Week in review: April 13

A summary of Ohio's legislative news for the week ending April 11, 2025.

ARTS, SPORTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

The General Assembly should provide more funding for arts organizations as the Trump administration slashes funding for the arts sector, according to CreativeOhio Executive Director and CEO Sarah Sisser. The federal government has proposed significant cuts for the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), Sisser said during a virtual meeting on Monday. Grantees of NEH and IMLS funding have received notices that their existing grants are being terminated, she said. The Ohio Arts Council (OAC) would receive approximately $26 million in each fiscal year in the governor's proposed budget, as well as the House's version of the budget. Sisser said CreativeOhio sought an amendment to increase OAC funding by $4.25 million in each fiscal year, but that language didn't appear in the House sub bill.

FY24-25 BUDGET

The state brought in nearly $100 million more than expected from taxes in March, according to the Office of Budget and Management (OBM). For the first three quarters of FY25, collections are ahead by more than half a billion dollars. Preliminary March revenue totals from OBM show the state's largest tax source, the sales tax, missing estimates by 1% to $10.1 million, reaching $978 million. The non-auto sales tax was down $17.3 million or 2.1%, partially offset by a $7.1 million or 4.9% overperformance in the auto sales tax. Driving March's over-estimate tax collections was the personal income tax, which brought in $610 million, which was $82.5 million or 15.7% more than forecast.

FY26-27 BUDGET

Gov. Mike DeWine discussed House changes to his budget proposal with reporters last week, emphasizing that while the House sub HB96 (Stewart) doesn't include funding amounts he thinks are necessary, it is still early in the process. There are effectively "three budgets" -- his proposal, and the versions passed by both the House and Senate -- and "we'll kind of go from there." DeWine also said, in response to its use in the question, that he wouldn't say the House "gutted" requested funding amounts.

On the day the House Finance Committee met to adopt its final version of biennial budget bill HB96 (Stewart) before sending it to the House floor, Gov. Mike DeWine spoke on a number of changes from his executive budget, but said he will respect the process. "What I consistently have said since we designed our budget, is obviously, this is our budget. This is what we think how things should turn out," he said. "There's a lot of moving parts in this budget, but there's a lot of things in this budget that are very, very important. Public policy in legislative bodies and states is set by the budget, a great deal of it, and what you invest in is what you care about. What you invest in is what you think is important. But we also realize that this is a budget that's now getting back to normal. We don't have the one-time money that we've had for the last few years, and so choices have to be made, and whether that's the libraries, schools, or whether that's any other subject, these choices are part of the process, and we're going through the process now."

The House made another sweeping round of changes Tuesday to budget bill HB96 (Stewart) via an omnibus amendment in committee, then approved the bill on the floor 60-39 Wednesday. The committee tweaked a provision inserted last week that would require county budget commissions to cut local school district property tax rates when district carryover balances exceed a certain threshold, bumping it from 25% of general fund spending to 30%. On the floor, the House bumped up from $38 million to $50 million the money the Cleveland Browns would need to set aside as a guarantee for the $600 million in bonds the House version of the budget would authorize for the team stadium project. During debate on the overall proposal, House Finance Committee Chair Brian Stewart (R-Ashville) emphasized how the bill increases funding for all public school districts while granting substantial property tax relief and includes significant attempts to find efficiency and savings. He noted state GRF spending would increase 1.9% in 2026 and 3% in 2027. "That rate of spending puts us below the 3.2 [percent] rate of inflation today," he said. Rep. Bride Sweeney (D-Cleveland), lead Democrat on the House Finance Committee, said the bill backtracks on years of work to get away from arbitrary funding levels for schools and develop a formula that truly grapples with the cost, instead reverting to prior practices of artificial funding guarantees and residual budgeting. "The worst part is that's not that it can't be done. It wasn't attempted. If we couldn't afford it, we could have at least stayed on the formula," Sweeney said.

