60%: Share of the 3 million drivers-license suspensions in Ohio each year that are given for reasons related to debt, not driving. That is, until this week, when justice advocates passed new legislation that automatically and retroactively reinstates licenses that were suspended for failure to pay court fees. In fact, that’s
Limiting the use of driver’s license suspensions will help hundreds of thousands of Ohioans Gov. DeWine today signed House Bill 29, reinstating some Ohio driver’s licenses that had been suspended for non-driving-related offenses, and limiting the use of driver’s license suspensions (DLS) as a penalty for those offenses in the
Gov. DeWine today signed the Pay Stub Protection Act, requiring Ohio employers to provide every employee with a pay stub. Ohio had been one of only seven states in the nation that did not require employers to do so. The new law will make it easier for employees to identify
Revenue losses, modest job creation, energy demands make exemption indefensible A sales-tax break offered by the state of Ohio to data-center operators like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft could siphon giant sums from state and local governments. A new report released today by Policy Matters Ohio found that if the tax break covers
997: Number of childcare programs Ohio lost from 2019-23. That’s 11% of all programs in the state. In their latest release, Molly Bryden and Ali Smith explore how environmental and economic conditions intersect to harm childcare providers and the kids they help raise. The report focuses on licensed childcare providers in Cuyahoga
Purchasing power the same as in 2007 Next month, Ohio’s minimum wage gets a 25-cent increase to $10.70 per hour to account for the impact of inflation. Some 313,300 Ohioans will be either directly or indirectly affected by this adjustment. The Economic Policy Institute estimates that approximately 112,700 Ohioans paid
At the close of the 135th Ohio General Assembly, Senators Louis Blessing and Kent Smith introduced legislation that should be taken up immediately at the start of the 136th. The bill from the top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Ways and Means Committee would put public resources directly into
Low wages, insufficient public investment, and rising operational costs forced nearly 1,000 childcare programs in Ohio to close between 2019 and 2023. This has left families struggling to find and afford care. Policy Matters’ latest report, authored by Molly Bryden and Ali Smith, offers fresh insights into how environmental and economic
New data suggest mass deportations could harm working Ohioans of all backgrounds Immigrant workers and business owners in Ohio generate about $53 billion of Ohio’s economic output, according to the Immigration Research Initiative (IRI), Economic Policy Institute, and Policy Matters Ohio. The finding is among data provided in a new resource highlighting
$16.5B: Amount of funding announced for Ohio projects under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) since 2021. This includes funding for projects that would lower energy costs for farmers, clean up brownfield sites and retrain workers in coal communities, and build out green infrastructure in urban neighborhoods.
Federal funding remains available for a clean energy future Since 2021, the federal government has announced more than $16.5 billion in funding to Ohio through legislation whose future is now uncertain, according to a new report from Policy Matters Ohio. The report describes how the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and Inflation
$112, $48, $36, $22: Per-person amount of state spending on public transit in 2022 by Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan respectively. $4: Per-person amount spent on public transit by the state of Ohio that year. Our new report examines how Ohio’s 65 transit systems get their funding. Working with researcher Molly Bryden, summer
