Making Ohio’s Economy Grow
By The IntelligencerLike most other states, Ohio has taken its share of battering as the nation's economy struggles with challenges ranging from high gasoline prices to the "subprime mortgage crisis." Here in the Ohio Valley, where the steel industry remains under siege, we are all too familiar with the trials and travails of a changing economy.
But as Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland pointed out in a speech a few days ago in Cleveland, the Buckeye State's economy rests on a strong foundation. The potential for continued growth exists.
Strickland and other state leaders are well aware that government has a two-pronged responsibility in encouraging growth. First, the state's business tax climate needs to be appealing. As the governor pointed out, changes now being implemented in business taxes should make Ohio more attractive in that regard. And a $1.57 billion economic stimulus program will help.
But the other side of the coin involves state regulations that businesses often view as unnecessarily burdensome. Strickland and the General Assembly hope to make progress there, too.
In February, the governor issued an executive order, "Implementing Common Sense Business Regulation," that was intended to provide a blueprint for reform. It detailed various steps needed to ensure that, while Ohioans' interests are protected, businesses do not suffer from needless paperwork and expenses to comply with state regulations. Legislators followed up by passing a bill, later signed into law, that should make life easier for small business owners. It requires that state agencies waive fines or other penalties for "paperwork violations" committed by small businesses, when they are first offenses.
That's a good start - but much more remains to be done. Strickland and reform-minded legislators face a fearsome adversary: the state bureaucracy.
A section of Strickland's executive order in February hit the problem squarely on the head. "Proposed rules should focus on achieving outcomes rather than the process used to achieve compliance," the governor wrote in that order. But "the process" is precisely why many bureaucratic rules exist. Ohioans simply cannot afford for that mindset to persist among state regulators. If the state is to be made more attractive to businesses, change will have to be pushed by both Strickland and legislators.
