Written Testimony in Opposition — Debbie Berry, Cuyahoga County, on Sub HB 147 (February 25th, 2026)

Summary

This is written testimony in opposition to Sub HB 147 to the House Development Committee, dated February 25th, 2026, on behalf of Cuyahoga County from Debbie Berry, Deputy Chief of Staff for Integrated Development for Cuyahoga County. The testimony says the county port authority's maritime operations move approximately 13 million tons of cargo annually. It states that under the substitute bill developers could take proposals to the Ohio Tax Credit Authority if an agreement is not reached within 30 days, and that the $25 million construction threshold tilts the playing field toward large scale projects.

Summary drafted by a model from the document's text below and checked by script against that text before publication. It is a navigation aid, not a reading of what the document proves. Where AI is used

Full text

                            Written Testimony in Opposition of Sub HB 147

                                      House Development Committee

                                            February 25th, 2026

Chairman Hoops, Vice Chairman Lorenz, Ranking Member Brownlee, and Honorable Members of the
House Development Committee, thank you for accepting my written testimony in opposition to Sub HB
147 on behalf of Cuyahoga County. My name is Debbie Berry, Deputy Chief of Staff for Integrated
Development for Cuyahoga County.

Cuyahoga County is home to one of Ohio’s most vibrant regional economies. Our port authority’s
maritime operations alone move approximately 13 million tons of cargo annually, support more than
20,000 direct, indirect, and induced jobs, and generate roughly $7 billion in total economic impact.
Beyond maritime commerce, port-supported financing tools have helped leverage billions of dollars in
private development across industrial, manufacturing, commercial, and mix-used sectors over the past
decade. These decisions are made locally, by a board appointed by the City of Cleveland and Cuyahoga
County. This local accountability is central to our success and is exactly what Sub HB 147 puts at risk.

Under the substitute bill, developers would be allowed to bypass local port authority review entirely,
taking proposals to the Ohio Tax Credit Authority if an agreement is not reached within 30 days. This
turns a negotiated public incentive into a near-automatic state entitlement, removing the local judgement
that weighs direct public impact. The $25 million construction threshold further tilts the playing field
toward large scale projects, which could leave out many of Cuyahoga County’s most impactful
investments, including adaptive reuse, neighborhood commercial redevelopment, and industrial
modernization. Also, this bill as currently written caps port authority fees in ways that undermine the
funding for project oversight, compliance, and community reinvestment.

Cuyahoga County strongly supports economic growth and private investment. We believe Ohio’s port
authority model works because it keeps the decision making local and tied to positive regional and
community outcomes. Sub HB 147 as written disrupts that accountability, we respectfully urge this
Committee to vote no on current Sub HB 147. Thank you again, Chairman Hoops, Vice Chairman
Lorenz, Ranking Member Brownlee and the members of the House Development Committee.




   2079 East Ninth Street | Cleveland, Ohio 44115 | 216-668-6400 | www.cuyahogacounty.gov


File and source

File

2026-02-25_development_testimony_testimony-14422.pdf

Size

200,078 bytes

SHA-256

b78ede1c30d3a0067d0eedb880cd10cf2d19c9b3e6ed7f8a13c7efddb69ca786

Our copy

2026-02-25_development_testimony_testimony-14422.pdf

Original

No public link identified.