The newly elected Ohio House Democratic leadership for the 128th General Assembly gathered in the Statehouse Wednesday to discuss some legislative priorities for the next session. Ohio Speaker of the House-elect Armond Budish (D-Beachwood) said that his top priority was economic development and jobs, but also floated some ideas on urban revitalization.

"In 2006, the people of Ohio elected a new governor in Ted Strickland to turn Ohio around," Budish said. "It's difficult for a governor to do that by himself. He needs cooperation from the Ohio House and Senate."

Budish said he plans to work closely with Strickland, Senate President Bill Harris (R-Ashland) and Minority Leader-elect Bill Batchelder (R-Mediana) to move Ohio forward over the next two years.

"We will do our best to work with Republicans across the aisle," Budish said. "And I believe Bill Batchelder wants to do the same."

Budish said his top priority is economic development and jobs.

"We have a very difficult time in the state right now," Budish said. "It's a tough time in the country, but Ohio's been particularly hard hit. We need to do everything that we can to make Ohio more job-friendly, more business friendly. We need to create more ways for businesses to thrive."

Budish said that with his short time as Speaker-elect, it was a little bit early for specific agenda proposals. He said these things would be fleshed out by the caucus.

"I do believe there are a number of targeted tax credits, incentives and other things we can be doing," Budish said. "Other states are very active in job creation, and there is a lot we can learn from what has been successful in other states."

When asked whether he was considering creating any new committee positions, Budish spoke of putting a focus on Ohio cities and urban areas.

"I believe we need a focus on urban revitalization, and we may create a committee to have that as its primary focus," Budish said, adding the consideration of targeted tax credits for businesses that create jobs.

"We can do a lot more in our cities than has been done in the past," Budish said.

Budish said that he had held meetings with business leaders where they told him that good jobs with benefits and $40,000 to $60,000 salaries were available. Budish said there was a dearth, however, when it comes to qualified workers to fill such positions.

"We need to focus on education and re-education of workforce," Budish said.

Majority Floor Leader-elect Jennifer Garrison (D-Marietta) said that having a qualified workforce was not just an urban issue, and that the southeastern city of Marietta has many jobs that were remaining unfilled because of the lack of a qualified workforce. "It's all about jobs, it's all about good paying jobs," Garrison said. "We can move Ohio forward with policy and legislation that values Ohio workers."

Joining Budish as speaker pro tempore is state Rep. Matt Szollosi (D-Toledo), Garrison as majority floor leader, state Rep. Tracy Maxwell Heard (D-Columbus) as assistant majority floor leader, state Rep. Jay Goyal (D-Mansfield) as majority whip and state Rep. Allan Sayre (D-Dover) as assistant majority whip.

Szollosi noted increasingly high unemployment rates for Ohio in October in re-emphasizing the team's focus on the economy and Strickland's effort to turn around Ohio. "With the Democrats in Washington, we could have no better point-man to help bring federal dollars back to Ohio than Speaker-elect Budish," Szollosi said, noting that just after being voted into leadership he and Budish had a conversation about going to Washington to see what they could do help Ohio's Congressional delegation acquire federal dollars to aid Ohio's economy.

"There's not going to be a whole lot of celebration [about recent success]," Szollosi said. "It's this leadership team's responsibility to get to work."

Budish also said that he hadn't yet made any decisions regarding House staff, and the caucus had not yet discussed the issue of a legislative pay raise but his personal opinion was that there should be none.

One of the big issues facing Ohio's 128th General Assembly will be the biennial budget as well as school-funding reform. With the budget expected to have a shortfall of revenue, Budish was asked whether he thought school-funding reform could be accomplished with such minimal resources.

"The governor over the last two years has shown an ability to find ways to invest in Ohio without new taxes," Budish said. "I am optimistic we would be able to come up with a solution to school funding while still living within our means."

Admitting the budget looks like a challenge, Budish said that he hasn't gotten too involved in it yet.

"I have no intention at this point to raise taxes, fees or otherwise," Budish said.

Garrison added that the education issue is not just about funding, but efficiency.

"It's about how we can get Ohio education system to compete globally," she said.

When asked about concerns of some school district administrators about the lines of communications between them and the Statehouse with regard to what those districts are accomplishing, Garrison said that communication had improved over the last couple years since Strickland's election and a new state Superintendent was appointed.

"I think that we can always improve on communicating," Garrison said. "I think that there are so many good things that our teachers are doing in the schools. We need to partner with them and provide the resources and the legislation that we can to make their job easier, and that's tough to do. If we do not duplicate services then we will have more resources for our schools."