COLUMBUS, Ohio – Two Ohio House Democrats plan to sponsor a resolution that puts the renewal and expansion of the Ohio Third Frontier program to a public vote during the primary election in May.
Such a move has been widely expected for months, but may have been held up by disagreement among Democrats and Republicans about the timing of the ballot issue.
Third Frontier is the $1.6 billion, 10-year program to develop Ohio’s economy by developing technologies in industries including biomedical, which has received the largest number of grant dollars since the program’s 2002 start.
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An independent analysis of the program released in September said it created $6.6 billion in economic impact and 41,300 jobs (pdf) in its first seven years, and a return on state dollars — in the form of attracting federal research and development awards, private equity investments and foundation grants – of 10-to-1.
Rep. Sandra Williams, a Democrat from Cleveland, and Rep. Jay Goyal, a Mansfield Democrat, said in a press release Monday they plan to co-sponsor a joint resolution to place a renewal and expansion of Third Frontier on the May 4, 2010 primary election ballot. The resolution would ask voters to approve the issue $1 billion in general obligation bonds over five years to fund the program. That would effectively extend the program, which is scheduled to end in fiscal 2012.
“This bipartisan program has not only created thousands of Ohio jobs, it has developed a foundation for Ohio’s economic recovery by jump starting high-growth industries such as the biomedical, advanced materials and alternative energy sectors,” Williams said in the release. “Ohio cannot afford to relent or we risk slowing the positive economic growth that this successful program has generated.”
Creating jobs also is a motivator for Goyal: “Ohio’s future economic prosperity depends on our ability to shift from traditional manufacturing industries to the high-growth, technology-intensive industries of tomorrow,” he said in the release. “Third Frontier not only accelerates our economic transition, it also creates good-paying jobs for Ohioans.”
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Williams and Goyal teamed last month to introduce legislation that would give the Ohio Capital Fund at least $100 million more to invest in the state’s growth industries, such as health care. The Ohio Capital fund is a Third Frontier project that invests in venture capital funds that, in turn, invest largely in Ohio technology companies.
Begun by former Ohio Gov. Bob Taft in 2002, Ohio Third Frontier Program is largely funded by $500 million-worth of bond sales authorized by voters in 2005. The voters turned down a proposed Third Frontier bond issue in 2003.
Northeast Ohio has received more Third Frontier grant dollars than Ohio’s four other regions. As for the state, the region’s biomedical industry has benefited from the economic development program more than any other industry.
“The Third Frontier and the initiatives it has supported have been essential to the formation and growth of our company,” said Sam Finkelstein, CEO of CleveX, a medical device company in Columbus with ties to Cleveland and Canton, in the legislators’ release. “The program has fostered a spirit of statewide collaboration and created an entrepreneurial infrastructure that enables companies such as ours to develop and flourish.”
Baiju Shah, president and chief executive of BioEnterprise, the health care company development organization in Northeast Ohio, said Third Frontier has helped develop the region’s long-standing biomedical clusters, such as medical imaging, as well as start new clusters, like one for neurostimulation devices.
Third Frontier also has helped Ohio keep its biotechnology ranking among states and rank among states that have emerging biomedical industries, he said.
Overall, Third Frontier also has been important to Ohio’s economy. The independent economic impact study “shows how effective a job-creating program this has been,” Shah said. “Given that we’ve got positive momentum for the first time in a long time, it’s very important to send strong signals that this is a program and an environment that will be continued. We’re very encouraged by this first step.”
Williams and Goyal hope to introduce renewal legislation in December, hold public hearings on the renewal in December and January, pass joint legislative resolutions by Jan. 31 that put the renewal on the May ballot and file a joint resolution with the Ohio Secretary of State by Feb. 3, according to a time line connected to their release (pdf).
“Colleagues from both parties, both chambers and the administration have been meeting diligently since the summer to discuss approaches and options for continuing this important initiative,” Goyal said. “We want to continue to move this successful program forward with bipartisan support and cooperation.”
