(The Center Square) – Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost wants a private, non-profit group to give nearly $1 billion to workforce initiatives in exchange for receiving the state’s profits on liquor sales.
However, JobsOhio CEO J.P. Nauseef defended his organization and its request to extend a 25-year agreement with the state and the need for an extension with 13 years left on the original deal.
Yost urged the Ohio Controlling Board to postpone a late Wednesday consideration of the extension. Instead, one of the 2026 Republican candidates for governor says he supports the extension but wants a deal that would funnel $840 million from JobsOhio into day care, return-to-work incentives and job-skills training.
Nauseef defended the organization’s efforts that have also been praised by the state’s business community.
“Since the 2013 purchase, JOBS has operated in growth mode to provide more return than was ever contemplated and continue providing dollars to the state, paying more than $686 million to the state as part of a revenue-sharing agreement,” Nauseef said in a statement. “In the first four years of the revenue share, the state received $90 million; over the last four years, due to sound fiscal management and best-in-class business practices, the state has received $432 million from JOBS. As part of the extension, JOBS is obligated to continue making supplemental payments each year based on liquor profits achieved.”
Nauseef said jobs created from the agreement have produced $2.6 billion in state tax revenue each year since the end of 2021, and another 63,000 jobs have been committed.
“Extending the liquor enterprise is critical to JobsOhio’s ability to continue competing for, winning, and holding companies to their commitments,” Nauseef said. “Many of these projects have commitment dates that stretch beyond the 13 years left in the agreement, making it more challenging to attract job creation projects for the people of Ohio. Those commitment dates also require that JobsOhio can continue operating to hold companies accountable for their commitments.”
Twelve years ago, JobsOhio paid $1.4 billion for a 25-year state liquor franchise to push all of the state’s liquor profits to the private company designed to drive economic growth and job creation.
Yost questioned why JobsOhio would not be required to make a similar payment for the extension as it did for the initial agreement.
Yost and JobsOhio had planned to meet last week to discuss the extension, but Yost said the company canceled that meeting.