Week in Review: Jan. 14, 2024

CITIES

The DeWine administration announced Monday the Department of Development (DOD) is now accepting proposals for the Innovation Hubs program, which provides $125 million for small and medium-sized Ohio cities to create hubs like the existing innovation districts in Columbus, Cleveland and Cincinnati. This follows the release of guidelines in November. The program is meant to make Ohio "a national leader in innovation, creating new jobs and business opportunities by supporting world-class research in industry-aligned platforms that build upon Ohio's existing legacy industries and research strengths," according to the administration.

ECONOMY

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics announced Friday that the nation added 216,000 non-agricultural jobs in December for a stable jobless rate of 3.7% totaling 6.3 million people. Employment continued to improve in government, health care, social assistance and construction, while transportation and warehousing lost jobs. Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (3.5%), adult women (3.3%), teenagers (11.9%), Whites (3.5%), Blacks (5.2%), Asians (3.1%), and Hispanics (5%) showed little change in December, BLS said. The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) remained at 1.2 million persons and accounted for 19.7% of all unemployed persons.

ELECTIONS 2024

Secretary of State Frank LaRose announced that 18 candidates have been certified to appear on Ohio's Tuesday, March 19 primary ballot. Validated candidates for president include Chris Christie (R); Ron DeSantis (R); Nikki R. Haley (R); Vivek Ramaswamy (R); Donald J. Trump (R); Joseph R. Biden (D); and Dean Phillips (D).

GENERAL ASSEMBLY/STATEHOUSE

The newly-formed Joint Committee on Property Tax Review and Reform met for the first time Wednesday to learn more about the current state of property taxation in Ohio. The committee was created as a part of HB33 (Edwards) with the purpose of making recommendations on pending legislation related to property taxation. The committee is co-chaired by Sen. Louis Blessing (R-Cincinnati) and Rep. Bill Roemer (R-Richfield), and Rep. Dan Troy (D-Willowick) is ranking member. Additional committee members include Sen. Bill DeMora (D-Columbus), Sen. Sandra O'Brien (R-Rome), Sen. George Lang (R-West Chester), Sen. Hearcel Craig (D-Columbus), Rep. Bride Rose Sweeney (D-Cleveland), Rep. Tracy Richardson (R-Marysville) and Rep. Tom Young (R-Dayton). Roemer said the committee reflects the importance of property tax to everyone who lives in Ohio but conceded "there's probably only two people in the state of Ohio who understand property taxes, and they disagree."

WORKFORCE

The U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) Wage and Hour Division announced Wednesday it has an online search tool meant to help over 4,200 Ohio workers receive back wages they are due totaling more than $1.7 million. A "significant portion" of the money has been unclaimed because the workers cannot be located, USDOL said. The search tool is available at https://webapps.dol.gov/wow.