Ohio bill would provide grant money for biotech job training

Ohio State Rep. Sandra Williams

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Recently proposed legislation would use state grant money to fund job training in the biotech industry.

House Bill 283, proposed late last week by State Rep. Sandra Williams, would be provided by the Ohio Department of Development and is for workers who are not already in the biotech sector, which the legislation defines as medical devices, biopharmaceuticals, biofuels, health care services and health care organizations, among others.

The recipients could include companies or municipalities, along with job-training centers and educational institutions. The language of the legislation indicates a preference for vocational training, such as grants to prepare workers for biotech manufacturing jobs.

BioOhio already supports the legislation. Spokesman Matt Schutte said such funding would be particularly effective if it focused on transitioning workers from the auto industry and similar sectors into biomanufacturing. BioOhio backed a federal job-training bill introduced earlier this year.

The legislation doesn’t allocate a certain amount of grant money for the program.