In a new policy memo, Policy Solutions for the Pandemic: Enlisting Pharmacists to Fight COVID-19, released Wednesday, The Buckeye Institute outlines how Ohio can relieve some of the burdens on other health care workers by allowing pharmacists to test for COVID-19 and treat common illnesses. This new policy memo builds on the recommendations in Policy Solutions for the Pandemic: How Ohio Can Fight the Impact of Coronavirus, which outlined immediate actions Ohio policymakers can take to ensure Ohio is ready to fight and recover from the pandemic. 

In The Columbus Dispatch, Buckeye’s Rea Hederman looks at policy solutions that can get Ohio through the pandemic. Hederman writes, “Responding to COVID-19 requires leadership, fortitude, cooperation and clear thinking. It requires public officials, businesses, volunteer organizations and individuals working together with our health care communities to keep our families healthy and our economy strong. This can and will be done, and Ohio will make a full recovery.”

Andrew J. Kidd, Ph.D., an economist with The Buckeye Institute’s Economic Research Center, commented on newly released employment data from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, saying, “February’s jobs report now serves as a baseline to mark where Ohio’s economy stood before the onset of this crisis and where we hope to return following the social and economic upheaval caused by the coronavirus.”

The Buckeye Institute’s policy brief, Policy Solutions for the Pandemic: How Ohio Can Fight the Impact of Coronavirus, was highlighted in the Washington Examiner with columnist Quin Hillyer writing of Buckeye’s suggestions, “While the suggestions are Ohio-specific, other states certainly could, and in most cases probably should, emulate them.”

A new policy brief, Policy Solutions for the Pandemic: How Ohio Can Fight the Impact of Coronavirus, released Monday by The Buckeye Institute, outlines immediate actions Ohio policymakers can take to ensure Ohio is ready to fight and recover from the pandemic. The recommendations focus on policies to boost Ohio’s health care system and support Ohio’s workers, small businesses, and the economy.

Andrew J. Geisler, a visiting legal fellow with The Buckeye Institute’s Legal Center, filed public comments on Thursday in response to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s proposed regulatory clarification that the Migratory Bird Treaty Act’s criminal conduct and penalty provisions apply only to those intentionally harming migratory birds. This proposed clarification will help rein in overcriminalization.

In The Center Square, Buckeye’s Rea Hederman looks at a new rule by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that requires wholesale electricity grid operator, PJM, to set a new price floor for bids to supply electric capacity to PJM’s 13-state mid-Atlantic/Midwest region. State utility regulators in the region are unimpressed by the rule some have even threatened to leave the PJM market altogether. Such threats are premature and could be bad for customers.

Andrew J. Kidd, Ph.D., an economist with The Buckeye Institute’s Economic Research Center, commented on newly released employment data from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, saying, “Ohio’s consistent, albeit slow, job growth tells us that policymakers need to focus on adopting deeper economic reforms and pro-growth policies that have been outlined by The Buckeye Institute…to encourage private-sector job growth and attract workers to Ohio.”

On the Caffeinated Thoughts blog, Buckeye’s Andrew Kidd and TEF-Iowa’s John Hendrickson look how tax reform in Iowa can lead to relief for taxpayers and economic growth for the state. Kidd and Hendrickson write, “The Invest in Iowa Act takes a solid stride on a better path forward, but it is not the final word on tax reform…Even lower income tax rates and fewer special interest carve-outs and credits, for example, would help Iowa get off the ‘least tax-friendly states in the nation’ list.”

The Buckeye Institute announced that Michael G. Franc has joined its team as senior fellow. Based in Washington, D.C., Franc will promote Buckeye’s efforts to advance free-market public policy at the federal level. Franc joins Buckeye from his position at the Hoover Institution, where he serves as director of D.C. programs and also is a research fellow.