The Buckeye Institute

Press Releases

Legal, Press Releases

The Buckeye Institute to SCOTUS: Protect Americans from Criminal Punishment Congress Did Not Specify

The Buckeye Institute filed an amicus brief in Garland v. Cargill with the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that courts must interpret criminal statutes narrowly, with leniency towards the accused. Known as the rule of lenity, this strict level of review protects Americans from criminal punishment that Congress did not specify. “With the stroke of a pen, unelected federal bureaucrats at the ATF turned more than 500,000 Americans into criminals. Something only Congress has the authority to do.” 

Press Releases

The Buckeye Institute: Ohio’s Job Market Enjoys Strong 2023 Despite Fourth Quarter Bumps

The Buckeye Institute commented on the newly released jobs report from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, noting that while “Ohio ended 2023 on a slightly down note…2023 was a good year for Ohio workers overall. The state started the year with an unemployment rate of 4.1 percent—almost half a percent higher than the current rate, and for much of 2023, Ohio’s job market outpaced the national average.”

Policy Research & Reports, Press Releases

The Buckeye Institute Outlines How Lawmakers Can Use Ohio’s Capital Budget to Increase Classroom Space

In a new policy memo, A Transformational Investment: Use Ohio’s Capital Budget to Increase Classroom Space, The Buckeye Institute urges Ohio lawmakers to “create a permanent revolving loan fund to increase student capacity at schools across Ohio—a vital need given the Ohio EdChoice program’s success and recent expansion.” Using the One-Time Strategic Community Investments Fund to “improve the state’s education infrastructure” will make “transformational investments in education.”

Policy Research & Reports, Press Releases

The Buckeye Institute: Open Ohio’s Regulatory Sandbox to All Innovators

The Buckeye Institute released a new policy brief, A Sandbox for Everything: A Universal Approach to Help Innovators, urging Ohio lawmakers to cut more regulatory red tape and “expand Ohio’s ‘regulatory sandbox’ to include all industries.” The brief outlines three improvements Ohio policymakers can take to cut more regulations and attract more innovators to the Buckeye State. “By expanding its regulatory sandbox and leading the way in creating a state-to-federal sandbox reciprocity program, Ohio will remain competitive in the innovation race.”

Legal, Press Releases

The Buckeye Institute to Ohio Supreme Court: Governments Can’t Profit from “Public Nuisance”

The Buckeye Institute filed an amicus brief with the Ohio Supreme Court in Trumbull County v. Purdue Pharma (National Prescription Opiate Litigation), arguing that awarding the government monetary damages as punishment for a public nuisance is not allowed under Ohio law. “The opioid epidemic is a tragedy that has destroyed and damaged lives across Ohio and the country. And it is appropriate, even necessary, for the courts to hold those who committed illegal acts accountable.”

Policy Research & Reports, Press Releases

The Buckeye Institute Releases Economic Freedom of North America 2023 Report

In 2023 Ohio moved up two spots in the Economic Freedom of North America 2023 report, ranking 33rd out of all 50 states. The report, released by the Economic Research Center at The Buckeye Institute in partnership with Canada’s Fraser Institute, ranks every state and province in North America based on economic freedom, measured by government spending, taxation, and labor-market freedom. 

Press Releases

The Buckeye Institute: No Christmas Surprises in Ohio’s Jobs Report

The Buckeye Institute commented on the newly released jobs report from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, saying “While not exactly a lump of coal, Ohio’s job market has slightly cooled in the last few months of the year, and in 2024, policymakers will return to Columbus facing a job market weaker than the first half of 2023. To ring in the New Year, lawmakers will need to focus on further reforms to Ohio’s tax system and modernizing the state’s economic system.”

Legal, Press Releases

The Buckeye Institute Calls on Michigan Supreme Court to Protect Homeowners from Unethical Government Practices

The Buckeye Institute filed an amicus brief in Schafer v. Kent County with Michigan’s Supreme Court, arguing that Kent County violated Michigan’s just compensation clause when it sold Matthew Schafer and Harry and Lilly Hucklebury’s homes to pay delinquent property taxes and pocketed the surplus as windfall profits. “Seizing these profits was always unconstitutional, and Kent County should be embarrassed to ask the court to let it pocket these ill-gotten gains.”

Legal, Press Releases

“The Buckeye Institute Calls on Court to Uphold Ohio’s Preemption Law, Protect Gun Owners’ Rights”

The Buckeye Institute filed an amicus brief in Cincinnati v. Ohio with Ohio’s First District Court of Appeals, calling on the court to reaffirm the constitutionality of the state’s preemption law, which protects the Second Amendment rights of Ohioans. “Yet again, officials in one of Ohio’s largest cities are attempting to address a rise in violent crime by limiting the constitutional rights of law-abiding Ohioans. While violent crime is certainly a problem that cities must address, it is irrelevant to whether Ohio’s preemption law is constitutional.”

Press Releases, Testimony & Public Comments

The Buckeye Institute: Ohio Should Ease Driver’s License Suspensions

The Buckeye Institute testified before the Ohio Senate Judiciary Committee on the policies in Ohio Senate Bill 37, which would ensure that the suspension of driver’s licenses is related to driving offenses. These policies are the “kinds of criminal justice reform that The Buckeye Institute has championed for more than a decade” and “target dangerous offenses involving operating motor vehicles, [such as] driving under the influence, and vehicular homicide.”

Scroll to Top