Ohioans case for $900M in unemployment briefed before Supreme Court

(The Center Square) – The state continues to get help from a Columbus-based policy group in its effort to stop additional COVID-19 era unemployment funds from going to Ohioans.

The Buckeye Institute filed a brief with the Ohio Supreme Court after lower courts ruled the state must distribute $900 million in taxpayer funds allocated by Congress for relief to those who lost their jobs due to the pandemic.

The program offered an extra $300 per week to those unemployed between Dec. 27, 2020, and Sept. 6, 2021. Gov. Mike DeWine said the program was discouraging Ohioans from returning to work.

Twenty-four other states also opted out of the program.

Lawyers for The Buckeye Institute say state law does not require the governor to accept federal money.

“Ohio’s Cooperation Statute does not command that Gov. DeWine accept every federal dime offered,” said Jay R. Carson, senior litigator at The Buckeye Institute. “In Bowling v. DeWine, the Ohio Supreme Court has the opportunity to re...