New Partners, No Surprises
Posted June 13, 2013 in eNews
In this week’s eNews — Ohio governor’s office supports industry sector partnerships, the Senate approves its version of the budget, and Policy Matters welcomes its summer interns.
Picking partners – The Governor’s Office of Workforce Transformation announced this week that it supports industry sector partnerships. This approach – which brings together employers, educators and training providers, economic and workforce development officials, labor and community allies to develop training for in-demand occupations – has led to better jobs in other states. It’s great to see our governor trying to create similar opportunities in Ohio.
No surprises – For the past few weeks, the Senate has been busy crafting its version of Ohio’s budget. The Senate did not restore Medicaid expansion, which the House removed from Gov. Kasich’s proposal, but senators did include a grab bag of tax breaks and further reduced transparency for existing local tax incentives. Zach Schiller told the Senate Finance Committee as it considered the bill that HB 59 does not address the most important tax issues facing Ohio: ensuring that the state has the revenue it needs for crucial investments in our future, meeting principles of simplicity, and creating a broad tax base. The budget has now moved to conference committee.
Meet the interns – Summer’s almost here, which means we’ve welcomed an amazing new crop of interns. Working as research assistants in Cleveland: Natalie Davis and Jen DePaoli from Ohio State; Lauren Klingshirn from College of Wooster; Michelle Newman from University of Akron; Evan Pelecky from Case Law; and Shubo Yin from Yale. In Columbus: Ryan Thombs from Otterbein and Brian Williams from Ohio State. This energetic group reminds us that, whatever worries we have about the future, there are plenty of brilliant young people eager to take on Ohio’s challenges.