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Ohio's newest U.S. senator is introduced.

The state gets a boost in jobs from a maker of military drones.

And there are big questions going into budget season about school funding and state backing for the Brown Stadium project.

That's this weekend.

The state of Ohio Just.

Welcome to the state of Ohio.

I'm Karen Kasler.

Ohio has a new U.S. senator.

Two months after Donald Trump and JD Vance were elected.

And a week after Vance resigned his seat in the Senate, Lieutenant Governor John Houston will head to Capitol Hill to join fellow Republican Bernie Marino, where they will be freshmen senators.

Governor Mike DeWine said he interviewed many people for the appointment and considered many of them qualified.

But Husted stood out.

You still would have to run for the seat in the special election next year, and that winner will have to run again in 2028 for the full six year term.

Houston has filed to run for governor in 2026, and had raised twice as much as his likely GOP primary opponent, Attorney General Dave Yost.

But billionaire tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy may join the race for governor soon.

He had taken himself out of consideration for the Senate seat.

But late in the process, he met with DeWine about the job.

Another big story that broke on Friday.

Federal prosecutors have indicted two former First Energy executives, who were already facing state charges connected to the largest corruption scandal in Ohio history.

Former First Energy executives Chuck Jones and Michael Dowling were each indicted on a single count of racketeering in connection with the billion dollar nuclear power plant bailout scheme.

In the indictment, federal prosecutors outlined how they say Jones and Dowling bribed state officials to pass House Bill 6 in 2019.

Chief among them Republican former House Speaker Larry Householder and former public Utilities Commission of Ohio Chair Sam Randazzo.

Householder is serving 20 years in federal prison after his conviction in 2023 on a racketeering charge related to the $60 million bribery scheme.

Randazzo was also charged in the federal and state court for his role.

He died by suicide last year.

Jones and Dowling are awaiting a trial date on state charges in Summit County and have pleaded not guilty.

Ohio scored a victory with a defense contractor this week, securing a deal that's forecast to bring in thousands of jobs and $1 billion in payroll.

State House correspondent Sara Donaldson was at the announcement and has the details.

I'm here in Pickaway County, where the state just announced that a defense contractor plans to build a massive manufacturing facility, and it's set to benefit from state grants and tax incentives to do so.

All right.

This is really cool, isn't it?

I am so excited.

Dubbed Arsenal won, the 5,000,000 square foot facility will manufacture advanced military technology like military drones, which are driven by androids, centralized artificial intelligence software.

We have built a strategy that makes Ohio the most attractive place for these kinds of investments, and will build on 500 acres of land about 20 minutes south of downtown Columbus, near Rickenbacker.

Governor Mike DeWine says the figures mean Thursday's announcement marks Ohio history with at least 4000 jobs.

Android takes the title for the largest single direct job creation project held before by Intel, and its payroll is expected to exceed $1 billion.

We have an obligation to protect our men and women who we send as a country in harm's way, and what android is doing is giving those men and women to who protect us the tools that they need.

Jobs Ohio, a powerful private firm that pursues projects on the state's behalf, courted both Intel and Anduril.

J.P. Nassif is CEO.

We are consistently a low cost state to do business and a low cost of living state.

So and we have a diverse economy where the eighth most diverse economy and any Android project could create 4500 indirect and induced jobs by 2035.

There's some deja vu, though.

Intel made similar promises when announcing its fabrication plans in January 2022.

More recently, it's been mired in its own economic downswing and a federal funding disbursement that dragged that industry is very cyclical.

We've been ahead on every one of our timelines, and I believe there will be semiconductors produced there, and that's a cyclical industry and that's playing out.

We're all watching it play out.

DeWine in Houston say they believe Ohio should pursue investments like these aggressively, nonetheless.

Any time we do a deal is contingent upon the company delivering what they promise, and we have not been afraid in any circumstance, including with General Motors, to go clawback any incentives that they don't deliver on for its investment.

Andrew is seeking $70 million in funding from the state and a job creation tax break.

That's much less than what was offered to Intel.

But it's in addition to assistance it will get from Jobs Ohio, which is not yet public.

