Ohio Updates

It is budget season in Ohio! Because the state of Ohio operates on a biennial budget, the first six months of this year will be mostly dedicated to the budgets that fund our state. The state transportation budget (HB 23) must be passed by March 30th and the state operating budget (HB 33) must be passed by June 30th. The Ohio House is currently hearing the transportation budget with passage expected this week. Following the tragedy in East Palestine, rail safety is top of mind for legislators in this budget. Hours of hearings have been dedicated to rail safety, worker safety, and transportation of hazardous materials. The transportation budget has already started hearings in the Senate so it may quickly make it through the legislative process and to Gov. DeWine’s desk before the end of March.

Elections are top of mind in Ohio with the November 8 general election quickly approaching.

After the elections, the legislature will return to a lame duck session to move a number of bills to the floor and onto Governor DeWine’s desk before the end of the year. All eyes are on how Ohio will spend its remaining $280M of ARPA funding as well as General Revenue Funds (GRF) that will shape just how expansive the next Operating Budget can be for FY2024-25. In January, the work begins on this two-year state Operating Budget that includes funding opportunities for nonprofits. If you are considering funding from the state for programming, now is the time to start planning.

Ohio held its second primary on Tuesday, August 2nd for State Senate and House seats as well as State Central Committee. The legislature remains on recess until after the November 8th general election. Over the past several weeks, G2G has met with many public officials. On the local level, we’ve connected with Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb, Cleveland City Council President Blaine Griffin, and Cuyahoga County Executive Candidate Chris Ronayne on digital connectivity, healthy food access, and business development issues. In Columbus and Cleveland, we’ve talked with Governor DeWine, Lt. Governor Husted, Department of Development Director Lydia Mihalik, and Ohio Senate Finance Chairman Matt Dolan about issues ranging from economic development to bioscience innovation to K-12 education. Within Congress, we recently met up with Reps. Troy Balderson, Shontel Brown, Dave Joyce, and Tim Ryan about similar issues moving through Congress as well as implementation of the CHIPS Act and Inflation Reduction Act and the launch of the new Intel semiconductor manufacturing facility near Columbus. Many officials will be at the September 9th ribbon cutting for the facility with President Biden and G2G is working with the City Club of Cleveland to plan an event on how this facility connects to Northeast Ohio’s innovation ecosystem.

Ohio held its second primary on Tuesday, August 2nd for State Senate and House seats as well as State Central Committee. The legislature remains on recess until after the November 8th General Election. While it is mostly quiet on Capitol Square, the election is keeping the Ohio Legislature and Administration quite busy. G2G has been tracking, engaging in, and attending events for several Ohio races. From the senate campaign of Congressman Tim Ryan v. J.D. Vance to the re-election campaigns of Reps. Dave Joyce, Shontel Brown, Marcy Kaptur and Steve Chabot to the state level campaigns of Governor DeWine as well as state legislators in tricky redrawn districts, G2G has gone to numerous events and pounded the pavement. The common theme throughout is no one is taking anything for granted with the November 8th elections. See G2G’s full report on Ohio politics including detailed election results, education, and health.