HOWLAND, Ohio – The next president of the Ohio Senate plans to continue the legislative body’s pro-business agenda when he assumes the leadership position next year.
“We have been on a very strong business agenda for the last several years, and Ohio was just placed as the No. 1 place to do business,” state Sen. Bill Reineke, R-26th, said.
Last week, Ohio ranked first on CNBC’s America’s Top States for Business list. The study evaluated all 50 states across 138 metrics in 10 categories of competitiveness. Ohio ranked first in infrastructure and cost of doing business, and in the top 10 in categories including economy, access to capital and cost of living.
Reineke was at the Chophouse on Thursday for a business roundtable with leaders of several Mahoning Valley businesses. He’s meeting with business leaders across the state.
“I believe that a lot of what we’ve done has to deal with the energy market specifically,” the legislator said. “Ohio has always been perceived as, it takes a long time to get permitting. It takes a long time to get sites ready. It takes a long time to do this or that. So we have put some site procedures in place that we’re site ready, where you can come into the state and find those ready to go.”
The legislature has also worked to accelerate permitting through state agencies, including the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio and the Ohio Siting Board, to help an entity that wants to bring an energy project to the state, Reineke said. Those efforts are aimed at making it more conducive to do business in Ohio, he said.
“We have done a lot with taxation, and our philosophy is that the money is better off in our consumers’, our constituents’ pockets than with the state government spending, and so we’ve reformed to the flat tax,” Reineke said.
He wants to continue the processes and procedures that have made the state No. 1 for business.
“The one that’s important to me is workforce development,” Reineke said. “I started on that when I became a state representative and then as a senator. But I believe that what we’re trying to do is help all of our kids and students find their purpose in life. I think there’s a lot of opportunities, and I want to continue on that course as my primary objective.”
Reinkeke’s district includes Union, Crawford, Marion, Morrow, Sandusky, Seneca and Wyandot counties, and he’s in his second term as a state senator. He serves as president pro tempore and will be senate president next year.
He said he supports integration of workforce development in the lower grades in schools, adding that technology changes quickly.
“Technology is changing, so what it looks like five years out is different than what it looks like today,” Reineke explained, emphasizing the importance of young people learning critical thinking skills.
In the 136th General Assembly, which concludes at the end of this year, he serves as vice chair of both the public utilities and rules and reference committees. He’s also a member of the energy, general government, higher education and transportation committees.
Pictured at top: State Sen. Bill Reineke, fourth from left in the row facing forward, met with leaders of several Mahoning Valley businesses at the Chophouse in Howland on Thursday.