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The Ohio House on Tuesday passed a $63.7 billion two-year state budget. The bill now goes to the Ohio Senate.
( Rich Exner, cleveland.com)
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Ohio House on Tuesday passed a $63.7 billion, two-year state budget with additional money to fight Ohio's opioid crisis.
The bill passed 58-37, mostly along party lines, and now heads to the Senate, which will make its own revisions over the coming weeks. Both chambers must agree to a bill before the new fiscal year begins July 1.
Rep. Ryan Smith, a Bidwell Republican, said the $170.6 million boost for anti-drug addiction efforts will make an impact on the state's biggest challenge.
"If we had a natural disaster where 5,000 people died, we'd drop everything and help. That's what this is," Smith said on the House floor.
State and federal funding totals $123 billion in fiscal years 2018 and 2019 for education, Medicaid, prisons and other public services.
House Republicans made hundreds of changes to Gov. John Kasich's budget proposal. They scrapped Kasich's proposed income tax cuts, sales tax increase and tax hikes on oil and gas drillers, tobacco products, wine and beer. They largely left Kasich's school funding formula intact, and added about $90 million over two years to the formula.
What supporters said
Smith highlighted the bill restrains state spending growth and focused state resources on the opioid fight and education. He urged members to vote for the bill because of those provisions, even if they disagree with other parts of the bill.
"If you vote no, you're voting against $200 million trying to stave off an epidemic that's going to exceed 4,000 maybe 5,000 deaths in Ohio," Smith said.
Despite Smith's plea, only four Democrats joined Republicans in voting for the bill while 12 Republicans voted against it.
Smith highlighted several changes to strengthen legislative control over the state's Medicaid eligibility expansion, a signature Kasich policy change from 2014. State officials would need to request Medicaid expansion dollars through the Ohio Controlling Board, a legislative panel that oversees state spending, twice a year. And releasing funding would be contingent on "progress" receiving permission from the feds to establish work requirements and charge fees on expansion enrollees.
A Kasich spokeswoman said the bill's "bureaucratic barriers" to health coverage for the 700,000 Ohioans eligible through expansion were "troubling."
"The governor is confident that, working together, we will find the right way forward, preserve our jobs-friendly climate and show the world that Ohio can manage its affairs well in the face of all kinds of challenges," spokeswoman Emmalee Kalmbach said.
House Republicans said they ran out of time to find a way to help counties and regional transit authorities facing budget holes after the feds said sales tax couldn't be levied on managed care organizations. Rep. Bill Seitz, a Cincinnati Republican, said work will continue on the issue to include a fix in the final budget bill.
What opponents said
Rep. Jack Cera, the ranking Democrat on the House Finance Committee, said he was glad the budget doesn't contain additional income tax cuts, which proportionately benefit wealthier Ohioans. But Cera said the bill continues to under fund schools and local governments, which will lead to more local tax increases.
Democrats questioned whether the state will have the money to pay for the budget's spending when final projections are released in June.
State budget officials warned last month that final revenue projections would be at least $800 million less over the next two years than anticipated in January. But the House version of the budget cut about $630 million, according to House Republicans. Senate leaders have said they plan to make additional cuts.
"If revenues continue to decline we'll be like a GPS, recalculating our budget," Cera said.
Rep. Janine Boyd, a Cleveland Heights Democrat, said lawmakers can't boast about increasing opioid addiction funding while making cuts to Medicaid, which the Kasich administration credits for much of the state's work addressing the problem.
"My no vote is not a no to helping our most vulnerable citizens. It's a no in opposition to creating new obstacles for them to get the treatment they need and avoid overdosing," Boyd said.
The bill at a glance:
- Spends $123 billion in state and federal funds in fiscal years 2018 and 2019.
- Excludes Kasich's proposed income tax cuts, sales tax increase and tax hikes on oil and gas drillers, tobacco products, wine and beer.
- Excludes Kasich's proposals to redistribute some local government funding and centralize local income tax collections.
- Requires the state to seek federal approval to
- Reduces the budget's bottom line by shifting money from Medicaid, the state- and federally-funded health insurance program, out of the budget.
- Lifts the tuition freeze at Ohio colleges and universities as long as the tuition rate is locked in for four years.
- Generates $25 million in lottery revenue by allowing video poker games at racinos.