Sara Donaldson, Statehouse News Bureau.

It is budget time.

Governor Mike DeWine will lay out his proposed two year state operating budget by February 3rd.

And state lawmakers will take that blueprint and work on budgets of their own.

But a conflict may be coming over.

How much K through 12 public schools should get this time around?

Statehouse correspondent Joe Ingles reports.

Office of Budget Management Director Kimberly Miller told the Ohio Chamber of Commerce.

The state is going into the budget season with a strong bottom line, and the state savings account is in good shape, too.

Ohio continues to have a very strong, reserve in our rainy day fund.

It is the at the highest level that it has been.

And, it will it would support any, uncertainty that might arise.

But Muir said the upcoming budget process will not have so much in onetime federal funds, such as Covid money.

Those provided one time resources that Ohio very manfully used for one time investments.

And so we are now back to a normal budget situation where we have to balance our revenues, our tax revenues, mostly sales and income taxes with the ongoing programs of state government.

Meyer said legislative leaders took into account that the funding would not be ongoing, but there have been questions about the ongoing funding for the fair school funding plan, the formula that takes both property taxes and income into account when funding K through 12 public schools, it was estimated to cost about $2 billion to fully implement over six years, and the last two budgets have included that funding.

But Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman said the upcoming one might not.

The implementing of the Cut Patterson payment plan that many believe is a fait accompli, that we decided four years ago that in this budget, we're going to do that, in my estimation, as a fantasy.

There was never can't be constitutionally a requirement that this General Assembly do something because another General Assembly did something four years ago.

Probably the General Assembly is about one third of the people who were here four years ago.

So you can't bind a previous General Assembly for, what, the current one, the current one wants to do.

Governor Mike DeWine hasn't made a firm commitment on school funding.

And the discussions that are going on, you know, between us and the leadership and among members of the legislature and among the public, this is the appropriate time to have it.

And that's what's that's what's taking place.

I'm you know, I think it would be unfair of me at this point to come out here and say, we need to do this, this, this, and this.

I think we have to continue to look at the budget, continuing to look at the revenues and and work with the General Assembly to come up with something that is, you know, positive for Ohio.

We've been able to do that for the first my first three budgets.

So I intend to have that kind of working relationship with the fourth one year next, said the working age population in Ohio, that 25 to 44 year old age group has not grown and kept pace with other states.

But she said that's improved in the last five years.

And she said some things are helping, like the $5,000 merit scholarship for the top 5% of high school seniors going to college in Ohio, and programs that allow Ohioans to earn professional credentials in technology.

Those are, successful programs that are specifically focused on, you know, this issue at retain and bringing people to Ohio.

And, and so those are things that you see, we will keep focused on here next cautioned that consumer sentiment, how people feel about the economy has not recovered to pre-pandemic levels because of inflation.

And sales taxes are the biggest revenue toward the state budget.

So, she said her office will be watching how Ohioans spend money in the coming months.

Joe Ingles, Statehouse news bureau.

As budget season begins, the Browns season is over.

As has always been the case for the team by the third week of January.

But the pressure has been on lawmakers to think about whether the state should get involved in the project to build a new dome stadium in Brook Park for the Cleveland Browns.

The team has been talking to some legislators about how much the state can offer, but there's been nothing proposed so far.

The idea has two research groups that normally don't share the same view on anything in agreement.

First, the conservative Buckeye Institute.

Well, the bottom line is we've taken a look at a lot of stadium, proposals over the years, and we've never been supportive of any of them.

And, you know, SC what it was asks Cincinnati what it was.

The Columbus Crew, we've raised questions about even when the Bengals stadium.

So we're not big fans of subsidies, for professional sports teams.

When you look at a lot of the literature that's out there, the academic literature from a lot of economists, what they and almost invariably say is these don't really end up with the true benefits.

It's kind of complicated why that is.

But, you know, a lot of times it has to do with the shifts where people buy stuff and some of the economic activity from one area to another.

So we're always going to have a good degree of skepticism whenever something like this comes up.

That puts taxpayers on the hook.

One of the ideas that we've heard even on this show from former state senator Matt Dolan, is state backed.

