07/01/2021

Gov. DeWine Signs Ohio's Biennial Budget Bill Effective 7/01/21

The Conference Committee on HB110, the operating budget for FY22-23, reported its recommendations out unanimously late Monday afternoon, having gone through 400+ pages of differences and nearly 200 amendments in just under two hours. Besides "almost entirely" restoring the House's Fair School Funding Plan, according to Conference Committee Chairman Rep. Scott Oelslager (R-North Canton), the committee addressed a wide range of topics, many of them controversial and many not so, such as the provision making Juneteenth a state holiday.

The bill went on to passage by large, bipartisan majorities in both chambers. The final compromise that revived much of the Cupp-Patterson school funding plan propelled the new operating budget to wide bipartisan approval Monday in the Senate, where senators also cheered brownfield remediation, broadband expansion, post-partum health care coverage and other provisions of HB110. The House saw overwhelming support on the conference committee report for HB110, adopting it by a vote of 82-13, with most votes against it coming from Democrats,
who said they felt the budget doesn't go far enough to help Ohioans who are still struggling. Rep. Bill Dean (R-Xenia) was the lone Republican vote against the bill.

Ahead of the governor’s signing of the state budget, legislative Democrats asked him to veto several items, including a tax cut they said would primarily benefit the wealthy and further restrictions on abortion clinic operations. Voting rights groups also asked him to veto voting related language.

Gov. Mike DeWine signed the biennial budget bill, HB110 (Oelslager), early in the morning of Thursday, July 1, after receiving the budget bill around 7 p.m. Wednesday. He issued 14 line-item vetoes, a relatively low number. The vetoes removed Medicaid rates from state law, axed language on lawmaker intervention in lawsuits filed by the executive branch and eliminated a provision voiding penalties businesses incurred for violation COVID-19 restrictions.

Gov. Mike DeWine, Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, key legislators and other officials gathered Thursday to celebrate the newly signed FY22-23 biennial budget touting its focus on children, economic development, public safety and the environment among other areas. The governor also elaborated on some of his reasoning behind line-item vetoes that struck language in 14 topics. "This budget speaks to what pulls us together," said DeWine, noting the large, bipartisan majorities that voted for the final version of HB110 (Oelslager) earlier this week.

Ignoring line-item veto requests from Democrats, LGBTQ advocates and reproductive rights supporters, Gov. Mike DeWine signed a budget that further restricts abortion clinics and allows medical providers to deny health care services to patients based on religious beliefs. Under HB110 (Oelslager), ambulatory surgical facilities (ASF) with a variance must have a relationship with a consulting physician with admitting privileges within 25 miles of the ASF. The consulting physician also must practice clinical medicine within 25 miles of the ASF.