02/26/2015

Ohio House committee recommends passage of ODOT budget bill that reduces highway construction funds

A bare-bones state transportation budget bill that cuts funding for highway construction in the biennium beginning July 1 was recommended for passage Thursday by the Finance & Appropriations Committee of the Ohio House of Representatives.

House Bill 53 gained the approval of the committee, setting it up for passage by the full House on Tuesday, but only after one highly contentious provision was removed from the bill and a second was substantially watered down.

As passed, the bill provides ODOT with $2.88 billion in funding for fiscal year 2016, a 7.9 percent decrease from its FY 2015 allocation of $3.12 billion.  In the second year of the biennium, ODOT would receive an appropriation of $2.99 billion, a 4 percent increase over the first year's allocation.  About 85 percent of all ODOT spending goes toward highway and bridge construction. 

The primary reason for the reduction in highway spending in the upcoming biennium is that the state will not be issuing highway construction bonds to be retired from Ohio Turnpike toll revenues, as it did in the current biennium to the tune of $930 million.

Before recommending the bill Thursday, the House Finance & Appropriations Committee stripped from the bill a provision sought by the Ohio Contractors Association that would have prohibited the state or a political subdivision from requiring contractors to fulfill residency quotas to be eligible for a contract.

The prohibition, which was inserted into the bill earlier in the week, prompted an outpouring of opposition from Akron officials who are planning a major combined sewer separation project and want to require that a majority of workers on the project reside in the city.

The committee also amended a provision that would have blocked state funding for the Eastern Corridor project in Hamilton County. As amended, the bill requires ODOT, in lieu of an outright prohibition of funding, to make a final decision on whether or not to proceed with the project by Dec. 31. If the decision is made not to proceed the money pledged to the project must stay in Hamilton County to be dispersed through the Transportation Review Advisory Council.

Several amendments proposed by Democrats on the committee, including ones to increase funding for local bridge construction and public transit, were rejected by the Republican-controlled committee. 

Republicans said those and many other funding issues will be considered by the Joint Legislative Task Force on Department of Transportation Funding, which is charged with studying whether the state's 28-cents-per-gallon fuel tax is sufficient to meet ODOT's funding needs.  It must report its findings by December 15, 2016.

Once the House approves the budget bill, it heads for the Senate for consideration.  The bill must be passed and signed by the Governor by March 31 if it is to take effect in time for the start of the 2016 fiscal year on July 1.