Ohio EPA’s Office of Compliance Assistance and Pollution Prevention (OCAPP) helps  businesses of all sizes comply with environmental regulations and identify pollution prevention opportunities that can save money while at the same time protect the environment. During this one-hour webinar, OCAPP staff will describe the free and confidential services that OCAPP offers to businesses. Topics covered include: Free services available from OCAPP to help your business comply with Ohio environmental regulations and limit potential for violations or penalties. Case studies of OCAPP’s free pollution prevention services that have helped businesses in Ohio save time and money.

OCAPP (614)644-3469

“This is a great chance to showcase Ohio companies abroad,” said Christiane Schmenk, Director of the Ohio Department of Development. “Trade missions give Ohio businesses the competitive edge they need to expand their export market. The missions provide valuable networking and business opportunities that help Ohio companies grow and ultimately create jobs.”

Companies involved in the missions received customized one-on-one business appointments with potential distributors, agents, and buyers in each country. The meetings helped Ohio business leaders develop contacts for future export business, initiate sales agreements and leads, while strengthening Ohio’s economy and spurring job creation.

For more information on upcoming missions and the IMAGE program, please contact IMAGE@development.ohio.gov or call (614) 466-5017.

 JobsOhio Quarterly Board Meeting – JobsOhio is a private nonprofit corporation established to lead Ohio’s job-creation efforts by singularly focusing on attracting and retaining jobs, with  an emphasis on strategic industry sectors in areas of statewide and regional strength. For more information, contact: Laura Jones, JobsOhio (614) 290-1396 jones@jobs-ohio.com

2012 CPIM Conference Schedule

 Wednesday, April 25- Roberts Conference Centre – Wilmington, OH 

Wednesday, June 6- Holiday Inn South – Independence, OH 

Wednesday, July 11-  Bowling Green State University Student Union  

Wednesday, August 15-   University of Akron Student Union

Thursday, September 27-   Sinclair Community College David Ponitz Conference Center Dayton, OH

 Wednesday, October 24 -   Ohio State University Fawcett Event Center Columbus, OH

Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel has expanded online Center for Public Investment Management (CPIM) courses for public funds managers in Ohio.  Treasurer Mandel added three new online CPIM courses this year, expanding the total online course offerings to six. CPIM Courses Currently Available Online are as Follows:

•CASH 210: Banking in the 21st Century

•COMPL 250: The U.S. Federal Reserve & Interest Rate Policy – NEW for 2012

•ETH 305: The Ohio Ethics Law & Real Life – NEW for 2012

•FIN 302: The “Post Crisis” Municipal Market

•FIN 310: Understanding the Finer Details of Debt Structuring – NEW for 2012

•INV 210: How Economic Indicators Affect Your Portfolio and Your Budget

Referring to this process as the Mid-Biennium Review (MBR), because it came half-way through Ohio’s two-year budget cycle, Governor Kasich worked with his cabinet and staff to develop new strategies that improve the management of Ohio’s government agencies and health systems, improve Ohio’s education and workforce development efforts, and improve Ohioans’ access to low-cost, reliable energy

• Income Tax Cut       Governor Kasich’s Plan calls for every cent—100 percent—of new tax revenue from the high-volume horizontal wells like those used in Ohio’s Utica and Marcellus shale formations to be used to reduce income taxes the following year.  Governor’s office estimates that new revenue from new, high-volume horizontal wells will allow Ohioans’ income taxes to be cut by an estimated $600 million to $1 billion by 2016.  The industry’s gross income from Ohio wells during this same window is estimated to be between $43 billion and $53 billion
• Education and Workforce - The Governor noted that in Ohio and around the world, education and workforce training are inextricably linked, but Ohio has failed to coordinate curriculum with the needs of job creators, and our workforce system has lacked guidance and clarity.  The 21st Century Education & Workforce plan improves alignment and a more innovative approach, however, both job creators and Ohioans looking to improve their skills can get the help they need.
• Management Efficiency - Governor Kasich said Ohio and its state government have urgent needs than cannot wait for the next biennial budget cycle in 2013. The MEP accelerates Governor Kasich’s reform agenda by helping state and local governments streamline their operations, reduce costs and improve delivery of services for Ohio taxpayers
• Bank Tax Reform - According to Governor Kaisch, significant reforms are made in the MEP that prevent large banks from utilizing loopholes created via the 2005 business tax reform, allowing them to “move” Ohio-based assets out of state in order to reduce the assets subject to the tax and essentially eliminated their Ohio tax bill.  He noted that meanwhile, the vast majority of Ohio’s banks, including smaller neighborhood banks, have continued to pay their full tax liabilities.  The MEP addresses these issues and restores fairness to the system.
• Local Government - Governor Kasich stated that over the past several months, local government officials were encouraged to offer their ideas to improve government efficiency and identify areas for cost savings. Community leaders in Ohio, spurred by economic recession and technological advances, increasingly see the value of shared services and resources as a way of reducing costs, improving services and increasing efficiencies. Expanding on tools provided to local governments and schools by his ground-breaking Jobs Budget in 2011, Governor Kasich said the MBR offers local leaders new and enhanced opportunities for cost-saving collaboration across traditional boundaries.
• Capital Improvement - Governor Kasich said the MBR resulted in a new approach to how Ohio pays for the bricks-and-mortar needs of state government agencies and public colleges and universities. Known as the Capital Budget and traditionally enacted every two years, the plan developed by Governor Kasich focuses on the most pressing needs of state government. It also furthers his goal of transforming Ohio’s disjointed “system of universities” into a coordinated “university system” by replacing the process in which colleges and universities traditionally competed for funds with a new process in which universities worked together to create their own unified plan for Ohio’s higher education capital needs. 
• Energy   - Govenor Kasich noted that Ohio’s economy—especially Ohio’s large manufacturing and agriculture sectors—depends on access to reliable, diverse and low-cost energy.  With no federal energy policy to rely on and continued uncertainty in the Middle East, Governor Kasich and his staff began working with energy stakeholders—from energy producers to environmentalists to energy consumers—to develop a comprehensive energy policy for Ohio that would encourage economic growth.  The policy rests on 10 pillars that support a diverse mix of reliable, low-cost energy sources that meet Ohio’s continuing job-creation needs.
• HB 482 Capital Bill (75pages)