The Senate Finance Committee Wednesday heard additional testimony on the proposed budgets of the Ohio Supreme Court, the Ohio Public Defender, the Ohio Department of Children and Youth (DCY) and the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS).

The heads of both the Ohio Department of Higher Education (ODHE) and the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce (DEW) on Tuesday both separately defended their departments' proposals in Gov. Mike DeWine's executive budget, on the same day the House Finance Committee reported out HB96 (Stewart) before an expected vote by the House on Wednesday. ODHE Chancellor Mike Duffey told the committee that with each new job creation effort in Ohio, state leaders are reminded that they're engaged in a fierce campaign for talent with other states, and part of the challenge is ensuring that Ohio's high school graduates can utilize the opportunities available at the state's colleges and universities. DEW Director Steve Dackin noted the budget recommendations are his department's first, following the department's creation in 135-HB33 (Edwards). Dackin urged sustained investments aligned with DeWine's goals for the department. "We must stay focused on four key policy priorities: literacy, learning acceleration, workforce readiness, and student wellness," said Dackin.

EDUCATION

Gov. Mike DeWine spent Monday visiting schools that use the literacy instruction methods he's supported and getting an aerial view of floodwaters from weekend storms. DeWine participated in a roundtable discussion with teachers, administrators and other educators at in the school library at Hamilton Elementary in Hamilton Local School District, then observed a second grade classroom. DeWine recognized the educators at Hamilton Elementary and was scheduled to do the same in a Wheelersburg school Monday afternoon for their designation as recipients of the Governor's Science of Reading Champions Award.

The Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) on Monday announced the host venues for 2025's spring sports tournaments: College of Wooster for boys tennis; Wittenberg University for boys volleyball; Historic Crew Stadium in Columbus for lacrosse; track and field at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium at Ohio State University; Firestone Stadium in Akron for softball; and baseball split between Canal Park in Akron and Thurman Munson Stadium in Canton.

Following his renewed call to ban the use of cell phones by students in schools during his "State of the State" address, Gov. Mike DeWine was joined by lawmakers in his office Tuesday to urge passage of new legislation that would accomplish that end. The bill later saw sponsor and proponent testimony in the Senate Education Committee. DeWine said SB158 (Timken), which would ban student cell phone use during school hours, is needed despite passage of legislation last General Assembly requiring all school districts to have a cell phone policy.

A new nonprofit organization will advocate for the protection and expansion of Christian education at statehouses across the country, the Center for Christian Virtue (CCV) announced Wednesday. The U.S. Christian Education Network (USCEN), operating under the oversight of the CCV Board of Directors, is led by Executive Director Todd Marrah, CCV said in a news release.

A second Ohio school district is in fiscal emergency because of a multi-million dollar projected operating deficit. Auditor of State Keith Faber's office said Trimble Local Schools has a projected operating deficit of nearly $3 million, about a quarter of its FY24 revenues. The district has not passed a levy to be able to eliminate the deficit, Faber's office said.

ELECTIONS

An individual being compensated for circulating an election petition would be required to wear a special badge under legislation proposed by Sens. Theresa Gavarone (R-Bowling Green) and Andrew Brenner (R-Delaware). Gavarone and Brenner provided sponsor testimony on SB153 before the Senate General Government Committee on Tuesday. The bill, announced in late March, would also require proof of citizenship to vote and would prohibit the use of ballot drop boxes at county boards of elections.

Secretary of State Frank LaRose Tuesday gave testimony to the U.S. House Committee on Administration, discussing Ohio's management of the 2024 general election. According to his office, LaRose's testimony outlined best practices that make Ohio a national leader in election administration, including the development of a statewide election readiness program, prompt reporting of election results, the retention and transparency of election data, and the enforcement of photo identification requirements. He also called on Congress to assist with making federal citizenship records available to states for use in maintaining accurate voter registration records.

