Ohio budget bill with Browns stadium funding, LGBTQ+ restrictions heads to Gov. Mike DeWine

COLUMBUS Ohio AP The two-year billion operating budget sent to Republican Gov Mike DeWine calls for flattening Ohio s income tax and setting aside million in unclaimed funds for a new Cleveland Browns stadium among hundreds of spending decisions He has until Monday to sign it and issue any line-item vetoes State Sen George Lang described the massive spending blueprint as a budget of abundance as he and other members of the GOP supermajority touted its billion in income tax relief pathways to address Ohio s property tax problem and how like the Trump administration s Department of Executive Efficiency initiative it trims spending at administrative agencies and curtails regulations Democrats voted uniformly against the bill alongside a handful of Republicans casting it as a collection of misguided protocol tradeoffs that prioritize the wealthy over the middle class Those opponents argued that joining what the Washington D C -based nonprofit Tax Foundation has described as a flat tax revolution in the states would stand to mostly benefit higher income earners at the expense of local governments and libraries Another key Democratic sticking point Though it increases population guidance funding by about billion over the biennium the bill underfunds by hundreds of millions of dollars or more the final stage of a bipartisan legislatively approved overhaul of Ohio s unconstitutional school funding system Here s a closer look Paying for an NFL stadium It includes the million Haslam Sports Group owner of the Browns requested from the state to help build a new domed stadium in suburban Brook Park south of Cleveland DeWine proposed doubling taxes on sports betting to help the Browns as well as the Bengals and other teams who might seek facility upgrades But the Legislature settled on using selected of the billion in unclaimed funds the state is holding on to in small sums residents left behind from dormant bank accounts uncashed checks and forgotten utility deposits The budget earmarks billion from that fund to create an Ohio Cultural and Sports Facility Performance Grant Fund and designates the Browns as the first grant recipient The budget doesn t explicitly include money for the Bengals who reached a tentative deal on stadium renovations with their home county Thursday but the fund would assist such projects going forward Lawmakers who represent Cleveland and surrounding communities mostly Democrats blasted the proposal as a gift to the gang s billionaire owners Democrats outside the Legislature threatened to sue if DeWine signs the plan arguing it would be unconstitutionally raiding the unclaimed funds without due process The Republican attorney general vowed their effort would fail Taking on taxes The budget phases in a single flat-tax rate of over two years effective on anyone making over a year Those making less would continue to pay nothing The plan eliminates the existing rate on those making over a year by the tax year Ohio would be the th state with a flat tax rate if the plan is enacted Republicans tout that as a benefit to working Ohioans and the economic system and another step in their continuing efforts to reduce the state s tax burden with the aim of particular of them being to eventually eliminate the income tax entirely Institute on Taxation and Economic Approach a Washington D C nonprofit determined of the benefit would go to the top of income earners or those making over To address skyrocketing property taxes largely collected by residents school districts the bill prohibits any new urgency or new replacement levies and requires wording changes on ballots when seeking any future levies It also caps districts operating budget carryovers requiring them to spend down surpluses that exceed or return the excess to taxpayers Opponents argued that penalizes districts that have been good stewards of their money Trimming cabinet programs and oversight Echoing the approach of Trump s DOGE as one of that venture s architects runs for governor with Trump s promotion lawmakers boasted of the ordinance s to cuts to administrative agency budgets Beyond that it defunds defangs reassigns or abolishes bodies that punish polling law violations craft inhabitants school agenda monitor rare diseases field complaints about Ohio s state prisons and oversee state spending on Medicaid the largest and the bulk foundational portion of the state budget The majority of the affected boards commissions and committees were bipartisan It also reduces funding for tobacco use prevention food banks and several housing programs while devoting million to quantum computing research at Miami University and million to child cancer research In anticipation of expected cuts to the federal budget Republicans also included a trigger mechanism that would end coverage under Medicaid expansion if the federal establishment match falls below Democrats criticized the decision which affects vitality insurance coverage for more than Ohioans Targeting LGBTQ issues The measure declares as not only state framework but incontrovertible reality that there are only two sexes male and female It prohibits to the extent allowed under federal law the distribution of Medicaid funds for mental robustness services that promote or affirm social gender transition and bans state funds from going to youth shelters that do the same It also would require constituents libraries to move children s books related to sexual orientation or gender identity or expression out of view of minors Republican Rep Gary Click a Baptist pastor called it unfortunate that lawmakers have to assert such positions on sexuality but announced it s what constituents want What s next he demanded In the next budget do we have to say water is wet and the Earth is round Senate Democratic Leader Nickie Antonio the state s first openly gay legislative leader rebuked Republicans for sowing the seeds of division of suspicion and shame and suggesting LGBTQ people are too extreme to be seen in the light of day These actions aren t going to erase us she explained Just because you put the materials behind a curtain doesn t mean the people suddenly poof don t exist Because you know what We do We are the very fabric of every single one of your communities in every single one of your districts Source