Bonds Speaker Matt Hoffman said last week that the team is guaranteeing that the taxes recoup will pay the public's cost for the bonds.

So what's wrong with that?

Well, there's ways that you can make this less bad, right?

And and if you could actually pay things back so that the state taxpayers overall are not on the hook, that's certainly a better situation.

But I think one of the things that we would urge, policymakers to keep in mind is what is the overall, benefit here?

What are the things that you can do over time with some of that funding that might get diverted temporarily?

But look, you know, we have to see what the devil's in the details.

Obviously, the details haven't been released yet.

There's a lot of ways that they could go about doing this.

Some are truly, truly, just really, really bad and some make more sense than others and could be better.

The bottom line is taxpayers need to be protected.

We don't need a situation, especially in a city, where we're expecting a tighter budget than we've had in the last several budget cycles.

We need to be very careful about that.

And so I'm sure that, some of the legislative leadership is already thinking about how to make sure that this is done.

If it is going to get done, that it's done in a way that's not going to be overwhelmed, bad for the taxpayers.

And then we can get some of that funding back.

So I'm hopeful that we will at least see that if it's done.

But again, I urge folks, you know, it's simple to say, look at the look at the evidence, but there's a lot out there.

This isn't 1 or 2 studies.

This is studies that have been done over the course of decades.

So the studies that you've looked at, is there any evidence that there is significant development, significant revenue, significant direct spending that comes from state or federal or government investment in these projects, in the stadiums?

What usually happens is there is some and there are some spillover effects.

You know, you've got community pride and there's some things there that actually do matter.

But what a lot of times will happen is these are dollars that would have been maybe invested in other locations, other things would have happened, maybe not in that particular place, wherever the stadium might be, but in other places that you're really kind of pulling in from there, and then you're using the front end taxpayer dollars.

That's where the challenge is, is does it actually create the overall bigger pie, or does it create essentially the same kind of pie, but just shift what a pie is?

That's one of the things I think you'll find in a lot of the studies, is that it doesn't necessarily increase overall, the aggregate pie for everybody, which is really what you want, is to make sure it's bigger.

So that's one of the challenges that you see with this every project is a little bit different.

You know, so so you have to look at it a little bit with a fine tooth comb when you look at the specifics of it.

But, again, I think, we've seen this done across the country.

We've seen it done previously in Ohio.

And I know there's always a lot of positive spin out there.

And I know there's a lot of great fans that are out there.

There's ways that we can do this without putting taxpayers at risk.

And whatever happens at the end of the day, that needs to be the thing that is kept, front and center in the mind of leaders.

The Haslam, who own the team, has spent a lot of money on politics in the last two years cycle.

They spent about $6.5 million.

More than half a million went to Ohio candidates in Ohio.

Constitutional issues.

Does this suggest to you that the money that's in politics is an issue here, and maybe campaign finance reform?

Have you taken a position on that?

We haven't really not on that.

And I'll tell you this, this issue comes up everywhere.

This is not just in Ohio thing.

So this isn't surprising.

I mean, they did it in Vegas.

They've done it in Florida.

I mean, obviously, you know, Cincinnati has had a sales tax down there in Hamilton County.

And that's another thing that I think we have a little bit of a concern with is you do something in Cleveland.

What's the next thing to happen?

Because I'm assuming that at some point Cincinnati is going to want to add something, and you got the baseball teams that are going to ask for things.

And so you, you know, the cascading effect, especially when you set this precedent, is also something that I think people need to keep in mind in terms of keeping it protected.

But this is a I don't think this is specific about any of that.

I think this is something that happens everywhere.

That's why there's so many studies that have been done for so many years.

Decades really is because this is a very common thing to happen.

I think there's a lot of intuitive people saying, hey, this is a great thing.

This is going to really help.

And there's that sense that, oh, of course it's going to have this.

But you got to look at the bigger picture.

And the bigger picture sometimes is more complicated and harder to to, I think, get normal folks to pay attention to because economics is not always a, a simplified picture, but, I think it's just a matter of this is this is common.

Everybody is trying to do some of this, and we just think, let's tap the break.