After some tweaks made from the previous meeting, the Ohio Elections Commission Thursday approved an advisory opinion that would allow for state lawmakers to spend campaign funds on renting an apartment while in Columbus on official business. The commission had discussed the opinion during its last meeting in response to an inquiry from Rep. Sharon Ray (R-Wadsworth) over whether campaign funds could be spent on rent. The draft opinion would have allowed lawmakers to do so under campaign finance laws when they are conducting meetings in Columbus.

Election law changes made in 135-HB74 (Hall) took effect this week, including a prohibition on distributing pre-populated voter registration and absentee ballot request forms by third party organizations and codification of the post-election audit process as implemented by Secretary of State Frank LaRose.

ELECTIONS 2026

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) this week announced new 2026 targets for potential pickups, including three Ohio Republicans. DCCC included U.S. Reps. Max Miller (R-Rocky River), Mike Turner (R-Centerville) and Mike Carey (R-Columbus) on its offensive target list. The campaign committee said the three are among competitive districts "held by vulnerable Republicans across the country that will determine the House majority."

Rep. Steve Demetriou (R-Chagrin Falls) announced Thursday that he is running for the Republican nomination for Ohio Senate District 27 in 2026, a seat currently held by term-limited Sen. Kristina Roegner (R-Hudson).

EMPLOYMENT/UNEMPLOYMENT

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported Friday the nation added 228,000 jobs in March while the unemployment rate changed little at 4.2%. Employment increased in health care, transportation and warehousing, and social assistance, as well as retail trade, which partially reflected workers returning after a strike. Federal government employment declined by 4,000 during the month.

ENERGY/UTILITIES

Ohio ratepayers will be happy to learn the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) does not -- or at least did not -- protect stockholder profits in canceling statutory refunds of "significantly excessive earnings" by AES Ohio, an Ohio Supreme Court Justice said during recent oral arguments. The Office of Ohio Consumers' Counsel (OCC) has appealed PUCO's offset of "future committed investments" in AES's significantly excessive earnings test (SEET) for 2018 and 2019, which otherwise would have produced tens of millions of dollars in refunds to the utility's 500,000 electric customers. The agency split argument three ways with the commission and AES.

FEDERAL

The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) says it will improve mail delivery while saving $36 billion over a decade with a ranging operational overhaul. "Under the new approach, while most mail will retain the same service standard, some mail will have a faster standard, and some will have a slightly slower standard. For First-Class Mail, the current service standard day range of one to five days is staying the same, while the day ranges for end-to-end Marketing Mail, Periodicals, and Package Services are being shortened.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY/STATEHOUSE

Taking a page from Elon Musk's federal Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), about 25 Republican members of the Ohio House say they are taking a deeper look at efficiency in Ohio government with their own "DOGE" Caucus, starting with the state budget. Rep. Tex Fischer (R-Youngstown), who is chairing the caucus, said the first item they have tackled was going through Gov. Mike DeWine's executive budget, introduced as HB96 (Stewart), looking for potential cost savings and "ensuring that state government isn't engaged in any type of mission creep, getting into spaces where we don't necessarily need to be."

Sen. George Lang (R-West Chester) returned to the Statehouse this week after having been away due to the effects of radiation treatment for recurrent cancer. Sen. Steve Wilson (R-Maineville) recently had asked a House committee to extend their thoughts and prayers to Lang while he was ill as part of testimony on their jointly sponsored SB33, though Lang said his condition wasn't as severe as that had sounded. Lang explained he'd had a Stage III colorectal cancer battle around six years ago and "won," though it is now in recurrence so he is pursuing a "very aggressive plan of both experimental, natural as well as chemotherapy and radiation protocols that we are putting in place."

Wednesday’s Senate session included passage of SB50 (Schaffer), which would allow 14- and 15-year-olds to work later in the day during the school year; SCR3 (Schaffer), which would urge federal changes to minor labor laws; SB7 (Johnson), which would require schools to provide annual instruction on substance abuse; and SB147 (Reineke), regarding waste disposal.

