Joshua R. Sanders

Josh works on legislative, agency, and executive projects for a number of Fortune 500 companies as well as emerging biotech. His experience is varied and includes working with the Department of Commerce to obtain liquor permits and obtaining funds and complex state revisions in the state budget.

Josh has extensive legislative experience in the areas of alcohol, tobacco, transportation, gaming, pharmaceuticals, biotech, construction, energy, labor, telecommunications, and education.

Josh also has directed a number of grass-roots projects aimed at both state and federal elected officials while also working directly on campaigns for numerous candidates. Josh lobbied throughout the Midwest for both the largest smokeless tobacco manufacturer and the world’s leading premium drinks business. This combination of state government knowledge and corporate culture understanding allows Josh to produce results for his clients.

Josh started his career as a Legislative Service Commission Fellow learning the ways of the Ohio Senate.  He then furthered his state government knowledge as a legislative liaison for the Ohio Department of Commerce. This firsthand experience allows Josh to help clients navigate the complexities and hurdles found in the legislative and agency arenas.

Josh also brings an in-depth understanding of the needs and responsibilities of his corporate clients in the government relations field and especially to those handling a multi-state region.

Chambers USA has recognized Josh as a Band 1-ranked lawyer in Government Relations: State & Local (USA - Nationwide, 2023-2024). A client providing feedback to Chambers USA stated, "Josh Sanders is a premier government relations attorney. He understands the intersection of law and policy better than most and leads a team that is highly connected in Ohio politics and always delivers exceptional client outcomes."

He has been a presenter at the Crain’s Cleveland Business Breakfast Series as well as at the Ohio State Bar Association’s Leadership Academy. Josh has also presented at the International Council of Shopping Centers Retail Development & Law Symposium.

Josh joined Calfee in February 2011, and was elected Partner in 2013. He began serving as Vice Chair of the Government Relations and Legislation practice group in 2020, and Co-Chair in 2024. Josh serves as Chair of the Calfee Jewish Lawyers affinity group and Co-Chair of the firm's Inclusion & Diversity Committee. 

In 2003, Josh earned his J.D., summa cum laude, Order of the Curia, from Capital University Law School. He earned his B.A., summa cum laude, from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1997.

Honors & Recognitions

• Chambers USA, Government Relations: State & Local, USA-Nationwide, Band 1 (2023-2024)
• The Best Lawyers in America, Government Relations Practice (2024-2025)
• Ohio Lobbying Association, Darryl "Doc" Dever President's Award Recipient (2020)
• Columbus Jewish News, Super Attorney (2019)

