In this episode of America At Its Best, The Buckeye Institute’s president and chief executive officer Robert Alt joins State Policy Network to share Buckeye’s story of how the Institute’s litigation helped topple one of the biggest examples of government overreach in 2021: The Biden administration's vaccine mandate on private businesses.
In a new policy memo, How Ohio Should Spend Phase II of American Rescue Plan Funds, The Buckeye Institute recommends that Ohio use its second payment from the American Rescue Plan Act to “replenish the state’s unemployment trust fund to its pre-pandemic balance and safeguard families and businesses from future downturns and tax increases.” To take advantage of a federal grace period and avoid a “maintenance of effort” provision, state lawmakers must adopt this strategic use-of-funds policy before April 1, 2022.
The New York Times features The Buckeye Institute’s client Eric Flannery, who was forced to close down his popular burger joint, The Big Board, after the District of Columbia recently suspended both his liquor license and operating license because he welcomed all customers regardless of their vaccination status.
In a new policy memo, Ohio’s Data Privacy Tradeoff, The Buckeye Institute outlined how lawmakers can improve the Ohio Personal Privacy Act (House Bill 376) to make good policy even better. While the “legislation is not perfect and improvements can be made,” the “Ohio Personal Privacy Act would be among the best data privacy laws enacted or being considered.”
The Buckeye Institute released its latest policy brief, Federal Rates are Temporary, But Expansion is Forever: The Significant Financial Risks for States Considering Medicaid Expansion, which outlines the permanent consequences for Wyoming should it opt into Medicaid expansion and later seek to opt-out. “Advocates of an opt-in/opt-out strategy for Medicaid expansion in Wyoming naïvely assume that Medicaid expansion can be explored risk-free when a clear reading of NFIB v. Sebelius states otherwise.”
The Buckeye Institute has won its case—Phillips v. OSHA—challenging the OSHA vaccine mandate with the Biden Administration conceding that Buckeye’s clients were ultimately likely to prevail in their legal challenge. The Biden Administration is not fighting the case any further and entirely withdrew its emergency temporary standard rule. “The U.S. Supreme Court was perfectly clear that the Biden Administration’s vaccine mandate exceeds OSHA’s authority, and our clients have won their rightful victory and prevailed in this important case while the Biden Administration finally admitted defeat.”
The Buckeye Institute released a new report, Sustainable Ohio: How to Fund Ohio’s Cities in the 21st Century, which offers a blueprint for how Ohio can move away from its outmoded local income tax system—that heavily relies on nonresident taxpayers—and towards a property or sales tax system that will fund city services in a much more sustainable way. By transitioning to the new funding system Ohio’s cities can better provide government services, attract and retain businesses and workers, and offer residents the economic growth and opportunity they deserve.
The Buckeye Institute commented on the newly released jobs report from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, saying, “Ohio experienced another strong jobs report in December—with the unemployment rate falling to 4.5 percent and the labor market participation rate increasing to 61.5 percent—to end 2021 on a strong note…As Ohio enters its third year of dealing with the pandemic, it is clear policymakers need to do more to spur economic growth and adopt policies that will attract employers to the state.”
The Buckeye Institute filed its appeal brief in Kolkowski v. Ashtabula Area Teachers Association with Ohio’s Eleventh District Court of Appeals, urging the court to recognize that a union—which Barbara Kolkowski is not a member of—cannot force her to accept union legal representation to arbitrate her workplace grievance. “The Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, Ohio case law, and Ohio’s collective bargaining statute are clear: employees have the right to choose their own counsel in a workplace arbitration.”
The Buckeye Institute filed its appeal in Buckeye v. Kilgore with the Ohio Supreme Court asking the court to hear the case and recognize Ohio’s emergency-based local income tax system—where the state forced people to work from home, but nonetheless deemed their work to have been performed in a higher-taxed office location—as unconstitutional. “The Buckeye Institute is asking the Ohio Supreme Court to reaffirm that established and commonsense limits on municipal taxation, and the Due Process Clause, apply—even during a pandemic.” ;
