House panel hears sponsor testimony on bill to standardize sales-tax exemptions for large port-linked projects

Vice Chair Lorenz testified before the Ohio House Development Committee in support of substitute House Bill 147, saying the measure "would support economic development, improve infrastructure investment, and would remove unnecessary barriers" for projects developed in partnership with port authorities. The substitute (adopted as the working document) would amend sections of the Ohio Revised Code cited in testimony to require that when a project includes at least $25,000,000 in expenditures and meets the bill's definition of a "public infrastructure improvement," a sales-tax exemption for construction materials must be granted.

Lorenz told the committee these changes seek to bring "clarity, consistency, and fairness" to tax-exemption applications that now vary by authority. He said some developers face denials from port authorities and that the bill would allow a developer to propose such a project to the Ohio tax credit authority if a port authority unreasonably denies the exemption. Lorenz characterized the measure as informed by stakeholder input from construction and development industries and framed it as a competitiveness measure versus actions by other states to streamline public–private partnership incentives.

Committee members asked for concrete examples of projects that would have benefited; Lorenz declined to name counties in open session but offered to provide specific examples offline. No formal roll-call vote was recorded during the hearing; the substitute was accepted as the working document by unanimous consent and the committee completed the first hearing on HB147.