Legislative Updates 3 - G2G Consulting

March 2, 2023

All eyes are on the annual appropriations and National Defense Authorization Act process that is gearing up for President Biden’s FY2024 budget request to be unveiled on March 9. Along side the September 30 deadline to complete appropriations bills as the new fiscal year commences on October 1, there are expiring authorizations. For example, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the farm bills all need to be crafted and passed over the next seven months. Congress also wants to push through bipartisan legislation on kids’ online privacy, energy permitting, marijuana banking, more fentanyl and opioid support, among other issues. G2G has been on the Hill and at events with Members of Congress as things are back to normal in this “post-COVID” world.

February 27, 2023

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.

January 26, 2023

The red wave never materialized on November 8. It looks like the House will be controlled by Republicans, but by the slimmest majority. The Senate will stay in Democratic control. While vote counting continues due to so many mail-in ballots in the West, Congress is back in session this week. They need to complete the appropriations process (likely in an omnibus package that will have lots of legislative measures tacked on) and the National Defense Authorization Act, among other issues. The 118th Congress will be sworn in on January 3, 2023 and the G2G team is planning to attend many of the swearing in events in Washington. See details on election results and what it means for 2023.

January 23, 2023

The Ohio House of Representatives and Senate concluded the 134th General Assembly after marathon sessions – some say the longest they’ve seen in decades – before Christmas. During this period, several key bills were passed and sent to Governor DeWine’s desk. Farewells were said to many legislators as a result of retirements, term limits, and election losses and to agency heads who opted to retire at the end of the year. The opening of the 135th General Assembly led to dramatic results in the Ohio House during the election of the new Speaker, and the ripple effects continue.

November 15, 2022

With the General Election behind us, the Ohio Legislature will now swing right into Lame duck action. Ohio’s election results were as expected with Republicans easily sweeping all statewide seats and deepening their margins in both the House and Senate as they picked up seats in both chambers. In Lame duck, we will see a flurry of bills passed before the end of the year. All bills that were introduced in this General Assembly will die at the end of the year. While Ohio still has $1B in federal ARPA funding available to spend, all eyes will be on how or if the funding will be spent in Lame duck. This legislative update will focus on election results, what we expect to see in Lame duck, and insights into the next General Assembly, including the State Operating Budget which will take place at the top of 2023.

November 14, 2022

The red wave never materialized on November 8. It looks like the House will be controlled by Republicans, but by the slimmest majority. The Senate will stay in Democratic control. While vote counting continues due to so many mail-in ballots in the West, Congress is back in session this week. They need to complete the appropriations process (likely in an omnibus package that will have lots of legislative measures tacked on) and the National Defense Authorization Act, among other issues. The 118th Congress will be sworn in on January 3, 2023 and the G2G team is planning to attend many of the swearing in events in Washington. See details on election results and what it means for 2023.

October 14, 2022

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.

October 14, 2022

November 8 is just weeks away and all the focus is on some key House and Senate races that will determine who controls the chambers in 2023. While most presume the House will flip to Republican control, the Senate is still a question mark. Before Congress recessed for the final stretch of the campaign cycle, it did pass a Continuing Resolution to keep the government running until December 14. It also passed the much-anticipated reauthorization of the SBIR program that funds grants for small business innovation, the FDA user fees reauthorization legislation, and what was considered a surprise bill called the Inflation Reduction Act that covered items ranging from climate change to drug pricing to tax policy. When they return on November 14, they will need to develop an omnibus appropriations bill as well as a compromise ARPA-H authorization bill, Cures 2.0, and the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), among others.

September 01, 2022

With the Senate returning right after Labor Day and the House returning a week later on September 13, Congress is gearing up for a frenzied three weeks of legislative activity before recessing for the month of October through election day on November 8. While there is lots to watch for, five items rise to the top of the list. See these and other quick highlights of what is happening within FY23 Appropriations, Health, Defense and Economic Development in this month’s report. We also share some upcoming events, such as our What’s Happening in Washington with the experts on September 7, our MHSRS Report following the September 12-15 conference on military bioscience innovation, and our Nonprofit Advocacy Planning Webinar on October 5.

September 01, 2022

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.

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