Ohio House Republicans introduce their version of the state budget
Ohio Republican House leaders shared their version the state’s two-year spending plan on Tuesday, with House Speaker Matt Huffman hoping to vote on the bill next week. The bill nixes tax increases proposed by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on gambling, cigarettes, and marijuana.
Ohio House Finance Committee Chairman Rep. Brian Stewart, R-Ashville, said lawmakers worked through nearly 3,000 amendments to get the current draft. He expects to see additional tweaks before the chamber votes.
The House budget proposal charts a different course than DeWine’s version in several key areas, but the debate is far from done. In the coming weeks, Ohio Senators will take a crack at it and the governor, who has a line-item veto, will get the final say on what expenditures go forward.
Lawmakers and the governor face a July 1 deadline.
Where the House differs
DeWine’s proposal clocked in at $218 billion over two years, with proposed tax increases on gambling, marijuana, and cigarettes. DeWine envisioned a fund for stadium improvements underwritten by gambling receipts, and a $1,000 refundable child tax credit funded by cigarette taxes.
Tax-averse Republicans in the House turned him down.
“There are no tax increases in this budget,” Stewart explained. “We are not raising taxes on sports betting, marijuana or tobacco products. If there was a tax credit program that was tied to those tax increases, we have not included that in this budget either.”
While the child tax credit is gone, Stewart did lay out a $10 million child care cost-sharing pilot. The program borrows from an idea called tri-share which splits the cost between employers, employees and the state.
“There’s a bill that would say, make it a third, a third and a third,” Stewart explained. “We’re trying to be a little more fiscally responsible and say, well, let’s make the state’s third maybe more like 20% and see how it goes.”
And instead of establishing a long-term funding source for all future stadium projects, Stewart said House leaders are OK with an ad hoc approach.
The Cleveland Browns want $600 million in state-backed bonds for a new stadium in Brook Park, and House Republicans are on board. Stewart compared the stadium deal to spending lawmakers regularly approve in the capital budget.
“This is obviously a bigger project than a splash pad in Circleville,” he said, “but it’s the same kind of concept.”
A sports facilities deals expert has warned that the projections by the Browns for revenue to repay the bonds are “way too optimistic,” reports the Statehouse News Bureau.
The budget from 30,000 feet
The House will keep the governor’s updates to the merit scholarship program — “maybe my favorite part of the proposal,” Stewart said — which give the top 5% of a high school’s class guaranteed admission at state schools. Those students can also get up to $5,000 each year for four years if they study in-state.
State university funding will get a 2% bump under the House plan, and tuition increases would be capped at 3% a year for the next two years.
Public libraries would see their funding model change. Instead of a dedicated percentage of the general revenue fund, the House proposes putting a dollar figure on their appropriation: $485 million in the 2026 fiscal year and $495 million in the next.
House lawmakers are also attempting to include provisions requiring “material related to sexual orientation or gender identity or expression” be kept in an area away from minors.
Perhaps the most significant move comes from the House plan to rein in property taxes.
“Ohio’s public school districts had a carry-over cash balance of $10.5 billion at the end of the last fiscal year,” Stewart said. And although a rainy-day fund is a good idea, he argued 528 of the state’s 609 districts are carrying over 25% or more of their operating budget. Public school funding comes from property taxes and the House budget proposes capping school district carry-over at 25% to provide “immediate relief” to taxpayers.
“We believe that those monies are better in the taxpayers pocket than in the school district’s bank account just accumulating,” Stewart argued.
School districts will receive more funding than they did in the prior fiscal year, but nowhere near as much as they expected — a point which Democrats were quick to criticize.
In a statement, Minority Leader Allison Russo argued property tax relief is “overdue” but “Ohioans deserve a budget that benefits our children by properly funding public education.”