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Ohio Gov. John Kasich...
2011 Year In Review
When Governor John R. Kasich and Lieutenant Governor Mary Taylor took
office one year ago, Ohio faced historic challenges. Over 400,000
jobs were lost in the previous four years, unemployment peaked and
remained at 10.6 percent between August 2009 and February 2010, and the
state faced an $8 billion budget shortfall going into Fiscal Year
2012. For Gov. Kasich, job creation has been priority number one
from day one. With his vision, Ohio has begun making the
necessary government reforms to cultivate a jobs-friendly environment
so Ohioans can get back to work, and our state can start moving in the
right direction.
PUTTING OHIO’S FISCAL HOUSE IN ORDER
Commonsense Budgeting: The centerpiece of Gov. Kasich’s agenda
has been the state’s FY2012-13 budget. Based on the twin
priorities of fiscal stability and job creation, the budget helped get
Ohio’s fiscal health in order and achieved major, needed policy
changes, including:
... Closing an $8 billion shortfall without raising taxes while
preserving the $400 million annual income tax cut and cutting taxes
$300 million by eliminating the Estate Tax;
... Reforming Ohio’s Medicaid program—the largest expense in the state
budget;
... Accomplishing one of the most comprehensive education reform
agendas in the country;
... Providing training vouchers for incumbent workers to help prevent
them from becoming unemployed;
... Providing important new tools for schools and local governments to
share services and reduce costs;
... Reforming construction rules and the prevailing wage law;
... Providing for the sale of up to five prisons (one was ultimately
sold for $72 million, two were converted to private management, and one
privately-managed prison was converted to state management);
... Creating InvestOhio to help Ohio’s small businesses to retain and
create jobs, and;
... Creating a process for studying ways to possibly use Ohio’s
Turnpike to help meet future highway funding needs.
Restoring the Rainy Day Fund: When Gov. Kasich took office in January,
Ohio’s Rainy Day Fund – Ohio’s savings account for tough times – had
dwindled to just 89 cents. Even with the need to close an $8
billion dollar gap, Gov. Kasich and the General Assembly were able to
deposit nearly $250 million in the fund for the next rainy day.
Upgrading Ohio’s Credit Outlook: In July, Standard & Poor’s
upgraded Ohio’s AA-plus credit-rating outlook from “negative” to
“stable.”
CREATING A JOBS-FRIENDLY ENVIRONMENT TO GET OHIOANS BACK TO WORK
A New Way of Doing Business: Gov. Kasich made job creation his top
priority when he came into office. By establishing JobsOhio, the Common
Sense Initiative, cutting taxes, and other reforms that made state
government more efficient and business friendly, he is helping to
create a better environment for job growth.
Producing Results: In 2011, the Kasich Administration and JobsOhio
worked with businesses of all sizes to secure 251 new investments,
expansions, and relocations to create 21,099 new jobs and keep 61,686
existing ones. Overall, that means nearly $4.8 billion in new or saved
payroll for Ohio. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics,
Ohio is 8th in the nation in job creation and tops in the Midwest [Jan.
– Oct. 2011].
A Return on Investment in Economic Growth Incentives: For the first
time, Ohio is measuring the return on investment (ROI) for each and
every jobs project that receives taxpayer-based incentives. This year,
approximately 91 percent of state-approved projects began earning a
return on taxpayers’ funds in just the first or second year.
Encouraging Entrepreneurs: Historically, small businesses have created
two out of every three new jobs, so Ohio created a program that would
spur economic development by directly helping these
entrepreneurs. InvestOhio is designed to encourage risk taking by
making investments of up to $10 million eligible for an income tax
credit worth 10 percent of the total investment. In just two
weeks, InvestOhio has received 1,119 applications committing more than
$246 million in investments.
BRINGING COMMON SENSE TO GOVERNMENT
Common Sense Initiative (CSI): Ohio has too many duplicative and
overly burdensome regulations. On his first day in office, Gov.
Kasich signed his first Executive Order creating the “Common Sense
Initiative” (CSI) and putting Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor in charge of leading
the effort to bring common sense to Ohio’s regulations and reduce
burdens on business.
