Buckeye Wins Two Policy Victories in Two Days

For Immediate Release

Contact: Dennis Cauchon, Director of Communication

(614) 224-4422 or Dennis@BuckeyeInstitute.org

 

COLUMBUS, OHIO--The Buckeye Institute praised two important decisions today, one by the Ohio Senate and the other by the U.S. Supreme Court.  Both decisions supported key policy priorities of Buckeye's work advancing economic freedom in Ohio and nationwide. Buckeye's victories this week in Columbus and Washington advance Ohioans one step closer to relief from burdensome regulations that hurt small businesses and working families," said Robert Alt, president and chief executive officer of The Buckeye Institute. "We're proud to be on the front lines fighting for sound policy in both the General Assembly and in federal court." Buckeye's latest policy wins: Salon manager's license.

The Ohio Senate voted 32-0 this afternoon to unanimously eliminate a pointless and costly occupational license that forced cosmetologists to get a special state license to get promoted to store manager.  The reform had been stalled for years because of opposition from private cosmetology schools, which sell training for the licenses.

The Buckeye Institute brought increased scrutiny to this harmful license through testimony, a social media campaign, and the release of Forbidden to Succeed: How Licensure Laws Hold Ohioans Back. The study -- detailing 31 over-licensed and over-regulated modest-income professions -- was released at a Statehouse event in which legislators spoke in favor of ending the unnecessary salon manager's license.

  The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday evening halted implementation of President Obama's plan to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants.  This decision caught many observers by surprise, but not Buckeye's research staff.  Joe Nichols, a policy analyst in Buckeye's Economic Research Center and an energy policy expert, correctly predicted that the courts would put the regulatory overreach on hold because it clearly violates state sovereignty and recent Supreme Court decisions. The Court's decision elevates the importance of our other legal challenges to the Clean Power Plan.The Buckeye Institute is suing the Obama Administration over these illegal rules. ;In addition, Buckeye has aggressively challenged the plan in the regulatory process. The Buckeye Institute will remain on the front lines on both of these issues.  The future is brighter today than it was two days ago thanks to these great decisions by the Supreme Court and the Ohio Senate.

BACKGROUND: Founded in 1989, The Buckeye Institute is an independent research and educational institution--a think tank--whose mission is to advance free-market public policy in the states. The Buckeye Institute is a non-partisan, non-profit, and tax-exempt organization, as defined by section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue code.  As such, it relies on support from individuals, corporations, and foundations that share a commitment to individual liberty, free enterprise, personal responsibility, and limited government. The Buckeye Institute does not seek or accept government funding.