The Buckeye Institute has successfully won settlements for Ohioans across the state against unions that refused to recognize the First Amendment rights of hardworking public employees, which the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed in its 2018 Janus v. AFSCME decision. Buckeye’s Legal Center secured victories with the unions agreeing to refund dues taken after the employees had officially ended their union membership.

Rea S. Hederman Jr., executive director of the Economic Research Center at The Buckeye Institute and vice president of policy, commented on newly released employment data from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, saying, “With a jobs report that shows a rise in the unemployment rate, a sharp decline in the labor force participation rate, and a loss of 14,200 private-sector jobs, it is a concerning signal that Ohio’s recovery could be weakening.”

In the Akron Beacon Journal, The Buckeye Institute highlights the downside of government-owned and controlled internet broadband service. Greg R. Lawson, a research fellow at The Buckeye Institute, writes, “The Buckeye Institute has noted numerous examples, from more than a decade of research, of GONs offering services that are already available from private providers, failing to attract enough customers to achieve financial stability and opaquely channeling taxpayer dollars away from critical government services.”

The Buckeye Institute filed its amicus brief in Tiger Lily v. United States Department of Housing and Urban Development with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, calling on the court to end the nationwide eviction moratorium. “The Buckeye Institute is asking the court of appeals to affirm the district court’s decision that Congress did not give Centers for Disease Control and Prevention the authority to rewrite millions of private rental agreements across the country.”

Rea S. Hederman Jr., executive director of the Economic Research Center at The Buckeye Institute and vice president of policy, issued a statement on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in California v. Texas, saying, “With the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in California v. Texas the Affordable Care Act (ACA) remains in place as do a host of problems with the country’s health care system caused by the ACA—most notably increasing health care costs.”
 

A new report, Taxing Beyond Borders: Principles for Ohio’s Tax Policy After South Dakota v. Wayfair, released by the Economic Research Center at The Buckeye Institute and the National Taxpayers Union Foundation, looks at the impact the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2018 decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair has had on tax policy in Ohio and how lawmakers can craft a simple, easy-to-use e-commerce tax policy that doesn’t harm the state’s economy.

As the Conference Committee begins its work on Ohio’s biennial budget and analyzes some hotly-contested issues, The Buckeye Institute released its Keep, Cut, Change policy guidance memo with recommendations for which version of the budget—House or Senate—should be adopted and what should be cut or changed.

In Crain’s Cleveland Business, The Buckeye Institute outlines why the decision to end participation in the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation Program was the right decision for Ohio, with Logan Kolas, an economic policy analyst with the Economic Research Center at The Buckeye Institute, writing, “Ohio should prioritize policies and incentives that get Ohioans back to work and its businesses back to business as usual.”

Robert Alt, president and chief executive officer of The Buckeye Institute, issued a statement on Substitute House Bill 110, Ohio’s biennial operating budget, which was passed by the Ohio Senate on Wednesday, saying, “As the Conference Committee begins its work to finalize Ohio’s budget, The Buckeye Institute looks forward to helping lawmakers ensure the fiscal strength of our state is sound.”

The Buckeye Institute testified before the Ohio Senate Workforce and Higher Education Committee on the policies in Senate Bill 131, which would adopt universal occupational license recognition for people moving to Ohio. In his testimony, Greg R. Lawson, a research fellow at The Buckeye Institute, outlined the solution to Ohio’s unnecessarily burdensome occupational license regime—universal occupational license recognition.