“Ohio has developed a new set of regulatory standards that positions the state as a national leader in safe and environmentally responsible brine disposal,” said ODNR Director James Zehringer. “Ohioans demand smart environmental safeguards that protect our environment and promote public health. These new standards accomplish this goal.”

The new safeguards will be added to Ohio’s existing disposal well regulatory framework. The regulations will apply to new Class II disposal well permit applications and to existing disposal wells, if applicable. Ohio regulates Class II disposal wells on behalf of the U.S. EPA. In 1983, the U.S. EPA gave Ohio regulatory authority over its Underground Injection Control program because the state’s disposal well regulations met or exceeded U.S. EPA standards.

The comprehensive list of proposed new regulations includes:
·         Requires a review of existing geologic data for known faulted areas within the state and a prohibition on locating new Class II disposal wells within these areas;
·         Requires a complete suite of geophysical logs (including, at a minimum, gamma ray, compensated density-neutron, and resistivity logs) to be run on newly drilled Class II disposal wells. A copy of the completed log, with analytical interpretation, will be submitted to ODNR;
·         Authority for ODNR to require the plugging with cement of wells penetrating into the Precambrian basement rock and prohibiting injection into the Precambrian basement rock;
·         Requires the submission, at time of permit application, of any information available concerning the existence of known geological faults within a specified distance of the proposed well location, and submission of a plan for monitoring any seismic activity that may occur;
·         Evaluates the potential for conducting seismic surveys;
·         Requires a measurement or calculation of original down hole reservoir pressure prior to initial injection;
·         Requires conducting a step-rate injection test to establish formation parting pressure and injection rates;
·         Requires the installation of a continuous pressure monitoring system, with results being electronically available to ODNR for review;
·         Requires the installation of an automatic shut-off system set to operate if the fluid injection pressure exceeds a maximum level to be set by ODNR; and
·         Requires the installation of an electronic data recording system for purposes of tracking all fluids brought by a brine transporter for injection.

All of the reforms will be considered during the permitting process for new Class II disposal wells and will be implemented as attached permit conditions until they are either codified in law or written into administrative rule, which carries the weight of law.

“The site has the potential to pull together bid notices from more than 3,900 local governments and schools, making searches simpler for businesses pursuing government contracts which should increase the number of bidders for projects, further increasing savings for taxpayers,” said Randy Cole, president of the state’s controlling board, which handles certain adjustments needed to the state budget.

The site was created by the Ohio Department of Administrative Services’ Office of Information Technology as a result of the most recent state budget bill. New Ohio Revised Code section 7.16 allows a state agency or political subdivision, after initially publishing the notice in full in a general circulation newspaper, to subsequently publish an “abbreviated” notice in the newspaper if the notice directs the public to the full notice on the state public notice website.

Ohio Department of Health (ODH), in partnership with the Governor’s Office of Health Transformation (OHT), announced that Ohio will invest $1 million to assist primary  health-care practices around the state transition to a patient-centered medical home (PCMH) model of care and expand the number of PCMH practice sites in Ohio.The PCMH model of care promotes partnerships between patients and their primary health-care providers to improve care coordination and bolster individuals’ health outcomes. Patient care is coordinated using state-of-the-art tools such as registries, information technology, health information exchange and other means to assure that individuals get appropriate care when and where they need it.

“Ohioans spend more per person on health care than residents in all but 13 states, but we rank 42 among states in positive health outcomes,” said Greg Moody, director of the Office of Health Transformation. “The announcement represents a commitment to reversing that trend and acts on Governor Kasich’s instructions to engage private-sector partners to improve overall health-system performance.”



“Clean Ohio investments help determine if vacant or underutilized properties will have productive futures,” said Thea Walsh, Deputy Chief for the Office of Redevelopment. “The assessment and remediation are the initial steps towards economic redevelopment opportunities.”

The Clean Ohio Assistance Fund is part of the Clean Ohio Fund, which restores, protects, and connects Ohio’s important natural and urban areas by preserving green space and farmland, improving outdoor recreation, and cleaning up brownfields to encourage redevelopment and revitalize communities.  City of Barberton (Summit County) will receive a $289,312 grant; City of Cleveland (Cuyahoga County) will receive a $298,480 grant; City of Columbus (Franklin County) will receive a $300,000 grant; City of Sidney (Shelby County) will receive a $201,096 grant; Harrison Township (Montgomery County) will receive a $112,707 grant.