All items on the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review (JCARR) regular and no-change agendas cleared the committee Tuesday, though Sen. Bill DeMora (D-Columbus) asked about the timing of the college, career, workforce, and military readiness (CCWMR) component for school report cards and Sen. Sean Brennan (D-Parma) had several questions on the Bureau of Workers' Compensation (BWC) outpatient medication formulary.

It took the Correctional Institution Inspection Committee (CIIC) less than five minutes Wednesday to elect a new chair, vice chair and secretary, the only business scheduled for the day and the first meeting since December 2023. CIIC members elected Sen. Al Landis (R-Dover) chairman, Rep. Mark Johnson (R-Chillicothe) vice chair and Rep. Latyna Humphrey (D-Columbus) secretary.

The House released it is second-half session schedule for 2025 Thursday, with eight sessions on the calendar plus a handful of tentative dates for July on. This covers the first year of the 136th General Assembly.

Dozens of bills signed by Gov. Mike DeWine back on Jan. 8 took effect this week. Among them was 135-HB8 (Swearingen-Carruthers), which requires public school policies on parental notification on student health and well-being and instructional materials with sexuality content and regards released time for religious instruction.

In other legislative action, House General Government Committee reported out HR13, urging recognition of the sovereignty of the Republic of Cyprus, and SB14 (Reynolds), to designate Sept. 28 as “Speaker Jo Ann Davidson Day”; House Government Oversight Committee reported out HB166 (Lawson-Rowe-Williams), to designate March 10 as “Harriet Tubman Day”; House Medicaid Committee reported out HB130 (LaRe-Brennan), regarding Medicaid estate recovery.

HANNAH NEWS’ MEET THE FRESHMEN

Hannah News’ interview series with new legislators featured Rep. Jodi Salvo (R-Bolivar). The state of Ohio should provide direct funding for suicide prevention efforts, according to Salvo. Reducing the number of suicides statewide is a top priority for Salvo, the new representative for House District 51, which includes all of Tuscarawas County and part of Stark County. Before taking office, Salvo was the director of substance use prevention services at Ohio Guidestone, a community behavioral health care organization.

Also featured was Sen. Jane Timken (R-Canton), who was appointed to succeed the late Sen. Kirk Schuring. While her fellow freshmen in the 136th General Assembly may have gotten a slight head start on their work in the Legislature, Timken is wasting no time getting up to speed at the Statehouse. "I think it's been a pleasant surprise at how productive we've been. I've heard from others that there was not a lot of activity in the last General Assembly, but there's a lot more going on this General Assembly and so I'm excited about that. I think it's great that we're rolling up our sleeves and really working hard," Timken told Hannah News.

HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Gov. Mike DeWine's Missing Persons Working Group was brought up to speed last week on the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services' (OhioMHAS) 988 Suicide/Crisis Hotline campaign culminating early summer after a 20-month pilot. This year's goal: Half of all Ohioans will know they have someone to talk to 24/7 if they're not to the point of calling 911 with real or threatened harm to self or others, including drug overdose.

JUDICIAL

The Ohio Supreme Court has adopted new rules on court recordings as official records and media coverage of witnesses and victims during proceedings. Changes to Rule 11 of the Rules of Superintendence for the Courts of Ohio state that court video-recordings no longer qualify for appeals.

LIBRARIES

Libraries should receive a specific appropriation from the General Assembly every two years instead of receiving a dedicated percentage of revenues, Senate Finance Chair Jerry Cirino (R-Kirtland) told reporters on Tuesday. "I never liked the fixed percentage of revenues, because it goes up and down with the revenues," Cirino said after participating in an Ohio Library Council (OLC) event at the Statehouse. "I think like everybody else that we appropriate, it should be a biennial appropriation process that's justified based on input and feedback that we get, not an automatic number," he said. His sentiments match what the House did in its version of the budget bill, HB96 (Stewart).

