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Joe
Uecker
State
Representative
05/07/06
Back
to work.
The
primary break is over and it’s time to get back to
Columbus
, we have plenty of work to get finished before the summer
break starts. It
has been a very busy break for me as I have had numerous
events to attend, awards to give out, and many
constituents to meet with.
I’ve spent hours on the phone trying to solve
problems and many more hours in folks’ living rooms and
porches trying to do the same.
I made hundreds of phone calls to state departments
and burned up the phone lines between here and Columbus
with department heads asking them to tell me why exactly
they could not get something done I was asking them to do.
One
Columbus
bureaucracy, which will remain anonymous so I can have the
advantage of surprise, will be in my cross-hairs for quite
possibly the remainder of my political life.
Jobs,
fuel, and health care. During the primary election break,
I found myself dealing with a multitude of constituent
concerns mostly surrounding these issues. This column
should shed some light on what we have done in
Columbus
to deal with these problems.
Working
hard to effect real tax reform, this Legislature has
helped to create a new business climate that is generating
jobs for Ohioans. In
a study conducted my “Site Selection” magazine,
Ohio
was ranked first in the
Midwest
and second in the nation for
new and expanded business facilities.
Companies cited the tax changes we enacted as
reasons for their expansion.
For instance, the Century Mold Company in Morrow
reversed their plans to relocate to
Indiana
and instead added 75 news jobs.
Klosterman Bakery chose a site in Springboro over a
Kentucky
site to locate 45 new jobs
because of the new
Ohio
tax plan. It is easy to see
none of this would have happened had we not made
transforming and revitalizing
Ohio
’s economy our top priority.
We
have also attacked those bureaucracies in state government
that both discourage job growth and have actually put
small businesses out of operation. We
reformed
Ohio
’s bureau of Workers
Compensation. I
think we still have a lot more work to do with this
department.
The
high cost of fuel has been on all of our minds recently.
You cannot take a short trip to the corner market without
getting your blood boiling at the gas station marquee that
seems to change higher every hour. In
Columbus
, we passed a bill to provide
incentives to encourage businesses to develop a way to use
biofuels and to encourage the purchase of vehicles by
state governments that use alternative fuels.
With
projections that show that within the next 10 years
America
will spend one dollar for every
five dollars on health care we need to focus on
initiatives like the President's Health Savings Account (HSA)
program. To be
able to invest your money in an HSA and then later
withdraw it tax free for medical expenses can amount to
real savings. To expand on the President’s idea, this
Legislature passed HB 46 which will allow local
governments to offer HSA's to their employees.
This can save local and state governments on health
insurance premiums.
We
will continue to look for newer and better ideas to
address these issues and concerns with the little time we
have left in this General Assembly.
Joe
Uecker
State
Representative
Ohio’s
66 District
Representing
Batavia, Goshen, Miami and Union Townships as well as the
Cities of Loveland and Milford and the Villages of Batavia
and Amelia.(614)
466-8134
District
Office (513)-248-2565
Website:
www.JoeUecker.com
Email:
Joe@JoeUecker.com |