Let's be careful and let's keep taxpayers mind.

And he thought about whether taxpayers should have a vote on this.

Should any of this stuff be brought to taxpayers so they can decide, you know, I mean, I certainly don't think that would be a bad idea, you know, to take a look at that and have a voice at the table, because there are probably folks out there that might be willing to do that.

I mean, we know that there are, I don't know how many there that there would be.

I don't know that I've heard that that's necessarily on the table.

I don't think.

I don't think we would be against that at all if, if, if that was something that was put out there, because this is a big deal.

It's a lot of money, and there are a lot of other, things that we need to be careful of in the budget.

Lots of other things that are going to be priorities.

Now, this can probably be done if you do it, depending on how you work with bonds and stuff, it may not.

It's obviously not as much money in one shot.

And so that makes it easier to to sort of navigate.

But again, we've got so many things in this budget.

And we've got tax reform, you know, and not just state tax where we got property tax reform and issues like that, that we absolutely have to talk about things that that families are suffering through right now with the property tax savings.

We know that's a hot topic.

How are we going to deal with that too?

You can't look at this in isolation.

It's going to have to be looked at, with all those other issues as well.

Speaking of a budget, let's talk about some of these things.

For instance, Speaker Matt Hoffman has said that he's uncertain about the final two years of the six year phasing for the fair school funding plan, saying that spending increases are unsustainable.

But state is spending nearly $1 billion a year on vouchers, and public education is in the Ohio Constitution.

You've got 1.1 million kids in Ohio's public schools.

Do you think the fair school funding plan is sustainable?

Should that be what the state should be aiming at?

Well, first of all, with the Buckeyes, who's always been, favorable to school choice, we've been an advocate for that for years.

We've done stuff going back literally again, decades on this.

We believe that every student should be put first.

You know, that there should be an opportunity for families to get the right fit for their student.

So we certainly are a fan of the things that have happened in that space.

And at the end of the day, we believe that students need to go where it's the best fit and are agnostic, frankly, on the provider.

And so if it's a private provider, that's fine.

If we're getting if that's what the families want, if it's a charter public charter school, that's fine.

If it's a public district school, if it's a different district, I mean, we have open enrollment questions do and some districts don't do that and we think they should.

So there's a lot of things in that space.

But at the end of the day, we have to realize we have a demographic issue here.

Yeah, we have a lot of students are taking advantage of school choice, but people are just having less kids.

And at the end of the day, we're going to have to make sure that whatever our school funding system is, whatever money is there for each individual student, whatever the provider is needs to be calibrated.

And we need to make sure we're looking at the overall pot with what our actual enrollment numbers really are.

holding a similar view against the idea of state money going to private projects like the new Cleveland Browns Stadium, but for different reasons, is the progressive think tank policy matters.

Ohio.

We haven't officially taken a position on it, but we're much in line with the local government, on this position so far, which no taxpayer dollars should be going to fund this project here, whether that be from the locals or coming in from the state, the Brown Stadium that they currently have.

It's part of the downtown is a vital part of their redevelopment down there.

So, moving this outside of downtown for a project just to really align the, pockets of the Haslam is not really a great idea for the taxpayers to fund, but it does open up it, but it does open up the possibility of development on the lakefront.

But that also could involve some taxpayer money as well.

Right?

It very well could.

But I mean, just to, you know, get a shiny new stadium for the Browns or, or this alternative of, something different that could come in from the Browns is not really something that's in the best interest of the taxpayer so far in terms of an unknown.

But the really the trade off for the dollars is really not it's not there.

It's currently fine as it is if they want improvements.

That's something that should be negotiated very similar to what the Cavaliers did.

So but a brand new stadium is just not in the best interest for the taxpayers.

But if it's state backed bonds, because Speaker Matt Hoffman has talked about, the team is guaranteeing that the tax is recouped, will pay the public's cost for the bonds.

What's wrong with that?

If that indeed does happen, that's putting a lot of hope and ifs and buts.

But I mean, you're trying to hope for a lot of economic gains on the back or down the road.

That's really just an IOU to the taxpayers.

I don't really trust that.

