Ohio House approves two-year transportation budget

State Representative Jon Cross (R-Kenton) recently announced the Ohio House has approved a two-year transportation state budget that invests in Ohio’s infrastructure and public transit.

Cross championed an amendment that reduces the annual $25 registration fee for commercial trailers and semi-trailers to a permanent one-time $50 fee for owners and renters of a trailer who are registering for the first time in Ohio. The amendment was originally introduced as House Bill 97.

Ohio currently loses millions of dollars a year of tax revenue due to Ohio-based logistic companies register their trailers out-of-state to save money.

“Fixing this age old problem by reducing these costs will allow Ohio to become more competitive with other states and attract more trailer registrations, thus bringing more revenue to the state without increasing fees,” said Cross. “It’s a win-win for Ohio truckers and taxpayers.”

House Bill 74 provides $6.5 billion to the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) over the next two fiscal years for the construction and maintenance of roads and bridges, as well as other transportation priorities.

“These investments will provide critical infrastructure improvements that will keep Ohio safer and stronger as we continue our economic recovery,” added Cross.

The transportation budget also provides:

• $1.2 billion to the Department of Public Safety (DPS), including increased funding to the state highway patrol
• $116 million to the Public Works Commission (PWC) Local Transportation Improvement Program
• $30 million to the Development Services Agency (DSA) Roadwork Development Grant Program
• 2022 appropriations for ODOT include about $333 million in federal stimulus funding from the Consolidated Appropriations Act passed by
• Congress in December 2020
• $126 million of this funding will be provided to local governments to cover lost revenue from pandemic travel restrictions.
• ODOT will dedicate $100 million in FY 2022 and 2023 to major new construction projects through the Transportation Review Advisory Council (TRAC)
• $190 million to public transportation, doubling the governor’s proposed investment
  
  The measure now heads to the Senate for consideration.