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Ohio House Creates a Committee to Deliberate Plans for Jobless Benefits

photo of Kirk Schuring
OHIO HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

A group of state lawmakers will be studying jobless benefits to come up with ideas for their colleagues to consider when they come back to work after the November election. 

Ohio has paid back the $1.4 billion it borrowed from the federal government during the recession when the fund that paid benefits to jobless workers went broke. But Republican Rep. Kirk Schuring of Stark County says the crisis isn’t over.

“When you’re in a situation like this, it begs the question: What must we do to reform our system?”

Schuring says the six-member committee he’ll help lead will work on an overhaul, building on a controversial bill proposed last year. That measure, which included tax cuts for employers and fewer benefits for workers, was put on hold after opponents blasted it as unfair.

Karen is a lifelong Ohioan who has served as news director at WCBE-FM, assignment editor/overnight anchor at WBNS-TV, and afternoon drive anchor/assignment editor in WTAM-AM in Cleveland. In addition to her daily reporting for Ohio’s public radio stations, she’s reported for NPR, the BBC, ABC Radio News and other news outlets. She hosts and produces the Statehouse News Bureau’s weekly TV show “The State of Ohio”, which airs on PBS stations statewide. She’s also a frequent guest on WOSU TV’s “Columbus on the Record”, a regular panelist on “The Sound of Ideas” on ideastream in Cleveland, appeared on the inaugural edition of “Face the State” on WBNS-TV and occasionally reports for “PBS Newshour”. She’s often called to moderate debates, including the Columbus Metropolitan Club’s Issue 3/legal marijuana debate and its pre-primary mayoral debate, and the City Club of Cleveland’s US Senate debate in 2012.