Week in Review: March 17, 2024

ATTORNEY GENERAL

Ohio is one of a dozen states to date challenging the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission's (SEC) newly released climate rule on corporate disclosures, lodging an appeal late Wednesday with the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. The split commission's 896-page order requires publicly traded companies to report their climate business model, greenhouse gas emissions, climate goals and governance, and business costs from severe weather including "hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding, drought, wildfires, extreme temperatures and sea level rise," among other mandates. Ohio is leading a three-state challenge with Kentucky and Tennessee in the 6th Circuit, while neighboring Indiana and West Virginia have joined eight other complainants including New Hampshire, Virginia, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, Oklahoma and Wyoming in the 12th Circuit.

FY25-26 CAPITAL APPROPRIATIONS

The Ohio Public Works Commission (OPWC) is hoping to avoid delay in capital appropriations legislation that could affect timing for local government infrastructure projects now in the pipeline. Both chambers have agreed to additional funding for OPWC programs, but in separate vehicles -- HB2 (Cutrona-Upchurch) in the House, HB27 (Mathews-J. Thomas) in the Senate. The House approved $400 million for the State Capital Improvement Program (SCIP), which funds road, bridge, water, sewer and other projects in local communities. The Senate followed suit in its bill, also providing $100 million in revolving loan funds and $75 million for Clean Ohio projects, also administered by OPWC.

ECONOMY

According to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS), Ohio's unemployment rate rose to 3.7% in January, up from a revised 3.6 percent in December, as the state added 12,900 jobs. Friday, March 8 was the release of January's unemployment numbers for Ohio instead of in February due to the annual benchmarking revision process. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the national unemployment numbers for February, showing an increase to 3.9%, up from 3.7% in January, as the nation added 275,000 jobs. ODJFS said the number of workers unemployed in Ohio in January was 212,000, up from 210,000 in December. The number of unemployed has decreased by 6,000 in the past 12 months from 218,000. The January unemployment rate for Ohio decreased 0.1 percentage points from 3.8% in January 2023. The U.S. unemployment rate for January 2024 was 3.7%, unchanged from 3.7 percent in December 2023 and up from 3.4% in January 2023

ELECTIONS 2024

According to the secretary of state's office, 347,489 absentee ballots have been requested so far ahead of the Tuesday, March 19 primary, and 259,988 have been cast. The data collected through a survey of the 88 county boards of elections reflect absentee ballot activity through Monday, March 11. According to the secretary of state, 210,106 of the absentee ballots requested were by mail, while 137,383 were requested in person. Of the 259,988 cast, 92,363 were by mail, while 137,383 were cast in person. There are currently 87,501 absentee ballots outstanding. Of the ballots requested, 97,909 are Democratic ballots, 100,669 are Republican, and 11,528 are nonpartisan.