House Bill 1 would create a nonprofit corporation called JobsOhio that would take over control of the Ohio Department of Development. Ohio’s economic development efforts need more transparency and accountability, not less, as this bill proposes. And a history of states that have privatized their development efforts by the national policy resource center Good Jobs First found performance problems and diminished accountability. Wendy Patton, senior associate at Policy Matters Ohio, and Phil Mattera, research director at Good Jobs First, presented testimony on each of these topics at a Jan. 26 hearing on the bill before Ohio House State Government and Elections Committee.

Read Wendy Patton’s testimony

Read Phil Mattera’s testimony

Read the Good Jobs First report

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