The Buckeye Institute testified before the Ohio House Public Insurance and Pensions Committee on the policies in Ohio House Bill 473, which includes “reform[s] that will help local governments live within their means and make public employee compensation more transparent for taxpayers.” The pension pick-up loophole diverts money from public services that taxpayers expect or requires property tax hikes that taxpayers don’t—“just the sort of opaque and expensive public perk that has fueled taxpayer frustration.” 

The Buckeye Institute testified before the Ohio House Technology and Innovation Committee on the policies in Ohio House Bill 413, which will open local government accounting books to the public. “Local governments and jurisdictions are already required to make tax collection and spending information available upon taxpayer request. House Bill 413 simply “streamlines that process by making local revenues and expenditures immediately accessible online, eliminating the need for residents to file time-consuming public records requests and wait weeks for a response.”

The Buckeye Institute testified before the Ohio House Technology and Innovation Committee on the policies in Ohio House Bill 392, which will “help position Ohio as a national leader in AI and data processing technology.” House Bill 392 establishes “clear regulatory guardrails to properly balance innovation and responsible oversight of emerging technology,” and “provides regulatory certainty for the AI sector by preventing local governments from imposing a patchwork of contradictory rules that are expensive and difficult to follow.”

The Buckeye Institute testified before the Ohio Senate Public Utilities Committee on the policies in Ohio Senate Bill 103, which takes “great strides to meet rising [energy] demand without sacrificing consumer protections.” At its core, the bill reforms Ohio’s rigid regulatory procedures for natural gas project approvals through the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO).

The Buckeye Institute testified before the Ohio House Government Oversight Committee on the policies in Ohio House Bill 176, which will boost innovation, help businesses access capital, and help consumers access better and safer products. In the testimony, The Buckeye Institute noted that, if adopted, House Bill 176 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.” 

The Buckeye Institute testified before the Ohio House Ways and Means Committee on the policies in Ohio House Bill 309, which empowers county budget commissions to reduce property tax levies if those levies collect more than approved by voters. This is one of the 10 recommendations The Buckeye Institute offered to the Property Tax Reform Working Group to lower Ohio’s soaring property taxes. Find more Buckeye Institute recommendations to reform local government and lower property taxes at BuckeyeInstitute.org/LocalGovReform.

The Buckeye Institute filed two sets of public comments—one from Buckeye’s policy experts, the other from Buckeye’s legal experts—outlining the technical and legal reasons the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should rescind its 2009 greenhouse gas endangerment finding and motor-vehicle greenhouse gas standards, which have driven up the price of cars and trucks for American consumers.

The Buckeye Institute submitted written testimony at the invitation of Ohio’s Property Tax Reform Working Group. Buckeye’s testimony outlines 10 specific recommendations to reform local government and reduce the soaring property tax burden afflicting Ohio homeowners. In his testimony, Greg R. Lawson, a research fellow at The Buckeye Institute, noted that the driving force behind increasing property taxes is the “ever-rising cost of maintaining Ohio’s extraordinarily complicated local government structure.”

In public comments, The Buckeye Institute urged the U.S. EPA to ensure Americans have access to reliable energy sources and repeal its impractical emission standards for new and existing power plants. In its comments, The Buckeye Institute: 1) outlines how the EPA’s unworkable emission standards threaten the availability of reliable and affordable electricity, and 2) offers an impact analysis that is grounded in feasibility, measurable outcomes, and realistic compliance outcomes. 

The Buckeye Institute testified before the Ohio House Ways and Means Committee on the policies in Ohio House Bill 335, which, if adopted, will be a bold, decisive, and much-needed step towards comprehensive property tax reform in Ohio. In the testimony, The Buckeye Institute noted that the policies in House Bill 335 are “sorely needed to protect Ohio taxpayers from an outmoded, undemocratic system that has cost them dearly.