Lawmakers Approve New State Budget Bill

COLUMBUS – The Ohio General Assembly passed House Bill 110, Ohio’s two-year budget plan. State Rep. Tom Young (R-Washington Twp.) voted in support of the bill. 

“One of the key provisions of this budget was the creation of a historic school funding formula. It has been 24 years since Ohio last had a commitment to a school funding formula. Although I do not agree with the changes that were made to the implementation schedule, it is at least a much needed beginning in order to allow time to see if the school funding formula is effective. 

There were many positive things that took place in this budget, including the income tax cut for Ohioans working class citizens. At the moment we are in an employment crisis in Ohio and all businesses are in need of workers. The jobs are there in Ohio if you are willing and able to work. We have provided incentives in this budget to help create pathways to careers in areas that are in high demand. We took careful consideration and fought hard for expanding broadband to help the nearly 1 million Ohioans living in 300,000 households without high-speed internet. 

I am proud that the legislature worked diligently on the behalf the elderly, children, farmers, law enforcement, first responders, and veterans. 

No budget or policy is perfect. However, great care and many hours of debate have created a budget that Ohioans should be proud of.”

Highlights of the budget include: 

• Putting Students First – This historic legislation reforms public school funding and empower more parents in the education of their children than ever before. This collaboration yielded a comprehensive funding formula that is based on the costs of providing a quality education. This collaboration yielded a comprehensive funding formula that is based on the costs to providing a quality education HB 110 also includes permitting the establishment of a new start-up charter school in any district and changes to EdChoice voucher eligibility. 
• Health and Human Services – HB 110 makes significant investments to support Ohio Children, seniors and our most vulnerable citizens. It increases from 138 percent in the as introduced version to 142 percent of the Federal Poverty Level for publicly-funded childcare. This will help expand the eligibility for families to participate in publicly-funded childcare. The budget also establishes a legislative committee to study the Step Up To Quality program to improve efficiencies and long term funding strategies for the program.
• Cutting Taxes – This budget includes a 3 percent across the board personal income tax cut. The bill also reduces the number of tax brackets from four to five, and eliminates the income tax for anyone making less than $25,000 per year. With the elimination of the top bracket, income-tax rates will no longer increase once a taxpayers incomes reaches $110,650. Any income over that amount will be taxed at 3.99%, compared to the current rates of 4.797% for income over $220,300 and 4.413% on income over $110,650. A breakdown of the old vs new income brackets can be found attached.
• Keeping and Creating Jobs – This piece of legislation includes important reforms to help make Ohio more competitive with other states so Ohio can keep the jobs it has and attract new jobs, new investment and new opportunity. It also provides $155 million to help industries recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, this budget provides $3.6 million to support economic development programs and job creation efforts at Department of Defense facilities in Ohio. 
• Expanding Broadband & Opportunity – HB 110 includes $250 million to support grants under the Ohio Residential Broadband expansion Grant Program and the Ohio Broadband Expansion Program Authority. This plan targets the problem of last mile to connectivity to households where it remains cost-prohibitive for private provides to otherwise extend their service. 
• Supporting Law Enforcement, First Responders & Veterans – House Bill 110 invests in several initiatives to fight crime, protect public safety, and support out veterans, law enforcement and first responders. It provides $4 million for grants to local law enforcement agencies for crime reduction initiatives and $26 million for Recover Ohio Law Enforcement to support anti-narcotics efforts. The budget also appropriates $1 million for the Ohio Attorney General’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and creates a Law Enforcement Training Funding Study Commission to study possible long-term methods for providing state aid to law enforcement agencies for training peace officers. 

Governor DeWine signed the budget on June 30, 2021.