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Committee Hears Business, Economic-Development and Science Community Backing for Ohio Defense Commission and Fund

House Veterans and Military Development Committee · November 19, 2025
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

Witnesses from NekoTech, the Ohio Chamber, Dayton Development Coalition and Ohio Life Sciences testified in favor of House Bill 292 to create an Ohio Defense Commission and Ohio Defense Fund to coordinate defense-industry growth, expand SCIF capacity and provide grant matching; witnesses cited regional economic ties to defense and proposed funding uses including SCIF construction.

Representatives of industry groups, regional economic-development organizations and the life-sciences sector told the House Veterans and Military Development Committee they support House Bill 292 to create an Ohio Defense Commission and an Ohio Defense Fund aimed at coordinating state defense strategy, attracting federal investment and supporting small defense contractors.

Steve Flaherty, founder and CEO of NekoTech, said HB 292 would provide a clear structure to connect business, academia and military customers, accelerating commercialization of dual-use technologies such as artificial intelligence, autonomy and advanced materials.…

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