The Buckeye Institute submitted written testimony to the Ohio House Insurance Committee on the policies in Ohio House Bill 505, urging lawmakers to adopt “sound, market-based reforms that will lower regulatory barriers to healthcare, encourage drug innovation, help maintain drug affordability, and improve patient health.” In his testimony, Rea S. Hederman Jr., vice president of policy at The Buckeye Institute, noted that some policies in House Bill 505 will “likely raise consumer prices at the pharmacy rather than lower them.” 

In a new policy report, How to Make Ohio Healthcare More Affordable: A Public Policy Guide, The Buckeye Institute outlines nine commonsense policy and regulatory reforms that state policymakers can adopt to make healthcare more affordable. “Employers across the country face the challenge of finding affordable healthcare plans that meet the needs of their employees. Fortunately, as The Buckeye Institute’s report outlines, transparency, choice, and competition offer better paths forward for reducing costs and improving quality in healthcare.”   

The Buckeye Institute testified before the Ohio Senate Energy and Public Utilities Committee on the policies in Ohio Senate Bill 275, which will help Ohio meet its growing energy demands. In his testimony, Greg R. Lawson, a research fellow at The Buckeye Institute, noted that while “Senate Bill 275 does not address every energy issue the state faces,” it does “take several strides in the right direction.”

As the Ohio Senate Government Oversight Committee takes up Ohio House Bill 238—a review of Ohio’s occupational licenses requirements—The Buckeye Institute issued a new policy memo urging lawmakers to continue reducing burdensome, unnecessary requirements that hinder careers and make it harder for people to join the workforce. In previous research, Buckeye identified 47 licenses that the state should eliminate or reform. This latest policy paper builds on this earlier research.

The Buckeye Institute filed its amicus brief in GHP Management Corp. v. Los Angeles, urging the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case and “affirm the sanctity of private property rights.” The Manhattan Institute joined The Buckeye Institute on its brief. In their brief, amici argue that Los Angeles’ pandemic-era eviction ban deprived property owners of a fundamental element of their property rights in violation of the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which says that the government cannot take private property without just compensation.

The Buckeye Institute commented on the newly released jobs report from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. “Ohio’s private sector added 6,100 new jobs in October, and September’s already excellent report of 9,500 new jobs saw a slight revision of 200 additional private-sector jobs added—two straight months of strong private-sector job growth in the Buckeye State.”

In The Wall Street Journal, The Buckeye Institute calls on President-elect Trump to protect Americans from government censorship. “Donald Trump has a historic opportunity to combat censorship by federal bureaucrats…On day one, he should issue an executive order dictating that if federal employees encourage private companies to censor users’ First Amendment-protected activities, they must report these requests to the Office of Management and Budget. The OMB would then be required to publish these reports online, redacting information as necessary.”

The Buckeye Institute filed an amicus brief in Holman v. Vilsack with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit calling on the court to protect access to America’s legal system as Congress intended when it passed the 1980 Equal Access to Justice Act. In its brief, The Buckeye Institute called on the full Sixth Circuit to reconsider a ruling by a three-judge panel that denied Mr. Holman his attorneys’ fees—in violation of the Equal Access to Justice Act.

The Buckeye Institute announced that its investigation into unconstitutional race-based programs at Ohio’s public law schools resulted in all of the law schools ending their discriminatory programs—a victory for the rule of law and the U.S. Constitution. “Although the goals of these programs were laudable, it is a victory for the Constitution and the rule of law that all of the law schools ended these discriminatory programs or opened them to all applicants.” 

The Buckeye Institute filed an amicus brief in Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board v. Drummond and St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School v. Drummond, calling on the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the cases and reaffirm that the government cannot discriminate against religious schools by excluding them from generally available programs. “One thing, at least, is undisputed—children in Oklahoma, and across the nation, deserve a high-quality education to prepare them for college and real life.”