In a public comment, The Buckeye Institute called on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives to adopt its proposed rule eliminating the federal permission requirement for interstate transport of National Firearms Act firearms and to further clarify that personal, non-commercial transportation of short-barreled rifles does not require advance ATF authorization.

In a public comment filed with the Ohio Department of Medicaid, The Buckeye Institute urged officials to adopt two proposed rule changes that will strengthen programmatic oversight, close a real gap in fraud detection, better train providers, improve billing and documentation standards to help prevent improper and fraudulent payments, preserve reasonable flexibility for care providers, and help avoid disruptions to patient care.

The Buckeye Institute submitted a public comment to the Ohio Supreme Court, urging the court to adopt a proposed amendment that would allow non-lawyer professionals, such as appraisers, accountants, and real estate brokers, to present evidence and represent homeowners at county board of revision hearings. Buckeye’s comment argues that expanded non-lawyer representation would lower the cost of challenging a property valuation in Ohio, particularly for lower-income homeowners seeking to correct inaccurate assessments.

The Buckeye Institute filed a public comment with the Ohio Supreme Court, urging it to adopt changes to the Government of the Bar Rules and expand law school accreditation options beyond the American Bar Association. The court’s proposed amendments come on the heels of changes at the federal level that would make it easier for new accreditors to receive recognition. The court’s proposed amendments dovetail with the proposed federal changes and will increase competition in law school accreditation and make accreditors more accountable.

The Buckeye Institute filed public comments with the Ohio Supreme Court, urging the court to adopt proposed amendments to the common pleas statistical reporting form, writing, “For more than a decade, The Buckeye Institute has championed commonsense public safety reforms. Unfortunately, Ohio’s balkanized court system makes it difficult for stakeholders and policymakers to obtain reliable data on criminal cases necessary for effective policymaking. The proposed amendments to the common pleas statistical reporting form take a small but meaningful step to resolve this data deficiency.”

The Buckeye Institute submitted comments to the American Bar Association Council on Law School Accreditation, urging reforms to accreditation standards to focus on student outcomes. The Buckeye Institute writes, “The ABA Standards are overbroad, burdensome, and focus on process rather than student outcome. The accreditation process itself lacks definitiveness and transparency, allowing regulators to take an ‘I know it when I see it’ approach to rule enforcement, which increases compliance costs and stifles academic freedom, institutional innovation, and competition.”

This comment, submitted by The Buckeye Institute, supports repealing the American Bar Association’s Standard 303(c) requirement that law schools must mandate bias training to receive ABA accreditation, arguing the mandate exceeds accreditation’s proper scope and imposes ideological uniformity on law schools. 

The Buckeye Institute testified before the Ohio Select Committee on Data Centers. In his testimony, Greg R. Lawson, a senior research fellow at The Buckeye Institute, noted that “legitimate constituent concerns about data center proliferation cannot be ignored,” but reminded lawmakers what is at stake for Ohio and the country and urged them to adopt policies that will secure “America’s digital infrastructure and win[ ] the race for advanced computing technology.”

The Buckeye Institute testified before the Ohio Senate Education Committee on the policies in Ohio Senate Bill 311, which will make school choice more accessible by transforming unused vacant schools into centers of learning. In his testimony, Greg R. Lawson, a senior research fellow at The Buckeye Institute, praised lawmakers for their efforts to expand school choice, but noted that “those opportunities diminish when schools cannot physically open, expand, or operate in communities where demand exists.”

The Buckeye Institute testified before the Ohio Senate Energy Committee on Ohio House Bill 646, which will set policy to govern data center development in Ohio. In his testimony, Greg R. Lawson, a senior research fellow at The Buckeye Institute, outlined how critical data centers are to Ohio’s economic development and the future of manufacturing, healthcare systems, university research, national defense, cybersecurity, communications, and financial markets.