State of the State | Governor proposes $1.7 billion jobs program

COLUMBUS — Gov. Ted Strickland proposed a $1.7 billion program — Build Ohio Jobs — that would create 80,000 new jobs if fully implemented.

“We’ll invest in infrastructure and the industries that will light the path to our future,” Strickland said today during his State of the State address.

Strickland called his plan “simple.”

The state would borrow $1.7 billion for the program, he said.

“No one likes additional debt including me,” he said. But the national economic downturn leaves the state with no other choice, Strickland said.

The program calls for the investment of:

$250 million in advanced and renewable energies including solar, wind and clean coal.

$150 million for the state’s infrastructure including roads, rails and ports.

$100 million for bioproducts that use renewable resources and not petroleum.

$200 million in the biomedical industry.

$200 million to develop and revitalize the downtowns of cities and towns.

$400 million for the Clean Ohio Fund to reclaim brownfields — former industrial locations — and to create more green space.

$400 million to the Ohio Public Works Commission for local bridge, road, water and sewer projects.