Education

J.D., summa cum laude, Capital University Law School, 2003

B.A., summa cum laude, Ohio Wesleyan University, 1997

Experience

• Serving an American real estate technology company as the client’s representative in Ohio in all government-related matters. We are assisting the client in obtaining an amendment to the state’s operating budget bill to prohibit certain predatory right-to-list sales agreements. As part of the larger realty industry, the client advocated for laws to prohibit right-to-list sales agreements where the agreement runs with the land or otherwise purports to bind future owners or the agreement purports to be a lien, encumbrance, or other security interest. We also kept the client abreast of developments and assisted in their participation in legislative hearings and interested party meetings and facilitated one-on-one meetings with legislative sponsors on bills of interest.
• Provided ongoing government relations services to an Ohio university for more than 20 years and currently serving as the client’s representative in the state in all government-related matters. We recently helped the client maintain several million dollars in direct state funding for the client’s medical school during state budget negotiations. We have closely monitored and advised the client on proposed state legislation regarding the teaching of “divisive concepts” and diversity in education and successfully helped ensure that the legislation will not apply to private, nonprofit universities.
• Representing television provider clients before the General Assembly monitoring legislation that impacts the clients' business. In the past year, we have worked with the clients, their in-house legislative counsel, and their legislative representatives from approximately 12 states to enact legislation to prevent the application of cable franchise fees to streaming video services offered by the clients over the internet. We helped review and edit draft legislation and supporting materials to fit our political and policy climate, conducted legislative outreach efforts, obtained legislative sponsors, worked on amendments with interested parties, and saw the legislation successfully amended into a legislative vehicle and passed by the General Assembly, all over a five-month period.
• Serving as the representative in Ohio in all government-related matters for a gaming company client. An important recent matter was advocacy in the state’s biennial operating budget bill, Ohio House Bill 33. The operating budget bill is Ohio’s most important policy bill of the two-year session and contains a multitude of provisions that impact the gaming industry. Along with other industry lobbyists, we advocated for or against the inclusion of gaming provisions during the House, Senate, and Conference Committee phases of the legislative process.
• Provided ongoing government relations services to a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company for more than a decade. We serve as the client’s representative in Ohio in all government-related matters. Our most recent significant assignment was to obtain an amendment to the state’s biennial operating budget bill to eliminate current law that authorized HIV testing only if necessary to provide diagnosis and treatment of an individual and instead authorize testing if the individual or their parent or guardian have given general consent for care and been notified that a test is planned. We worked to obtain a sponsor for the amendment and conducted a legislative education campaign to obtain inclusion in the bill and to ensure the amendment was maintained in the bill during the conference committee process. The change was included in the recently passed bill and brings the state into compliance with U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for HIV testing.
• Provided ongoing government relations services to a multinational alcoholic beverage company for more than a decade. We serve as the client’s representative in Ohio in all government-related matters. A key recent initiative was the passage of two provisions in the state’s operating budget bill that are beneficial to the client’s business, including lowering the cost to obtain a liquor permit to provide samples to customers and codifying a provision of law that creates an expedited process for a permit holder to expand their permitted business premise. The client anticipates that these provisions will expand sales in the state. We helped the client prepare testimony and supporting materials, meet with legislators, and work with interested parties as the bill progressed to passage. We also are working with the client to introduce standalone legislation to address an existing tax disparity in state law for similar alcoholic beverages.
• Serving as a trade coalition client’s representative in Ohio in all government-related matters. A key recent initiative was the introduction of House Bill 203 to set a time limit on when private owners must submit payment to general contractors, mirroring current law for public projects' “timely pay” legislation. As there is no law on this issue currently, private owners’ failure to pay general contractors in turn delays payment to our client, the subcontractors, in essence making subcontractors unwilling financiers of private construction projects. We have helped the client develop the legislation, secure legislative sponsors, prepare testimony and supporting materials, meet with legislators, and work with interested parties as the bill progresses through the General Assembly.
• Advocating for a delivery company for a revision to the application of the state’s sales tax to purchases made using online marketplace sellers. Current state law requires all online marketplace sellers to collect and remit sales taxes, a system that often results in both the client, a grocery delivery service, and its participating retailers collecting and remitting sales tax on the same order. The revision would end double taxation. We have secured support for the revision from industry players as well as the state Department of Taxation. We have obtained legislative sponsors in both the House and Senate for a standalone bill to be introduced in the fall. We also started a larger legislative education campaign as part of the operating budget bill process, as the Senate sponsor was interested in placing the revision in the budget despite it being late in the budget process.
• Serving as the representative in Ohio in all government-related matters for an East Coast healthcare consulting company. A key recent initiative involved maintaining inclusion in the state’s operating budget bill, the largest policy bill of the two-year session, of a provision to require the Ohio Department of Medicaid to obtain a third-party contractor to help streamline redetermination of member eligibility decisions following the conclusion of the public health emergency. We also worked with the client to obtain a provision in the budget to both increase the Medicaid reimbursement rates for emergency medical service providers on a going-forward basis as well as a supplemental payment program to help reimburse past underpayments to those same providers.
• Assisting a state-wide health organization in all government advocacy matters. The most important recent project involved assisting the client in advocating for funding in the state’s biennial operating budget bill. A significant portion of their annual funding is provided from state tax revenues. With our help, the client successfully advocated for an increase in the state funding proposed by the Governor and the removal of a number of earmarks to those funds that would have reduced direct funding. We also helped the client secure an amendment to the budget bill of a separate standalone bill containing important policy updates that will modernize functions and processes.
• Assisted a publicly traded telecommunication company in making connections in support of their government sales division. This is a relatively new business line for the client. We have helped the client understand state procurement processes, work with the Department of Administrative Services, which oversees state procurement, and connect potential government buyers. In the last year, the client has made successful sales to several Ohio departments.
• Serving as the representative in Ohio in all government-related matters for a global, publicly traded European-based pharmaceutical company. The primary project of the last year has been working to maintain and expand a state program to provide reimbursement to county jails for the purchase of behavioral health drugs. We worked with the client to double the funding for the program in the state’s biennial operating budget bill and to expand the program to include community-based correctional facilities. We helped the client develop the language, secure executive support, and legislative sponsors, prepare testimony and supporting materials, meet with legislators, and work with interested parties as the bill progressed through the General Assembly. This expansion and additional funding open a new market for the client.

Professional & Community

• Ohio State Bar Association Liquor and Gaming Law Committee
• Supreme Court of Ohio Lawyer to Lawyer Mentoring Program
• Leadership Council on Legal Diversity Mentorship Program
• Ohio Lobbying Association, President
• Ohio Council of Retail Merchants, Board of Directors
• Values in Action, Board of Directors
• Columbus Jewish Foundation Legacy Board, Trustee
• JewishColumbus, Engagement Advisory Committee Co-Chair
• Temple Israel Columbus, Board of Trustees 
• Licking County Humane Society, Board of Directors

Client Feedback

• "Josh represents clients extremely well, and his communication style and frequency are outstanding. He listens to our unique issues and comes up with very creative ways to get to the endpoint we need." – Chambers USA 2023 client quote
• "Josh Sanders is a premier government relations attorney. He understands the intersection of law and policy better than most and leads a team that is highly connected in Ohio politics and always delivers exceptional client outcomes." – Chambers USA 2023 client quote
• "Josh is a true professional who always provides solution-based strategies." – Chambers USA 2023 client quote
• "I employ lobbyists in many other states. Josh Sanders at Calfee is extremely results-oriented and responsive. I rate him and his staff in the very top of all of my other very strong lobbying firms." – Calfee client, as reported by U.S. News – Best Lawyers^® in the 2021 “Best Law Firms” rankings report
• "We have been extremely pleased by the responsiveness and initiative of Josh Sanders, who leads the Calfee Government Relations practice. The past few months of COVID-19 activity, particularly in Ohio, have necessitated diligent efforts to track what is happening, and analyze and strategize the next steps. Josh is very plugged in, resourceful, and a strong partner." – Calfee client, as reported by U.S. News – Best Lawyers in the 2021 “Best Law Firms” rankings report