The U.S. Supreme Court recently, in Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Association, held an act of Congress that prohibited sports betting in all states but Nevada was unconstitutional.  This decision opens the door to sports betting in states like Ohio.  However, the decision really leaves policy makers with four critical policy decision very much shaped by […]

Once a corporate site location trigger is pulled, a company often will utilize a team of consultants, accountants, lawyers and real estate brokers to research the best location for the company’s job and capital investment consolidation, retention or expansion and negotiate tax incentives, infrastructure finance and real estate terms.  As local, state and federal government

Corporate site location is a process whereby a company decides where to grow jobs and make a capital investment based upon the hope of retaining or creating jobs.  Specific triggers exist that tell a company they should undertake a corporate site location process.  These triggers may include the upcoming ending of a real estate lease,

The largest social and economic crisis facing Ohio communities is the devastation brought on by the invasion of opioids and other drugs in the community.  Unfortunately, Ohio is a leader in drug overdose deaths with over 4000 deaths in 2016.  As the chart below from the Center for Disease Control illustrates, Ohio has the second

With the growth in Ohio state government spending, the upcoming Fiscal Year (FY) 2020-22 operating budget is anticipated to be a challenging awaiting a new Governor and the 132nd  Ohio  General Assembly  that will include a new Speaker of the Ohio House.  HB 9 from the 131st General Assembly created the Ohio Tax Expenditure Committee that

Political consultants of all stripes agree that negative advertisement in campaigns work.  Well, the 2018 Ohio Republican Primary Election is working to be one of the nastiest in recent history—from the Governor’s race to Treasurer of State to the battle for who will be the next Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives. First, the

The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) affects every household in Ohio. That’s because the PUCO regulates providers of all kinds of utility services, including electric and natural gas companies, local and long distance telephone companies, water and wastewater companies, rail and trucking companies. The PUCO was created to assure Ohioans adequate, safe and reliable

Ohio Governor John Kasich signed the state of Ohio Capital Budget into law—his last capital bill as Governor.  The billion dollar capital budget funded a wide array of education, mental health, opioid, and community projects. As in past years, the largest portion of capital appropriations supports repairs, renovations and new primary and secondary education facilities

Love him or hate him, there seems to be no in-between, President Donald Trump has touched on at least one issue many Democrats and Republicans both believe needs to be addressed—infrastructure.  Regions and states are struggling to finance their public infrastructure.  A $170,000,000,000 infrastructure funding gap exists.   Recently, President Trump announced a $1.5 T infrastructure

The availability of low cost, reliable energy is critical to economic success.  Energy Lead Economic Development capitalizes on existing regional natural energy resources and creates wealth through long term sustainable development strategies.  Energy is a heavily regulated industry at the state and federal level.  Ohio deregulated the retail delivery of its electric and natural gas