Google Announces Data Center Investment at Ohio Chamber Event |
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Representatives from Google, along with OCC President and CEO Steve Stivers, Governor Mike DeWine, and Congressmen Mike Carey and Troy Balderson, joined a packed house last Tuesday at the Ohio Chamber of Commerce to announce Google’s investment in two more data centers in central Ohio. At present, Google has 14 data centers in the United States and Tuesday’s announcement brings Google’s investment in Ohio to more than $2 billion. The sites were identified as the far south side in Columbus, and a location west of U.S. 33 in Lancaster, and will help power Google’s artificial intelligence innovations and tools such as search, Gmail, and maps.
The Columbus Dispatch recently cited a November 2022 report from 42Floors, a commercial real estate service, that ranks Central Ohio 9th in the country with 4.6 million square feet of space for data centers. Ohio overall has more than 120 data centers, including at least 50 in Central Ohio, representing billions of dollars of investments. Construction of a data center project typically runs 18-24 months, can create 1,000 jobs or more and once finished, a data center often needs about 150 electricians, plumbers and other workers to maintain operations.
Ohio is ideally suited for data centers because there is little risk of earthquakes, hurricanes, flooding, or tornadoes compared with other parts of the country. Other factors contributing to Ohio’s appeal for data center construction include ample sources of low-cost electricity, a mild climate that keeps energy costs low, and the tech-savvy talent needed to run the data centers. Google joins both Amazon and Meta as tech companies that have made substantial operational investments in central Ohio.
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Ohio EPA Seeks Business Input for Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund Program |
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Under the federal Inflation Reduction Act, the State of Ohio is pursuing a number of different federal funds for assorted state needs. The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (Ohio EPA) is working with the Ohio Air Quality Development Authority (OAQDA) to evaluate the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund Program. This federal program provides competitive grants to mobilize financing and leverage private capital for clean energy and climate projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, with an emphasis on projects that benefit low-income and disadvantaged communities. Although official program guidance has yet to be issued, Ohio EPA has been diligently working to evaluate how a program like this can best serve the State of Ohio. As such, OAQDA has prepared a survey to better assess project demand from the business community as Ohio EPA pursues federal funding to seed financing programs. Types of programs could include those for corporate sustainability, as well as small business improvements on industrial or building decarbonization, distributed renewable energy generation, and clean transportation. Accordingly, please consider taking this brief survey before May 26th and offering your input: https://forms.gle/P69j6cnRUCQgBtkY9. Thank you for your help in providing guidance from the business community to the state in this important matter.
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Federal Price Transparency Enforcement |
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The Center of Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is continuing to explore ways to ensure hospitals are complying with the new federal hospital price transparency requirements, including whether to propose additional changes through rulemaking.
The federal transparency requirements establish enforceable guidelines by which hospitals must make public the standard charges they have established. Hospitals must make these standard charges public in a single comprehensive machine-readable file and list a consumer-friendly display of standard charges for the 300 (plus 70 as identified by CMS) shoppable services provided by a hospital.
CMS is monitoring hospital compliance by evaluating consumer complaints, review of individuals’ or entities’ analysis of noncompliance, and internal audits of hospitals’ websites. CMS prioritizes egregious violations, such as failure to publish any machine-readable file.
Currently, hospitals out of compliance must submit a corrective action plan (CAP) within 45 days from when CMS issues the CAP request. Now, hospitals must be in full compliance within 90 days from when the CAP request is issued. Additionally, CMS will now impose an automatic civil monetary penalty (CMP) for failure to submit a requested CAP or failure to comply within 90 days. Lastly, CMS will no longer issue a warning notice to hospitals who have not made any effort to comply. CMS will instead require the hospital to immediately submit a CAP.
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The Ohio Chamber presented proponent testimony for House Bill 138 in House Ways & Means Committee this week. HB 138 requires the Ohio Department of Taxation to use the federal Internal Revenue Code (IRC) definition for guaranteed payments made to partners. Currently, these payments are viewed as business income, but only if a person owns at least 20% of the partnership or LLC. Use of the IRC definition will remove the 20% threshold and allow all recipients to list the payments as business income for Ohio Business Income Deduction (BID) purposes. As part of the testimony, the Ohio Chamber entered into the record the 2021 Economic Impact of the Business Income Deduction in Ohio report issued by the Ohio Chamber’s Research Foundation. That report points out that in 2018, an economy with the BID outperformed an economy without the BID by $5.9 billion dollars and added nearly 60,000 jobs. |
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Ohio Chamber Helps Kick Off National Small Business Week |
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The Ohio Chamber played host last week to immigrant entrepreneurs from across the state as part of New American Business Day at the Ohio Statehouse. The event, a collaboration between the LIBRE Institute, AFP Foundation, and the U.S. Small Business Administration, brought together many small business owners, panel speakers from assorted ethnic business organizations, and Congressman Mike Carey, who spoke of the contributions by the immigrant community to Ohio’s economy and workforce.
