Ohio lawmakers recently wrapped up a shortened session in Columbus after identifying four main priorities they wanted to address: Medicaid fraud, data centers, a voter ID constitutional amendment, and the capital budget. Legislators passed legislation regarding most of their priorities, with data center legislation still pending.

In a major win for small businesses, Ohio’s third-party litigation transparency bill, House Bill 105, is officially headed to the Governor! This legislation was a top priority for NFIB as it includes important transparency measures and protects small businesses from lawsuit abuse. Thank you to everyone who completed our Call to Action and advocated for this crucial legislation for Main Street. View our testimony of support here.

NFIB is currently tracking the following legislation:

• House Bill 646 – As the Legislature creates its own Joint Data Center Committee, HB 646 is now the vehicle through which data center policy will be passed. NFIB has been engaged on the energy front of this issue and successfully advocated for lawmakers to include provisions that require all costs associated with providing power to a data center to be paid solely by the data center. NFIB will continue to monitor this legislation.
• House Bill 332 – This legislation builds upon and expands Ohio’s Linked Deposit Program to help small businesses that supply or are subcontractors within the defense industry to gain access to below-market-rate loans. Read our written testimony here.
• House Bill 642 – This bill aims to clarify Ohio’s municipal tax system by eliminating the five-year carryover limitation on net operating losses for municipal income taxes. This would align municipal income tax with state income tax and allow small businesses to fully utilize their losses. View our testimony here.
• Senate Bill 157 – This legislation would reduce the statute of limitations to bring action on contracts to three years for written and two years for verbal. View our written testimony here.
• Senate Bill 328 – This legislation would require Ohio to evaluate its current workforce development programs and determine which programs are working and which are not. Read our testimony here.

Lawmakers are currently in their summer recess, but NFIB’s Ohio Team will continue to engage in discussions on small business priorities. Please email NFIB Assistant State Director Jacob Flowers if you have any questions.