The Buckeye Institute testified before the Ohio Senate General Government Committee on the policies in Senate Bill 158, which protects local taxpayers from unaccountable, unelected boards proposing risky spending projects. In his testimony, Greg R. Lawson, a research fellow at The Buckeye Institute, noted that the “so-called ‘People’s Budget’ proposal” on the November ballot in Cleveland would allow an unelected, unaccountable board of citizens to spend $14 million in taxpayer dollars “without public accountability or oversight.”

As Americans face ever higher prices at the gas pump, The Buckeye Institute filed public comments detailing how a proposed U.S. Bureau of Land Management rule would lead to higher energy prices and risk U.S. energy security. “Americans are already paying record prices at the pump, and the Biden administration’s proposed rule will only increase prices further, making it harder for struggling Americans to make ends meet.”

The Buckeye Institute joined Mountain States Legal Foundation in filing an amicus brief in Coalition for TJ v. Fairfax County School Board, calling on the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case and find that the school board’s use of race to determine admissions to Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJ) violates the equal protect clause of the U.S. Constitution. “This case gives the high court the opportunity to make it clear that Students for Fair Admissions applies to all educational institutions, including TJ.”

The Buckeye Institute testified before the Ohio House Ways and Means Committee on the policies in House Bill 199, which eliminates the marriage penalty tax in Ohio’s tax code. In his testimony, Greg R. Lawson, a research fellow at The Buckeye Institute, noted that although Ohio needs “comprehensive tax and spending reform,” House Bill 199 corrects a problem in Ohio’s tax code that results in married couples often paying “more in taxes than they would if they filed separately.”

The Buckeye Institute filed public comments with the Ohio Supreme Court urging the court to adopt the proposed amendments and admit qualified part-time attorneys—practicing in other jurisdictions—to the Ohio Bar without needless regulatory hardships. “By removing needless regulatory restriction, Ohio would encourage part-time attorneys to move to the Buckeye State, increasing the availability and affordability of legal services to those in need.”

The Buckeye Institute led a coalition of free-market organizations in filing public comments on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed rule for new and existing fossil fuel-fired power plants. The Frontier Institute in Montana, Caesar Rodney Institute in Delaware, John Locke Foundation in North Carolina, and Mackinac Center for Public Policy in Michigan joined Buckeye in filing the comments. The proposed rule could exacerbate the impending energy security and reliability crisis.

The Buckeye Institute testified on the policies in Ohio Senate Bill 122, which will set consistent statewide conditions for defendants being released on bail while they await trial—just as voters authorized when they overwhelmingly passed Issue 1 in 2022. The bill will make “Ohio’s pre-trial procedures more consistent with the Fourteenth Amendment’s due process protections and the Sixth Amendment’s guarantee of the right to a speedy trial” and will put Ohio on “the long road to comprehensive bail reform.”

The Buckeye Institute filed public comments on the Office of Management and Budget’s proposed changes to how the federal government determines the economic and social impacts of proposed federal regulations, which, if adopted, will make it easier to justify economically reckless regulations. “All in all, [the proposed changes] stack[] the deck in the regulator’s favor, making it easier to justify economically reckless regulations that encroach on freedoms enjoyed by American industries and citizenry.” 

The Buckeye Institute testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government, a subcommittee of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee. In his testimony, Andrew M. Grossman, a senior legal fellow at The Buckeye Institute, highlighted the “use and abuse of ‘sue and settle’ tactics in litigation against the government,” which Grossman noted, “seeks to compel [federal] agency action, set agency priorities, and (in some instances) influence the content of regulations or other agency actions.”
 

The Buckeye Institute testified before the Ohio Senate Finance Committee on the tax reform policies in Ohio House Bill 33, Ohio’s biennial budget noting that “the country is in the midst of a flat-tax revolution,” with nine states already abandoning progressive, graduated income taxes and five more poised to join the revolution. Buckeye urged the Senate to take this “golden opportunity to enact overdue, comprehensive tax reforms and join a flat-tax revolution.”