Eliminating Barriers to Efficiency—Highlights:
... The Ohio Department of Public Safety’s Bureau of Motor Vehicles
(BMV) and representatives from the auto dealers associations worked
together to improve the auto dealers licensing procedure. As a
result, the Dealers Licensing section of the BMV will reduce the
processing time to obtain a first time dealer’s license by as much as
83 percent. Since dealers are ready to begin operations when they
apply for a license, this will result in their ability to begin selling
cars sooner and therefore increase their bottom line.
... The Ohio Department of Agriculture recently completed a
consolidation project which reduced the number of private license
categories for pesticide and fertilizer applicators from 13 to seven.
This will cut down the number of exams required of the applicators,
saving small businesses time and money while maintaining the same
standards for certification.
... Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is emphasizing the need
to create innovative common sense permitting solutions that streamline
the process while protecting Ohio’s natural resources. Since many
business operations are similar, Ohio EPA’s general permit provides
consistent standards and a “speed-of-business” approach to permitting.
Business should be able to get this permit in as little as two weeks.
Reducing Violence in Prisons: Since 2010, a violent incident involving
four or more inmates occurred every seven days in Ohio’s prisons; a 400
percent increase since 2007. To address this disturbing trend,
the Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections has implemented a
multi-layered violence reduction strategy, and since June,
inmate-on-inmate assaults are down by 54 percent and inmate-on-staff
assaults are down by 52 percent.
Construction Reform: For over 100 years, Ohio law required public
institutions to adhere to antiquated policies that led to increased
construction costs for government projects. Included in the
FY2012-13 budget were reforms to give public authorities more
flexibility and cost savings.
Prevailing Wage Reform: Over the years, prevailing wage rules have
driven up taxpayers’ costs without guaranteeing a better product, and
have made it difficult for small contractors to win government
bids. The FY2012-13 budget increased the threshold of public
projects impacted by prevailing wage, saving school districts money by
prohibiting prevailing wage requirements from applying to them, and
ensuring that taxpayers are getting their money’s worth by increasing
competition in the bid process. Importantly, prevailing wage rules are
eliminated for many new private-sector construction projects supported
by state economic development programs, thus making Ohio more job
friendly to businesses seeking to expand or relocate to the state.
Shared Services: The FY2012-13 budget tears down barriers which have
prevented local governments from working together and creates
initiatives aimed at reducing costs and expediting the implementation
of shared services. It is now easier for schools or governments
to share staff, equipment or facilities through simple agreements, as
well as work together to purchase supplies without unnecessary hurdles.
Harmonizing Ohio’s Gaming Policies: In the past, Ohio’s approach
to gaming had been disjointed and driven by political expediency.
Gov. Kasich initiated a comprehensive review of all gaming in Ohio to
ensure that the state’s laws for horse racing, the Ohio Lottery and
casino gaming are consistent and uniform, and provide the maximum
benefit to Ohioans. The result is an agreement between the Office
of the Governor, Rock Ohio Caesars, LLC (ROC), and Penn National Gaming
that will provide $220 million in additional funds for Ohioans, and
increased certainty for the industry.
IMPROVING CARE FOR OHIO’S MOST VULNERABLE
Re-Tooling the Medicaid System: In Ohio, four percent of Medicaid
patients account for 51 percent of the cost of the program. In
the budget, Gov. Kasich introduced proposals to re-tool the Medicaid
system by prioritizing the types of services that people prefer,
requiring the system to better coordinate the care it provides to
individuals and paying for quality rather than volume. These changes
put the needs of taxpayers and Medicaid beneficiaries first and will
challenge providers and administrators to make more efficient use of
valuable resources. Medicaid modernization proposals included in the
budget will save the state $1.5 billion and lead to better health,
better care and cost savings through improvement.
Treating the Whole Person by Integrating Physical and Behavioral Health
Services: Adults with serious mental illness represent about 10
percent of Ohio‘s Medicaid population, yet they account for 26 percent
of total Ohio Medicaid expenditures. The lack of coordination between
service providers often fails these individuals. New reforms
place an emphasis on treating the whole person.
