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Darke
County Chamber of Commerce...
Chamber Weighs In On Ohio Ballot
Issues
October 28, 2011
The
November 8th election is fast
approaching and with hundreds of campaign commercials on the airwaves,
it feels
like a presidential election year. Because the Ohio ballot issues
address much
needed government reform, this year’s election is historical and will
affect
how Ohio moves forward in an improved economy.
The
Darke County Chamber of Commerce
(Chamber) has worked to provide the most accurate information to its
400 members
regarding the upcoming 2011 Ohio ballot issues. In April 2011,
twenty-one
members of the Chamber Legislative Committee began research and
discussion
regarding the issues, which resulted in position recommendations to the
Chamber
Board of Directors.
As
you may already know, the Ohio
Chamber website OhioBusinessVotes.org provides information on all three
ballot
issues. OhioBusinessVotes.org’s purpose is to educate Ohioans about the
positions of candidates and the economic impact of ballot issues. It
also helps
visitors learn about the economic effects of proposed legislation and
prepares
them to participate in the political process in an informed manner.
This site
provides all of the tools needed to register to vote, find out where
candidates
stand on critical issues that could impact our economy, and track the
performance of Ohio’s elected officials.
The
OhioBusinessVotes.org’s website
currently has a FAQ section for Issues 1, 2 and 3. It was recently
updated to
include an interesting report issued by Ohio Business Roundtable. This
report
titled Public vs. Private Sector Compensation in Ohio draws a
distinction
between Ohio’s public and private sector employees.
On
September 8, 2011, the Chamber
Board voted to take positions on Issues 1, 2, & 3.
Issue
1-Proposed Constitutional
Amendment-Judicial Retirement Age
The
Chamber is an “Interested Party”
on Issue 1
Issue
2-Referendum-Senate Bill 5
The
Chamber supports a “Yes” vote on
Issue 2
In
particular, there is a lot of
information and misinformation circulating on Issue 2-SB5. SB5 was
signed March
31, 2011 with the intent of making reforms to government employment
practices
in Ohio, and to give units of government the tools needed to control
costs. Key
aspects of Issue 2-SB5 have support by business, including replacing
automatic
pay increases based on seniority with increases based on merit, asking
public
employees to pay at least 15 percent of their health insurance costs,
and
asking public employees to pay 10 percent toward their pensions. In the end this creates a
flexible system
able to respond to quickly changing environmental conditions that
affect the
ability of companies to create jobs and make capital investments.
Issue
3-Proposed Constitutional
Amendment-Health Care Freedom
The
Chamber supports a “Yes” vote on
Issue 3
For
more than eighty years the Chamber
has focused on safeguarding and strengthening the collective interests
of the
Darke County business community.
Business must not be reluctant to speak out
when decisions of public
policy have a positive or negative impact on business success.
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