Melissa Stanley For State

The foundation of our economic system was laid in the 1940's when the new economy was emerging. The employment act of 1946 is out of date as it was published before the discovery of productivity. The goal of our economy should no longer be the promotion of maximum employment, but rather to boost long term economic performance.

Ohio should seek an increase in knowledge-based jobs, higher levels of entrepreneurial dynamism and competition. We should work to reduce delays between design and production, faster times to market, increase product and service diversity, increase technological innovation, replace hierarchical organizations with networked learning organizations, and provide growth opportunities as well as incentives to companies throughout Ohio.

Education is the cornerstone of human development and is closely linked with our future economic as well as social success. DeRolph ruled educational funding in Ohio based upon property taxes unconstitutional. We owe it to Ohio's children to find a solution to the never-ending cycle of failed school levees.

Too much reliance is placed upon property taxes, and the School Foundation Program failed to provide sufficient funds for an adequate education.

The needs of students, whether regular, special education, vocational, gifted, disadvantaged, those who have English as a second language or other special needs should be a determining factor of the cost of public education, but residual budgeting currently exists in the state system and it is in need of reform. Ohio does have the fiscal capacity to provide high quality educational opportunities to all school children, and this will only strengthen our future as well as our economy.

Our new economy is driven by both knowledge and innovation. This has emerged in Ohio and across the nation which is transforming agricultural and manufacturing sectors. Only 11 states have a smaller portion of their populations that have earned Bachelor's Degrees. Higher costs of tuition not only put a burden on our students, but produce graduates heavy in debt who will be unable to contribute to the economy.

Ohio is ranked 49th in affordability mostly because it is ranked 37th in public investment per full time student in higher education funding. We must provide adequate funding to our higher education programs, and the economy will prosper as we produce better trained graduates.

Healthcare is becoming more out of reach for business and middle class families. The healthcare market is ill-equipped and unwilling to cover the uninsured. Small businesses must be an important part of any solution to the Ohio healthcare crisis; lowering the cost of insurance premiums for these businesses must be a significant part of the solution to the problem.

Facilities that treat the uninsured provide nearly $100 billion in services each year nationally. Paying for reimbursement costs, facilities increase costs to the public and private insurance programs driving up rates for everyone. Therefore, by making health care more affordable to all, it decreases the cost to all.

The best solution to high prescription costs is insurance coverage, because unlike health services such as surgery, the demand for pharmaceuticals is virtually unlimited due to the high rates of advertising and insurance companies would prefer patients fill expensive prescriptions if they believe these prescriptions will avoid the need for even more expensive surgeries. So plans hesitate to require high co-payments that would discourage prescription usage. This, however, drives the cost of prescriptions up and hurts those that are uninsured.

Only prescription drug companies can petition to make a drug over the counter, but by keeping it a prescription, competition is down, prices are not often compared to generics because this would require the patient to return to their doctor for another prescription, and the companies, in turn make a higher profit. Congress should be pressured by the Ohio House to allow consumers, patients, and health plans to petition the FDA to convert safe drugs from prescription to over-the-counter availability.

The Ohio Department of Agriculture has been a partner to this way of life through programs such as the Clean Ohio Fund, which is dedicated to supporting the permanent preservation of Ohio's most valuable farmland by creating easements to keep a piece of property in agricultural production in perpetuity. I support to keep the Department of Agriculture a cabinet-level department and pledge to fully finance the Clean Ohio Fund, and I support farm subsidies that go to our family farms.

With the rising cost of doing business many farmers have found themselves falling behind. Grain prices are simply not keeping up with the cost of farming and by consequence many farmers are forced to find other means of employment. However, we need our farmers to help with energy independence from foreign nations.

Melissa proposes allowing tax incentives to farmers utilizing methane digesters as a means of disposing waste. We should invest in our farmers and invest in our future. Melissa also proposes we allow for true net metering of those producing energy and for the development of incentives for farmers wishing to produce energy.

Miami County and many areas in Darke County posses some of the most fertile topsoil in the nation. We must protect these areas from development and work with farmers to ensure they too receive the protection they need through healthcare and affordable insurance.

Federal law prohibits convicted felons, individuals convicted of violent misdemeanors, domestic abusers, juveniles, and those with mental illness from purchasing or owning firearms. The Brady law calls for background checks on individuals who seek to purchase handguns, but it only applies to registered licensed gun dealers although 40% of gun sales occur at gun shows which are no questions asked. Each year 2 million more guns are added to the market. Background checks should be required on all transactions at gun shows across the state to keep guns out of the hands of criminals.

I am in full support of the right to carry concealed. I believe that if law abiding citizens participate in training seminars, undergo background checks, and keep up with their licensing, they should be able to both own and carry firearms for protection and sporting. I fully support the second amendment and its implications to our law-abiding citizens. However, the Voinovich-Taft regime, and many Republicans have had a long record of supporting anti-environmental measures to bring other states' waste into our state. I plan to work aside Governor Strickland in his effort to clean up Ohio's environment as this waste can poison hunting spots and fishing holes for generations of hunters and fishermen. We need a State Representative who is going to show a commitment not only to our right to bear arms, but also our rights as sportsmen to ample woods for hunting and clean lakes for fishing.