OHIO HISTORY

The House's substitute version of the budget, HB96 (Steward), maintained as-introduced funding for the Ohio Commission for the U.S. Semiquincentennial (America 250-Ohio), its Executive Director Todd Kleismit said recently in a monthly webinar. That includes $7.5 million in FY26 and $2.5 million in FY27. He also discussed HCR6 (Holmes-J. Miller) and SCR10 (Lang-Craig), encouraging attendees to offer their own proponent testimony on the legislation.

PENSIONS

Four of Ohio's five pension systems briefed House lawmakers Wednesday on their funding mechanics and key challenges, with cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) a frequent topic of discussion. The House Public Insurance and Pensions Committee convened an informational hearing for presentations from the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS), Highway Patrol Retirement System (HPRS), Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund (OP&F) and State Teachers Retirement System (STRS). Chair Bob Peterson (R-Sabina) said the School Employees Retirement System (SERS) will present at the committee's next meeting. Peterson told Hannah News that he and the committee are just getting started on their review of the pension funds, and said he did not have any specific legislative plans nor comment on Sen. Mark Romanchuk's (R-Ontario) legislative strategy in SB69. Now a placeholder bill, SB69 will likely look at a decrease from 30 years to 20 the amortization period for unfunded liabilities at pension funds and seek to give systems tools to meet that new benchmark.

PEOPLE

The Ohio Republican Party Friday announced the selection of Caleb Anderson as the party's new political director. He succeeds Mitch Tulley, who was promoted to party executive director in February.

POLITICS

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee, is in Ohio Monday and Tuesday as part of his "The People's Town Hall" taking place in Republican-held congressional districts across the country. In addition to the town halls, he is also making stops at various other areas of Ohio. Monday's events included a stop at the United Steelworkers of America union hall in Martins Ferry.

POLLS/STUDIES

A new survey of 1,407 self-identified registered voters nationwide by Quinnipiac University showed respondents believe tariffs imposed on other countries by President Donald Trump will hurt the national economy in the short-term but are mixed on them long term. The poll was conducted from Thursday, April 3 through Monday, April 7, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.

PUBLIC SAFETY

Speaking at the Ohio Emergency Management Agency's (Ohio EMA) operations center, Gov. Mike DeWine last week urged Ohioans to be careful over the weekend due to anticipated heavy rainfall that was expected to bring flooding and flash flooding, especially in the southern half of the state

STATE GOVERNMENT

The Ohio Department of Commerce (DOC) Division of Unclaimed Funds recently announced the launch of a new system meant to make it easier and faster for Ohioans to search for and recover unclaimed funds held by the division. The state currently has around $4.8 billion in such funds, which come from dormant bank accounts, uncashed checks, stocks and bonds, utility deposits and unclaimed wages. It returned over $149.6 million to Ohioans through 26,420 claims in 2024 and holds that money indefinitely.

TAXATION

Rep. David Thomas (R-Jefferson) presented another of his legislative proposals to address property taxes in the state to the House Ways and Means Committee Wednesday, this time in the form of HB129, which would include emergency levies in the calculation for the 20-mill floor. He said the bill is not easy for him to advocate for, as it would impact schools in his district that he said are doing it the right way for students, but he said he can't look at taxpayers and tell them they can't do anything because the tax policy has been in place for years and therefore we should continue doing it.

TRANSPORTATION/INFRASTRUCTURE

The Controlling Board Monday approved $28.1 million in contracts with consultants to expand truck parking around the state, a plan that was highlighted by the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) during the transportation budget HB54 (Stewart) debate. Chris Hughes, the director of ODOT District 1, which is overseeing the project, told the board that they are exploring 23 different sites for truck parking expansion around the state, but he said there are not plans to develop parking at all 23 sites. He said ODOT wants the sites to be strategically located, which will be part of the evaluation process under the contract.

Provided by Hannah News Service