Empowering Seniors and People with Disabilities, Increasing Value for
Taxpayers: An additional 12,890 Ohioans will receive Medicaid
home- and community-based services instead of having to go into an
institution. The budget makes a significant investment in home-
and community-based services for seniors and people with physical
disabilities (PASSPORT/Choices, Assisted Living, Home Care and Aging
Transitions waivers) and people with a developmental disability (Level
One, Individual Options, DD Transitions and the new SELF waivers). The
FY2012-13 budget provides $532 million more for waivers for home- and
community-based services over the biennium (above SFY 2011 levels),
including $55.6 million more for PASSPORT.
FIGHTING DRUG ADDICTION AND DRIVING PREVENTION
Shutting Down “Pill Mills”: In 2010, 9.7 million doses of
prescription painkillers were dispensed in Scioto County Ohio alone.
This equates to 123 doses for every man, woman and child in a county
with a population of 79,000. To address this scourge, Gov. Kasich
created a new Cabinet-level Opiate Task Force and signed legislation to
strengthen the state’s ability to shut down “pill mill” operations led
by corrupt doctors who dispense lethal doses of pain medications to
anyone with a few hundred dollars. Gov. Kasich also signed an
Executive Order authorizing the State Medical Board of Ohio to
establish standards and procedures for pain management clinics in Ohio
in order to help fight prescription drug abuse by preventing clinics
from operating as “pill mills.” On December 14, 2011, Ohio
achieved a key victory when the State Medical Board permanently revoked
the license of Dr. James Lundeen, a pill mill doctor who was known to
treat 90 patients in one day, on average. In addition, joint
efforts by various state agencies and the Ohio Attorney General
resulted in the closing of 12 illicit pain clinics, and overall drug
seizures are up 500 percent from 2010 levels.
Improving Treatment for Injured Workers: In September, the Bureau of
Workers’ Compensation (BWC) established its first-ever formulary of
medications for the treatment of injured workers. This will
improve the efficiency and effectiveness of treatment, limit the
inappropriate use of medications, and lower BWC’s prescription costs by
an estimated $15 million in its first 18 months. Additionally,
BWC will only cover drugs related to the specific injury and now
prohibits decertified providers from prescribing drugs for injured
workers.
EDUCATION AND JOB TRAINING: A COMPREHENSIVE STRATEGY TO PREPARE OHIOANS
Giving Parents a Choice: When it comes to their child’s education,
parents deserve a choice. By incorporating increased competition into
the system, schools are incentivized to enhance the quality of
education in order to attract students. To help make this a reality,
EdChoice scholarships have been quadrupled, the cap on community
schools has been removed, and Ohio has implemented enhanced community
school access to facilities.
Ranking Schools, Informing Parents: Since 2003, Ohio schools have
received a Performance Index (PI) score. The index, validated by school
districts across the state since its inception, places a priority on
student achievement. For the first time, PI scores are being compared
statewide and shared publicly to better inform parents of where their
school stands relative to the rest of the state. By providing increased
transparency, Ohio is giving parents the information they need as they
prepare their child for success.
A Fair and Functional Teacher Evaluation Process: Thanks in part to the
input of over 1,400 teachers, the Ohio Department of Education approved
a new teacher evaluation system that provides the flexibility and
accountability our teachers and students deserve. The implementation of
this system will help create the climate, conditions and incentives
that promote alignment toward a common goal – improving student
achievement.
Improving College Graduation Rates at a Lower Cost: Ohio’s universities
are taking too long to graduate students, if they graduate at
all. By encouraging the development of three-year baccalaureate
degrees at Ohio’s public universities, students will have the
opportunity to save money and enter Ohio’s workforce ahead of schedule.
Creating a Demand-Driven Workforce Development Model: Ohio
currently has 77 workforce development programs scattered across 13
different agencies, many of which operate largely independent from one
another. Making matters worse, the current model is supply driven
and trains workers for jobs that may not exist. In September,
Gov. Kasich assigned a member of his staff to focus completely on
workforce development, and Ohio is now working to implement significant
reforms that will ensure our workforce development programs are working
in concert with one another and are training workers based on the jobs
that need filled by employers in our state.
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