state budget
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signs budget, issues dozens of vetoes
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has signed the state’s nearly $200 billion budget, but he issued more than 40 vetoes ranging from higher education policy to health care management. The main focus of both the House’s and the Senate’s budgets was education. The Senate plan was much more conservative, while the House plan was bipartisan. After […]
Ohio House, Senate reach agreement on $191 billion budget, compromising on education initiatives
A deal has been reached over Ohio’s state budget, with a variety of compromises between the Ohio House and Senate versions. It now goes to Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, who has line-item veto power. The main focus of both the House’s and the Senate’s budgets was education. The Senate plan was much more conservative, while […]
Ohio Senate passes $94B budget focusing on tax cuts and overhauling education
The Ohio Senate passed a $94 billion budget Thursday, one that provides significant tax cuts for businesses those in the highest income brackets, and overhauls the higher education system. This budget has one of the largest tax cuts in Ohio history, Senate President Matt Huffman (R-Lima) said. “This is a solid conservative budget,” Huffman said. […]
Ohio Senate Republicans aim to make poor families suffer even more enormous hardship and pain
Every day that the Ohio Statehouse is in session is a dangerous day for the most vulnerable Ohioans. On Thursday, the unconstitutionally gerrymandered Republican supermajority in the Ohio Senate passed their version of the two-year state budget, attacking poor families’ access to affordable housing, food, and medical care. All of these things are already severely […]
DeWine child tax deduction leaves poor families out
At his “state of the state” address on Tuesday, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine put forth a unique proposal to the Ohio legislature — to enact a $2,500 per child state tax deduction. When I first saw this, I was excited! The 2021 federal child tax credit expansion lifted over 2 million children out of poverty. […]
Mailbag: What’s the cost of sending Highway Patrol to the Texas border?
Welcome back to another installment of the Ohio Capital Journal Mailbag, which rank choice voting has shown is the most-read political column in the state. (Or at least is readers’ third pick.) Let’s get to it: Got a question about Ohio politics/government? Send them by email to [email protected] or tweet them to @tylerjoelb. Any new […]
Scrap tires and alcoholic bingo: The Ohio budget’s most obscure items
The new state budget allocates billions of dollars to necessary public services, but you have to flip to page 1,326 to find the part about buying to-go cocktails. Tucked between groundbreaking investments in broadband internet and children’s services, this provision lets Ohioans purchase drinks for “off-premises consumption,” so long as the drink is not any […]
Education reforms in state budget could narrow achievement gap
Last Monday, members of the Ohio House and Senate finally reconciled their respective versions of the state budget, passing it with bipartisan support in both chambers. While a $1.6 billion tax cut and funding for broadband and brownfield development will make headlines, the most historic provision of this budget is likely its change to the […]
Child care budget: Step Up to Quality remains, low-income care boosted
Child care in the state will still have one standard-making process that was nearly cut from the state budget, while other investments in broadband and publicly-funded child care come with praise from Ohio advocates. Leaders of child care facilities and policy advocates in the state were worried that Step Up to Quality, the state’s standard-monitoring […]
DeWine signs budget, blocks erasure of COVID-19 health violations
Gov. Mike DeWine signed the $74 billion, two-year state budget into law, keeping in place nearly all of its signature policy positions and spending priorities while once again nixing an effort by Republican lawmakers to counter his administration’s methods of handling the deadly COVID-19 pandemic. The governor also vetoed an attempt by Republican lawmakers to […]
Broadband program salvaged in state budget
City leaders who see internet connectivity as a growing public utility were relieved to find broadband programs and grants kept in the new state budget. The fate of the Ohio Residential Broadband Expansion Grant Program and municipal broadband programs in the state were in question during budget negotiations. In the Senate version of the budget, […]
Education funding overhaul reappears in final budget draft
The Ohio House’s version of a public school funding overhaul won the day after negotiations ended for the new two-year state budget. The conference committee on the budget bill, comprised of members of both chambers of the Ohio legislature, returned to the so-called “Fair School Funding Plan” after the Senate tried to make its own […]