Bricker & Eckler LLP
February 2008

Governor's Full State of the State Address

Governor Strickland announced the “Building Ohio Jobs” economic stimulus package as one of his top priorities during his 2008 State of the State Address. The governor’s proposal will invest $1.7 billion in job-creating industries within the state in an effort to create more than 80,000 new jobs. Industries and areas targeted to receive investments include the state’s energy economy, distribution infrastructure, biomedicine, bioproducts, public works, our downtown neighborhoods and the Clean Ohio fund. 

The plan, which proposes to raise the funds through bond issuances, will invest:

• $250 million in Ohio’s advanced and renewable energy economy, including solar, wind, and clean coal.

• $150 million in our state’s infrastructure to help create a seamless network of roads, rails, and ports to support our logistics and distribution industry.

• $100 million in bioproducts that use renewable sources instead of petroleum to create plastics and other products.

• $200 million in the biomedical industry, saving lives by fueling Ohio’s leadership in new medical products.

• $200 million in establishing the Ohio Main Streets Renewal Initiative to spur redevelopment in downtown neighborhoods in our cities and towns. 

• $400 million in the Clean Ohio fund, to advance our efforts to reclaim brownfields and other damaged lands and preserve farm land and open spaces.

• $400 million in the Ohio Public Works Commission to help our local partners with road, bridge, water and sewer projects

Citing the efforts of First Solar and the Wright Center at the University of Toledo, Governor Strickland called on Ohio to become the national leader in the development of advanced energy technologies and the manufacturing and distribution hub of these new technologies for the country. 

Governor Strickland also took this opportunity to urge the General Assembly to complete work as soon as possible on his Energy, Jobs, and Progress bill, which is currently pending in the House as S.B. 221. Strickland’s Building Ohio Jobs program complements and adds support to S.B. 221, which calls for electric rate stability and stimulation of advanced and renewable energy production in Ohio to promote energy technology manufacturing.