Rep. Lawson-Rowe Announces "NO" Vote on House Bill 96

April 9, 2025

COLUMBUS – State Rep. Meredith Lawson-Rowe (D-Reynoldsburg) today voted “NO” on the Republican state operating budget, House Bill (HB) 96, because it arbitrarily and recklessly slashes critical state funding areas while failing to benefit everyday Ohioans. Rather than provide real and meaningful support to Ohio’s citizens, House Republicans chose to dismantle the constitutional and bipartisan fair school funding formula, dump more taxpayer money into vouchers for charter non-public and private schools that benefit the wealthiest Ohioans, and authorize a $600M handout to billionaires to build a new Browns stadium outside of Cleveland amidst opposition by local leaders.

“Ohio’s operating budget is reflective of our priorities as a state and right now, it’s clear our families are not the priority. Among a litany of issues, this budget asks public schools to do more with less, forgoes and forsakes accountability in campaigns and elections by abolishing the Ohio Elections Commission, risks the healthcare of nearly one million Ohioans by peeling back the layers of the successful expansion of Medicaid, and so much more. That’s unacceptable,” said Rep. Lawson-Rowe. “While there are some good provisions in this budget, such as the restoration of funding for our public libraries, this budget as a whole misses the mark. It’s unfair, unsustainable, and, yet completely avoidable. It’s time to do right by our students, our families, and our future as a state.”

HB 96 cuts key investments from what Governor Mike DeWine proposed in childcare, public schools, Medicaid, public libraries, affordable housing, clean drinking water, pediatric cancer research, lead abatement funding, food assistance, and programs that save the lives of mothers and their babies. It also fails to provide real property tax relief; makes future school levies more likely; launches attacks on minority-owned businesses, the LGBTQ+ community, and the collective bargaining rights of workers; and ignores the will of voters by reducing the amount of marijuana sales tax revenue returned to local host communities.

Some of the most damaging provisions found in HB 96 include:

Foregoing Fair School Funding: Dismantling the bipartisan, constitutional, school fair school funding formula that was created by education experts and passed by this legislature to fund our children’s public-school education. Around 90% of Ohio’s school age children attend their local public school.
Forcing Schools to Put More Property Tax Levies on the Ballot: Inexplicably limiting public school districts from carrying over more than 30% of reserve funds from the previous fiscal year in their operating budget, an arbitrary and unvetted cap, and stripping funds from the district if reserves exceed the cap. This will force local districts to recklessly spend down cash reserves or lose the funding, which will result in public districts needing to rely more heavily on local levies more often at a time when Ohio is the most levied state in the nation.
More Giveaways for School Vouchers: Accelerating the shifting of taxpayer dollars for vouchers and expansion to entirely unaccountable non-public, non-chartered schools in the amount of $2.4 billion over the biennium, which will continue to benefit the wealthiest Ohioans. This amounts to a 16.5% increase over current state voucher program funding. This will not result in greater school choice–it will only result in more taxpayer dollars being dumped into unaccountable systems–as parents only have real choice when all schools eligible for public funds are held to the same standards.
No Real Property Tax Relief: Failing to provide real property tax relief for the thousands of Ohioans who have reached out to their lawmakers asking them to act. Instead, Republicans have put forward a fake and unvetted scheme that will actually raise Ohioans property tax bills and punish public schools for responsible financial planning, forcing more levies at a time when homeowners’ tax bills are already too high.
Fewer Childcare Slots to Support Working Ohioans: Slashes the Governor’s proposed expansion of childcare eligibility to Ohio’s hardest working families, which means more families and children will leave the state and many that stay will not be able to enter the workforce due to childcare needs. The Governor proposed addressing the childcare crisis that Ohio families are facing by increasing access to childcare for 30,000 kids, helping tens of thousands of parents pursue better jobs and stabilize their families, and this House budget contains funding for 20,000 fewer children. The Ohio Chamber of Commerce estimates that more than $5 billion in economic growth is being lost each year due to Ohio’s lack of adequate childcare.
Risking Medicaid Expansion for nearly 800k Ohioans: Makes it easier to kick 770,000 Ohioans off Medicaid by implementing a mandatory trigger to withdraw from the Medicaid expansion if there is even a $1 decrease in federal share reimbursement to the program. If the trigger occurs, many hospitals will be at risk for immediate closure, especially in rural communities, because Medicaid expansion covers a large portion of patients served. Ohioans will be less likely to seek preventative care without insurance coverage, ultimately increasing emergency room visits and uncompensated care costs to the healthcare system overall.
Rolls Back Will of the Voters on Marijuana Funding: Voters overwhelmingly passed Issue 2 to allocate substantial tax revenue from cannabis sales to the local host communities. The budget cuts that funding by 44% and ends it after 5 years, sending the remainder of the money to the state budget to subsidize private school vouchers.
Limits Minority-Owned Businesses Access to State Contracts: Eliminates certain filing requirements that support the state’s affirmative action contracting provisions for state contracts which could render useless the state-sponsored programs that help more minority-owned businesses to secure state contracts.
Making Our State Hostile for LGBTQ+ Ohioans: Makes Ohio more hostile to LGBTQ+ individuals by legislating state health policy regarding gender identity, vaguely requiring public libraries to hide books that, “relate to sexual orientation or gender identity,” and prohibiting the distribution of funding for youth homeless centers that support or affirm trans identities.
Cuts to Clean Water Programs: Cuts $120 million (nearly 45% of funding) from H2Ohio which is a successful program to clean up waterways, address algal blooms and protect the drinking water. H2Ohio also supports local communities to make critical water infrastructure upgrades to protect against lead and PFAS contamination.
Attacks on Collective Bargaining and Organized Labor: Attacks unions and collective bargaining by prohibiting workers from negotiating about their working location assignments both in an education setting and as a state employee–even when that working assignment has nothing to do with working from home–which is a key component of an employees’ working conditions. Conversations around work reporting locations are critical so that employees can effectively perform their job duties without wasted time and costs, better serving the people and students of Ohio.
Putting the State’s Credit on the Line for $600M to Billionaire Browns’ Owners: The budget includes the state fronting $600 million to secure bonds to build a new Cleveland Browns stadium in a suburb of Cleveland, which would move the stadium from its downtown location, much to the chagrin of local leaders.

HB 96 passed the Ohio House of Representatives by a vote of 60-39 Wednesday. It now heads to the Ohio Senate for further consideration.