Today, state Senator Kent Smith (D-Euclid) issued the following statement in response to Governor Mike DeWine's State of the State address.

"On Monday, Feb. 1, while announcing his two-year budget proposal, Gov. Mike DeWine voiced his support for a $50 million expenditure to attract East and West Coast residents to move to Ohio.  In explaining his reasoning DeWine said, Ohio is a welcoming place. I don't care who you are, we want you to come to Ohio. It's a progressive state. The governor is half right. He is correct that Ohio's population growth is far below the national average. Between 1990 and 2010, the U.S. population grew 24% while the Buckeye State only grew 6%, according to a May 2016 report on progressive governance by the University of Southern California's Program for Environmental and Regional Equity. Where we have disagreement with the governor is how to fix the problem. We do not need an advertising campaign to deceive people. We need a legislative attraction agenda so that people and families want to stay here or move here..." Read more...