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How can cities reduce pedestrian deaths?
Smart Growth America’s 2022 “Dangerous by Design” report highlights the growing trend of pedestrian deaths in cities and states across the U.S. Overall, Ohio does pretty well in this report compared to other states, with only 1.18 pedestrian deaths per 100,000 people, putting it in the top half of states for safe streets. Unfortunately, the […]
What if anti-abortion activists really wanted to reduce abortion rates?
The U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision to strike down the right to family privacy around abortion care has cleared the way for Ohio’s six-week ban on legal abortion. Since about 1 in 3 women do not realize they are pregnant until six weeks or later, this bill effectively bans legal abortion care for a large […]
Ohio’s pandemic recovery lags the country’s
Last week, the Brookings Institution released an analysis of the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Ohio’s metropolitan areas. Looking at the two years from February 2020 to March 2022, the analysis tracks 192 U.S. metro areas’ economic trajectory from the beginning of the pandemic until the spring of 2022. Included in the analysis […]
How can rural Ohio build a tech workforce?
Last month, the Center on Rural Innovation released a report on the rural tech workforce in America. The report was designed well, combining original surveys of rural adults and employers with a broad labor market dataset and an extensive interview battery to draw insights into what America’s rural tech workforce looks like. What I found […]
Formula shortage exposes familiar weakness in our safety net
Last week, the Ohio Department of Health requested that the U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services allow greater flexibility in its social assistance programs around baby formula. The program the Ohio Department of Health is most interested in is the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program, one of the […]
Overturning Roe would undo women’s health, education, and economic progress
The world shook last week when Politico releases a draft opinion suggesting Roe v. Wade would soon be overturned. Since President Trump installed three new Supreme Court justices on the bench, court watchers have thought the right to privacy and bodily autonomy were at risk. Now we may see a world where protection of that […]
Ending extreme poverty in Ohio would be the state’s 16th-largest tax write-off
Often in state government, policymakers are chipping away at the margins of public policy. Legislation is usually aimed toward tweaking small technocratic problems to try to deliver services better or fighting culture war battles to score points with interest groups. Too often these policies do little to nothing to help people. So what would it […]
Ohio can measure ‘genuine progress’ over pandemic losses
The 2020s have been a tumultuous time for Ohio’s economy. The shock of quickly closing the economy to stave off the overcrowding of hospitals has been followed by two years of hesitancy for state residents to shop, eat out and engage in public life. This tumult was captured in state Gross Domestic Product (GDP) numbers. […]
Repeal the “gym tax?”
State Rep. Sara Carruthers recently introduced House Bill 595, legislation to exempt memberships to gyms or other recreational facilities operated by 501(c)(3) organizations from state sales tax. Tax carveouts are not particularly rare pieces of legislation: “tax” is a dirty word, so legislation that policymakers put forth to decrease taxation in one way or another […]
Making it harder to be a substitute teacher might not do what you think
On Monday, Representatives Adam Bird and Don Jones introduced House Bill 583, legislation to tighten regulations on educator licensing for substitute teachers. The bill increases the educational threshold for substitute teachers from a more broad requirement of a “post-secondary” degree to a more specific “bachelor’s” degree while creating some exceptions to this rule. The exceptions […]
To keep housing affordable, look beyond Airbnb
Last week, Representatives Sarah Fowler Arthur and Ron Ferguson along with 27 cosponsors introduced HB 563 — a bill to limit the ability of local governments to regulate the operation of short-term rental services like Airbnb. Airbnb has become a convenient scapegoat for local policymakers concerned about the price of housing in their neighborhoods. Opponents […]
Expanded Amtrak coverage ball now in Ohio’s court
A few years ago, I took a trip out to the Pacific Northwest, a part of the country I had never visited before. I stayed with college friends in Portland and Seattle then bunked up in a hostel in Vancouver. On my trips between the cities, I took the train. A lot of us have […]