Columbus, OH – On Tuesday, The Buckeye Institute testified (see full text below or download a PDF) before the Ohio Senate General Government Committee on the policies in Ohio Senate Bill 90, which will help businesses bring new products to market safely. 

In his testimony, Greg R. Lawson, a senior research fellow at The Buckeye Institute, notes that “Senate Bill 90 adopts a universal regulatory sandbox to help Ohio businesses and regulators work together to bring products to market safely and with fewer bureaucratic hurdles,” and points out that the bill’s policies will benefit “entrepreneurs, business startups, and consumers by encouraging teamwork between businesses and state regulators.”

By adopting the universal regulatory sandbox in Senate Bill 90, Ohio will cut “bureaucratic red tape so that businesses can develop innovative new products safely and more affordably.”

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Bringing Products to Market Safely

Interested Party Testimony
Ohio Senate General Government Committee
Ohio Senate Bill 90

Greg R. Lawson
Senior Research Fellow
The Buckeye Institute
March 24, 2026

As Prepared for Delivery

Chair Roegner, Vice Chair Gavarone, Ranking Member Blackshear, and members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify regarding Ohio Senate Bill 90.

My name is Greg R. Lawson, I am a senior research fellow at The Buckeye Institute, an independent research and educational institution—a think tank—whose mission is to advance free-market public policy in the states.

Senate Bill 90 adopts a universal regulatory sandbox to help Ohio businesses and regulators work together to bring products to market safely and with fewer bureaucratic hurdles. Expanding upon the state’s financial sector sandbox, Senate Bill 90 would make Ohio the sixth state with a universal sandbox across economic sectors, benefiting entrepreneurs, business startups, and consumers by encouraging teamwork between businesses and state regulators.

Businesses like regulatory sandboxes because they can react more quickly to changing market conditions. Sandboxes make regulatory compliance more affordable, particularly for entrepreneurs, and help businesses access more capital and tolerate more risk, critical needs for startups and expansions. Regulatory sandboxes help consumers by improving access to better, safer products. 

In addition to significantly expanding the state’s sandbox model to all sectors, House Bill 176 also substantially improves Ohio’s current financial sector sandbox by extending its timeline from two to five years. The longer time horizon will help businesses recoup their investments, which will decrease their risk. And the bill wisely creates a path to reciprocity with other states that have adopted their own sandboxes so that Ohio regulators can make it easier for businesses to innovate across state lines. Ohio agriculture, for example, could benefit from innovations in DNA soil sampling and drone crop analysis currently pursued in Mississippi’s agricultural sandbox. And Ohio healthcare could see innovative artificial intelligence (AI) and insurance reforms developed alongside regulators in AI healthcare sandboxes, which will continue Ohio’s move to the fore of the healthcare technology field.

Adopting the universal regulatory sandbox in Senate Bill 90 will help and encourage Ohio entrepreneurs, protect consumers, and improve the state’s regulatory structure by cutting bureaucratic red tape so that businesses can develop innovative new products safely and more affordably. 

Thank you for your time and attention. I would be happy to answer any questions that the Committee might have.

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