A sputtering economy and a decade of state spending at more than twice the rate of inflation, left lawmakers with a huge hole to fill in the state’s FY 04-05 general revenue fund budget. The Ohio Chamber successfully fought proposals to increase business taxes as a solution to the state’s fiscal problems. The Ohio Chamber was instrumental in gaining a substantial revision of the municipal income tax system. These important tax changes will reduce the administrative costs businesses incur in complying with the laws and regulations of 541 cities that impose a municipal income tax. The Ohio Chamber scored another key victory in its long battle to eliminate the personal property tax on inventory. The FY 04-05 budget bill increases the current annual reduction in the inventory tax assessment rate from one percent to two percent per year beginning in tax year 2005. On June 9, the Gov. Bob Taft signed HB 427 sponsored by Rep. Earl Martin. The Ohio chamber strongly pushed for enactment of this critical “jobs” bill. The new legislation lengthens the maximum time enterprise zone tax incentives can be provided for businesses from 10 to 15 years; doubles the amount of funding for the Ohio Investment in Training Program; creates and funds the Workers Guarantee Program; provides $10 million for Wright Centers of Innovation and makes changes to the tax increment financing laws.

A bill that allows Ohioans to carry concealed weapons was passed and signed by Gov. Bob Taft on January 8, 2004. Throughout the debate, the Ohio Chamber was at the table demanding that private employers retain the right to decide whether to prohibit or allow concealed weapons on their property. The Chamber prevailed. Ohio businesses can decide if they will allow concealed weapons anywhere on their property, in company cars and in employee vehicles parked on company property. The bill also includes immunity protections for private employers for any injury, death or other damage that occurs on company property as a result of a concealed handgun.

A key concern for the Ohio Chamber has always been workplace safety. After the activist Supreme Court overturned Ohio’s previous rebuttable presumption law, the Ohio Chamber went to work crafting a law that would help deter employees from using illegal drugs or alcohol in the workplace by placing their workers’ compensation benefits at risk. HB 223 was successfully passed by the House and Senate and is awaiting the governor’s signature. Once it becomes law, injured employees who refuse to submit to a drug test or test above the limits for impairment established by the bill, will not receive workers’ compensation benefits unless they can show their injury was not caused by the use of drugs or alcohol.

Five years ago, the Ohio Chamber led a campaign to enact legislation that grants immunity from civil penalties for certain environmental violations that are voluntarily identified by employers, corrected and reported to Ohio EPA. This program was scheduled to sunset on December 31, 2003. The Ohio Chamber won extension of the program until January 1, 2009.

Eliminating frivolous lawsuits and stabilizing our state’s legal climate by reigning in spiraling litigation costs remains a top priority for the Ohio Chamber. Ohio businesses are at a competitive disadvantage when they are forced to do business in an unpredictable legal climate that drives up insurance rates and increases the cost of their products and services. A current ranking released by the United States Chamber of Commerce shows that Ohio’s civil justice system is ranked a paltry 32 out of the 50 states with the competing states of Indiana, Michigan and Pennsylvania ranking higher than Ohio. The Ohio Chamber was successful in gaining support for HB 292, which responds to the explosion of asbestos litigation that is clogging Ohio’s courts. HB 292 passed the House and Senate and was signed by the governor on June 1, 2004. Once signed into law, this legislation will expedite the resolution of claims brought by those who are truly sick, while protecting the rights of those who have been exposed to asbestos but aren’t sick. It will also help ensure that silica and mixed dust claims don’t reach the crisis proportion that has been experienced with asbestos claims. Strongly championed by the Ohio Chamber, SB 80 was passed by the Ohio Senate in June 2003 and is in the House Judiciary Committee. It caps non-economic and punitive damages at reasonable levels, allows members of a jury to be told about other monetary awards an injured party will receive for the same injury, and requires that lawsuits for injuries caused by defective products or construction be filed within 10 years of the time the construction is completed or the product enters the stream of commerce. The House Judiciary Committee has scheduled several hearings on this bill during the summer recess and the Ohio Chamber will be working on getting this legislation passed by the end of the year.