On June 14, the Franklin County Court of Appeals affirmed a decision by the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas that the plaintiffs seeking to challenge the constitutionality of JobsOhio have no standing to bring suit (read our May 30 blog post for more information). The appeal, brought by State Senator Michael Skindell, State Representative Dennis Murray and ProgressOhio, was rejected by a vote of 3-0. The opinion of the court, written by Judge Gary Tyack and concurred by Judges Lisa L. Sadler and Julia L. Dorrian, stated that the lack of standing by the appellants effectively barred their consideration of the issues raised at the trial court level.
With economic development legislation recently passed by the Ohio House and Senate headed for the governor's desk and this ruling by the court, JobsOhio is well on its way to being fully operational. Moreover, the conclusion of this lawsuit will allow JobsOhio to finalize the financing of the long-term lease of the Ohio Liquor Enterprise and access its dedicated funding stream of approximately $100 million per year to meet its job creation and retention mandates.
