Government Spotlight | June 27, 2023

Amazon to Invest $7.8 Billion in Expanded Central Ohio Data Center Operations by End of 2029

Gov. Mike DeWine and Lt. Gov. Jon Husted announced that Amazon Web Services (AWS) plans to invest an estimated $7.8 billion by the end of 2029 as part of expanded data center operations in Central Ohio, creating hundreds of new jobs. Final selections for the new data center campuses will be made at a later date, but “numerous” locations are under consideration.

The project is the second-largest single private sector company investment in Ohio’s history. The centers will have computer servers, data storage drives, networking equipment, and other forms of technology infrastructure used to power cloud computing.

AWS currently has data center campuses in Franklin and Licking counties, and its investments and operations have generated over $2 billion in economic benefit so far. In 2022, the company directly employed nearly 1,000 Ohioans and it has supported more than 3,000 secondary jobs on an average annual basis as well.

The expansion is supported by JobsOhio, One Columbus, and county and local economic development teams.

Ohio Turnpike Commission Business Inclusion Program

Last week, the Ohio Turnpike and Infrastructure Commission tabled discussion on a renewal for its business inclusion program for the second month, though it did extend the current policy set to expire this week for another six months. The commission had been presented with a proposal last month that would reauthorize the program, which seeks to connect more minority, women, and veteran-owned small businesses with commission contracts, for another six years. Action on that proposal was put on hold after commissioners had questions about it, especially the proposed sheltered market opportunities program that would hold certain contracts for small business enterprise (SBE) bidding only.   

Business Identity Theft Protection Legislation

Sen. Michael Rulli (R-Salem) was joined by Secretary of State Frank LaRose and Ohio Chamber of Commerce President Steve Stivers to announce legislation aimed at protecting businesses from identity theft.

According to Sec. LaRose, the bill has four main points. The first, he said, is it improves and streamlines the complaint process against an alleged scammer. Currently, he said if someone contacts his office and says another had changed their business information, they don’t have a good answer for them other than to get a court order to get it changed back. Under the bill, an expedited process would be set up to resolve these cases, putting the burden on the person who made the new changes and benefiting the current business owner who wants to change it back.

LaRose said the bill limits reinstatements for old businesses, noting a recent scam where a fraudster found defunct businesses that had unclaimed funds and went to the secretary of state’s office to reinstate the business so they could claim those funds. He said some of the businesses had been defunct for decades. The bill creates a process for reinstating businesses and making sure it’s done legitimately.

Allison DiSantis, director of business services at the secretary of state’s office, explained it further, saying most legitimate reinstatements come within a year after the business shut down, but fraudulent ones usually come after longer periods of time of five years or more. The bill would limit the reinstatements to two years, she said.

LaRose said the bill also would eliminate an agent’s ability to hide an identity behind fraudulent addresses and post office boxes, and cracks down on deceptive and misleading mailings.

“The big problem right now is if you’re a small business in Ohio and your identity is stolen, there is nobody to help you, and that’s what this bill does,” Stivers said.

Ohio to Receive $793.7 Million in Effort to Expand High-Speed Internet to All

Ohio will receive $793.7 million in federal Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) funds. President Joe Biden said he wants to connect “everyone in America” to high-speed, affordable Internet by 2030, saying 24 million people currently do not have access and millions more have limited or unreliable service. High-speed Internet “isn’t a luxury anymore, it’s become an absolute necessity,” he continued. His administration also compared the program to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Rural Electrification Act.

“Three years ago, we established our broadband office as a commitment to every Ohioan that we would work to bring broadband access to every corner of the state,” DeWine said. “This historic funding made possible by our partners in the federal government puts us another crucial step closer to closing the digital divide in Ohio for good.”

Ohio was ranked 25th in terms of most funds allocated, with 19 states receiving more than $1 billion. BEAD program funding totals $42.45 billion, and the money is meant “to deploy affordable, reliable high-speed Internet service to everyone in America” as part of President Joe Biden’s “Internet for All” initiative. It helps expand Internet access by funding planning, infrastructure deployment and adoption programs, helping “unserved” and “underserved” areas based on their Internet speed.

Unserved areas have Internet speeds at or below 25 megabits per second (Mbps) download/3 Mbps upload, and “underserved” areas are at or below 100 Mbps download/20 Mbps upload.

States will receive formal notice of the allocation on June 30 and have 180 days after that to submit initial proposals on how they plan to run their grant programs. Proposals can be submitted starting July 1. Once the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) approves an initial proposal, entities will be permitted to request access to at least 20 percent of their allocated funds.

BroadbandOhio previously received $5 million through the BEAD program in 2022 to conduct stakeholder outreach as a first step towards receiving this funding. That input helped BroadbandOhio create a five-year action plan to serve as a guide for how the state plans to use the full allotment of funding.

Public Input Sought for Ohio Airport System Plan

The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) is soliciting public input on its update to the Ohio Airport System Plan as it performs a comprehensive analysis and overview of Ohio’s 104 public use airports to help identify needed improvements for future growth and sustainability. The plan is updated every 10 years. 

The last report, released in 2014, found the airport system supports more than 123,000 jobs and produces an economic impact that exceeds $13 billion annually. ODOT said one of the goals of the plan is to provide the ODOT Office of Aviation and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) a methodology for prioritizing and funding airport development projects.

Dez Bryant
Vice President of Government Relations
dezbryant@columbus.org