By Dennis Hetzel, President and Executive Director
We’ve prepared a “2018 legislative priorities document” that we’re starting to share with state legislators as well as the governor’s office and others in the executive branch.
We developed the document through consultation with our Government Relations Committee, our partners at Capitol Consulting in Columbus and the Executive Committee of our Board of Trustees.
I presented the document to the Statehouse press corps earlier this week, and we immediately received notice on Twitter, which has to be worth something. I said we hope they’ll write about these issues, because they matter to Ohio citizens as well. Our journalists need statutes that help them do their jobs for the public, and our businesses certainly don’t need new laws that would raise expenses or reduce revenue.
We’ve posted the entire document at www.ohionews.org, or you can find it by clicking here. It includes detailed explanations about not only our “top five” issues but also a number of other items.
In a nutshell, here are the top five:
Since this document is for Ohio lawmakers, there is no mention of federal issues. I can assure you that we also are paying attention to Congress and federal agencies, particularly the ongoing battle over a tariff on Canadian newsprint. We have told the News Media Alliance and National Newspaper Association that we will do whatever we can to support their lobbying efforts.
As always, we welcome your input. Send email to dhetzel@ohionews.org.