Ohio Chamber of Commerce SVP Rick Carfagna provided opening remarks for the event and highlighted Ohio’s Business Income Deduction (BID), particularly how the BID helps small businesses retain more of their capital, reinvest those dollars into their operations, and spur economic activity. The BID allows taxpayers filing an individual tax return with business income to deduct up to $125,000 of that business income (if single or married filing separately) or $250,000 of that business income (if married and filing jointly), with any remaining business income taxed at a 3% rate as opposed to the top individual marginal rate of nearly 4.8%.
Carfagna also acknowledged the start of National Small Business Week, which recognizes the critical contributions of America’s entrepreneurs and small business owners. He stressed the importance in Ohio of understanding the significance of advocacy and vigilance year-round. With so much legislative turnover given term limits in the Ohio General Assembly, Carfagna emphasized the constant need for education on what makes Ohio’s small business community and immigrant communities flourish.
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The Ohio Chamber also weighed in on a proposed rule pending at the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review (JCARR) concerning the adoption of a standard lease for the Oil and Gas Land Management Commission to use when leasing state land for oil and gas exploration. This rule (1501:155:1-01) is scheduled to be heard at Tuesday’s JCARR meeting. The Ohio Chamber favors the adoption of the rule. Adoption of this rule and use of the lease will finally unleash more economic opportunities for Ohioans and provide additional energy security for Ohio and the United States. |
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The Ohio Chamber of Commerce filed its second amicus brief this calendar year. In this court matter, the Ohio Chamber of Commerce is requesting that the Ohio Supreme Court take the case and review the decision issued by the court of appeals. The Ohio Chamber of Commerce believes the lower court misapplied the retroactivity standard when it reviewed the recently enacted Employment Law Uniformity Act (ELUA). If the lower court decision stands, the ELUA effective date would move from April 2021 to April 2027, exposing businesses to legal proceedings that should have been barred by the new two-year statute of limitation found in the ELUA. This new statute of limitation mirrors federal law and the laws of other states. These reforms are fair for all Ohioans and will improve Ohio’s business and legal climates. |
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Anderson Area Chamber Welcomes Ohio Chamber to Membership Meeting |
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On Thursday, the Anderson Area Chamber of Commerce welcomed Ohio Chamber Senior Vice President Rick Carfagna as a guest speaker for its Monthly Membership Meeting. The Anderson Area Chamber, located approximately 15-20 minutes from downtown Cleveland and with nearly 500 members, serves Anderson Township, Newtown, Mt. Washington, and western Clermont County.
Carfagna provided a legislative update that included an economic snapshot of the state, as well as ten key policy areas of interest to the Ohio Chamber in the pending state operating budget. Carfagna noted the Cincinnati Region has much to celebrate of late, starting with Medpace’s announcement last December to expand its area operations by $150 million and with 1,500 additional new jobs. More recently, with the passage of the state transportation budget, Carfagna cited the $3.6 billion in state and federal funding towards the long-awaited Brent Spence Bridge Corridor project in Cincinnati. This critical infrastructure project includes the construction of a companion bridge, along with interstate improvements throughout an eight-mile corridor on both sides of the Ohio River.
The Ohio Chamber of Commerce stands ready and willing to travel to any local chamber of commerce to speak to any legislative or policy items. Please
feel free to contact Ohio Chamber SVP of Government Relations Rick Carfagna at rcarfagna@ohiochamber.com with any questions or to coordinate any upcoming meeting requests.
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May is Mental Health Awareness Month |
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The Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation launched its employer mental health toolkit. It is designed to help employers and management address when an employee is experiencing a mental health crisis in the workplace.
"We know that when an employee experiences a mental health crisis that it can cause a ripple effect throughout the workplace," Tony Coder, OSPF executive director, said in a statement. "It's vitally important that management knows what to do in these situations to reduce the impact and look after the wellbeing of their entire team."
Additionally, throughout the entire month of May, the Ohio Department of Insurance is promoting its Mental Health Insurance Assistance Office (MHIA) that can provide answers to questions and concerns.
"Whatever the issue, even if it is about Medicaid, Medicare, or a self-insured employer plan, which are mostly outside our regulatory jurisdiction, MHIA staff work to get answers for consumers," the department said in a statement.
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