On May 12, U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) was presented with the Information Technology Industry Council’s (ITI) top honor, the 2015 ITI Tech Legislator of the Year award. The award recognizes four lawmakers each year, a Republican and Democrat from both the House and Senate, who are selected by a majority of ITI member companies for their demonstrated commitment to advancing policies that support innovation and technology.
“Ohio’s innovative companies deserve the right policies, so that they can create jobs and grow our economy” Sen. Portman said. “There is no doubt that our current tax code is too complex, too burdensome, and making it harder to create jobs in the U.S. I’m grateful for this honor, and I look forward to continue working to enact reforms that create more jobs with better wages and benefits right here in Ohio.”
“Sen. Portman is respected by his colleagues on both sides of the aisle and is a leader when it comes to finding common-ground solutions,” said ITI President and CEO Dean Garfield. “We’re proud to recognize Sen. Portman for his leadership in untangling a broken tax code, incentivizing R&D efforts to develop new technologies, and opening markets to grow the U.S. economy.”
ITI recognized Portman’s leadership in advancing key tax priorities for the tech sector. In order to spur tax reform efforts, Portman led the Finance Committee’s bipartisan International Tax Reform Working group with Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), producing a framework which would encourage greater investment in jobs and innovation in the U.S. Portman also supported the tax extender package that made the economic growth and job creating research and development tax credit permanent. Portman was also lauded by the tech group for supporting the tech sector’s legislative priorities such as the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015, and the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016.