Gov. Kasich, GOP-led Legislature get to work on JobsOhio initiative

January 21, 2011 at 12:09a.m.

COLUMBUS

Republicans who control the Ohio House and Senate say they are ready to move on legislation transforming the Ohio Department of Development into a private nonprofit group.

The JobsOhio initiative, one of Gov. John Kasich’s priorities, was the first bill introduced in the Ohio House and will be the first offered in the Ohio Senate. Hearings on the House version will begin next week.

The governor said that Ohio is “under a siege” and that lawmakers need to act quickly.

“Mark Kvamme goes in his first day, he gets notified of three plant closures,” Kasich said. “Every day there’s another company that is approaching us to say that some other state is bidding to get them in. It’s become very clear to me that we are in trouble in terms of being able to stabilize the economy of the state, let alone to think about how we can go outside of the state and bring people in.”

Kasich joined representatives of both chambers and Kvamme, his handpicked development director, to announce the legislation during a press conference at a Columbus steel company, where he initially outlined his plans for JobsOhio last summer during the gubernatorial campaign.

JobsOhio would be governed by a nine-member board, with members appointed by the governor and a chief investment officer selected to run the corporation.

The nonprofit would be responsible for reaching out to existing companies and firms thinking about expanding into Ohio, negotiating economic-incentive packages and helping to commercialize research and technologies developed at the state’s universities.

The group would start with an initial $1 million appropriation from the state and would seek out additional public and private funding.

“Our goal, of course, is to stop the outflow, stabilize the situation, create an environment where Ohio can grow again,” Kasich said. “Can we? There’s no doubt in my mind that we can. We have the people, we have the assets, we have many great companies in this state. We have not been able to work together really as a team to leverage the things that we have that can drive us forward.”

Kvamme, a venture capitalist from the Silicon Valley and longtime friend of Kasich’s, will be working in coming months to determine which economic-development programs should be shifted to the new nonprofit.

The initial legislation set to move through the House and Senate will aid in the process, authorizing Kasich’s administration to form JobsOhio.

“It’s simply a framework,” said Rep. Mike Duffey, a Republican from the Columbus area and primary sponsor of the bill in his chamber. “Starting with the broad structure of what JobsOhio will be, we’ll introduce that. Then it’s the bills that Director Kvamme will come back six months after the effective date of the bill with recommendations on how to transition certain sections of the Ohio Department of Development over contractually to JobsOhio.”