And especially when it's not really, you know, we have other needs and, issues that the state could be addressing, whether it's just the bonds.

Just because we have a vehicle for funding doesn't mean it's what we should be spending our resources in times going forward.

What about if you put it up to the taxpayers for a vote of taxpayers went along with it?

Do you think it would be okay, or are they still issues that have you concerned?

I mean, the taxpayers can can voice their displeasure with it.

Ultimately, it's the citizens who, especially those in Cleveland who would be voting on it, but I would trust the that they would probably vote this down as well.

Just for, for, a brand new stadium for a poor team performing is not really again, in their best interest going forward.

But the argument has been that the team moving out to Brook Park would spur all this development and really create kind of an economic engine.

Is is there any evidence that that's actually what would happen?

And I haven't really seen that.

It's again, a lot of, promises that really I'm not sure are really going to be backed up base of what's there.

I'm really concerned that any type of new development or new attractions or events that are going on in this Brook Park are really just events that would have occurred in Columbus or in nearby areas in Akron.

So I'm not sure it's really generating new economic activity as much as it is just siphoning it away from nearby areas.

And obviously we've got more than just the Browns in terms of professional sports teams in Ohio.

So I imagine that there is some concern that whatever we give the Browns, we would have to potentially give other teams.

Exactly.

So I mean, when are the I mean, anything that Cleveland gets, Cincinnati is going to come in asking for with whether it's the Reds of the Bengals.

So it's a very good, great or very great point that, you know, we're opening our wallets for billionaire owners.

Why aren't we opening our wallets, collectively for Everyday Island.

So let's talk a little bit about everyday Ohioans in the upcoming budget.

For instance, Speaker Matt Hoffman has said he's concerned and uncertain about the final two years of the six year phasing for the fair school funding plan, saying that the spending increases are unsustainable.

The state is spending about $1 billion a year on vouchers, and public education is in the Ohio Constitution.

There's 1.1 million kids in public schools in Ohio, but vouchers, that program is become very, very popular.

What are your thoughts on the fair school funding plan and whether that should continue?

Well, one, I disagree with Speaker Hoffman on that.

It is unsustainable for the voucher program, quite frankly, is unsustainable.

And the fact that we are really just financing, upper class, kids who go to private schools that they are already attending, we really need to be reinvesting these dollars back into this public school system, back into this fair school funding plan, and ensure that when the state is meeting its constitutional mandate to ensure that we there's adequate state funding towards public education.

We do this through this fair school funding plan, and this also will help us on the property tax front by making sure that localities are overreliant on property taxes and give, residents a break.

They're Another group that's influential in state politics is the conservative Americans for prosperity, which said in September that stadiums subsidies are a bad deal for taxpayers.

Calling the idea that Cleveland could, in its words, give away hundreds of millions of dollars to the Browns Stadium, one of the most outrageous proposals subsidies over the last few years.

AFP says teams valued in the billions are more than equipped to pay for their own stadiums.

While governments don't have unlimited money and plenty of problems to attend to beyond what it called white elephant projects, AFP added.

Quote politicians should not use American's passion for sports as an excuse to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on projects that bring no benefit to the public.

And that is it for this week for my colleagues at the Statehouse News Bureau of Ohio Public Media.

Thanks for watching.

Please check out our website at State News.

Org or find us online by searching State of Ohio Show.

You can also hear more from the Bureau on our podcast, The Ohio State House scoop.

Look for it every Monday morning wherever you get your podcasts.

Thanks for watching and please join us again next time for the state of Ohio.

Just.

Support for the Statehouse News Bureau comes from Medical Mutual, dedicated to the health and well-being of Ohioans, offering health insurance plans, as well as dental, vision and wellness programs to help people achieve their goals and remain healthy.

More at Med mutual.com.

The law offices of Porter, right, Morris and Arthur LLP.

Porter Wright is dedicated to bringing inspired legal outcomes to the Ohio business community.

More at porterwright.com.

Porter Wright inspired Every day in Ohio Education Association, representing 120,000 educators who are united in their mission to create the excellent public schools.

Every child deserves more at OHEA.org.