55 who receive Medicaid benefits. “Medicaid work and education requirements, which only apply to healthy working-age adults, help people stay connected to the workforce and find good paying jobs.”

The Buckeye Institute commented on the newly released jobs report from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, saying, “Better news came in the payroll survey, which revised January job numbers up by 5,000 and reported that 25,000 new private-sector jobs were added in February. These gains are a bright spot for the Ohio job market.”