Through our work at The Buckeye Institute, we fight for policies that expand and protect our freedoms, defend free speech from those who attempt to silence diverse opinions, reign in government power and overreach, and empower citizens to follow their dreams. And what better way to celebrate Constitution Day!
The Buckeye Institute testified today before the Ohio Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, recommending that policymakers “fundamentally re-think Ohio’s tried-and-failed approach to public school funding.” “A robust rethinking of public education funding could address a number of perennial problems with Ohio’s current system and, more importantly, begin to close the persistent academic achievement gaps and re-segregation concerns that have plagued our state-run schools for years.”
In The Daily Signal, Robert Alt outlines why forced exclusive representation is unconstitutional, and why The Buckeye Institute is fighting for the First Amendment rights of hardworking public employees, writing: “The next legal challenge after Janus will indeed come from these same so-called free riders, the non-members who demand the freedom to negotiate, speak, and bargain for themselves, rather than accept union representation that they do not want.”
The Buckeye Institute has been named a finalist for the prestigious Templeton Freedom Award, which is presented each year by the Atlas Network at its annual Freedom Dinner in New York City. The Buckeye Institute was recognized for its success in “fix[ing] a broken criminal justice system, law by law” in Ohio. “We are grateful and honored to be recognized by Atlas Network for our tireless work on criminal justice reform…We hope our unique model for criminal justice reform will serve as an example for other states to follow.”
"On August 2, Governor John Kasich issued a disappointing veto to Senate Bill 221, which would have given elected members of the General Assembly greater oversight over the rule making process and government regulations implemented by unelected bureaucrats," writes Greg Lawson in his lastest blog.
In The Hill, Robert Alt and Andrew Grossman—lead attorneys representing clients in Maine, Minnesota, and Ohio—ask, “If it violates the First Amendment to compel financial support for union advocacy, how on earth can unions assert that they have the right to represent and speak for the unwilling?”
In the St. Cloud Times, Professor Kathy Uradnik, Buckeye’s client and a political science professor at St. Cloud State University, explains why she is suing her union, writing, “I did not make this decision lightly. I come from a blue collar, union family with a long tradition of union membership…Regrettably, however, unions like the IFO too often 'represent' their members by taking advantage of and discriminating against non-members like me.”
In The Columbus Dispatch, Buckeye’s Rea Hederman questions what Ohioans have actually learned from the 2018 Medicaid expansion assessment report writing, “It is important to point out that the government’s report did not include a critical piece of information — the methodology explaining how the data was collected… The lack of a methodology makes it impossible to validate the report’s claims and taxpayers and the media are left to wonder if Ohio really is healthier and more prosperous due to Medicaid expansion.”
The Buckeye Institute filed its third lawsuit in Maine calling for an immediate end to laws that compel public-sector employees who have refused to join a union to accept forced union representation. “In filing this lawsuit, and others like it across the country, The Buckeye Institute is calling for an end to the unconstitutional, un-American, and unfair practice of compelled ‘exclusive representation.’ It is long past time to recognize that public employees have the same right to speak for themselves that everyone else has.”
Should we be happy that the government is bringing in more money than it spends? A surprising question given the ongoing discussion of this country’s national debt crisis. Yet this past year, Ohio collected more in taxes than it needed.
