Republican state lawmakers in Columbus have clashed occasionally with Gov. Mike DeWine on hot-button social issues. But they’ve generally given him a wide berth when it comes to the governor’s noncontroversial policy priorities involving children, families and water quality.
That’s not the case in the new budget bill unveiled this week by Ohio House Republicans.
The new budget bill eliminates several top proposals from DeWine, including:
- A new tax credit that would give up to $1,000 to families with children younger than 7 years old
- A proposed $50 million grant program that would pay for public schools to offer driver’s education programs, reversing the state’s long-term decision to largely privatize driver training
DeWine wanted to pay for both programs with increased “sin taxes” on tobacco and marijuana sales. But State Rep. Brian Stewart, a Republican leading the House’s budget process, said the GOP budget contains no tax increases and eliminated any DeWine proposals that were financed by one.
“We don’t want to raise taxes on Ohioans,” Stewart said on Tuesday. “I think that was a pretty widely held belief.”
House budget plan also scales back other DeWine priorities
Though a relatively small portion of the overall budget, these items also get reduced:
- Funding for H2Ohio, the governor’s signature water-quality program. The House budget cuts $120 million from the governor’s budget proposal.
- Funding for public libraries. DeWine had proposed spending $1.08 billion on libraries over two years, a small increase over current levels. The House plan cuts it to $980 million, which is a slight overall decrease from current levels.
- Funding for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, a state initiative that gives free books to children. The governor had proposed spending $10 million on the program, which is a key priority for Ohio First Lady Fran DeWine. The House budget keeps it as it is now at $8 million.
Republicans are saying that overall their budget reduces the use of what they called one-time money. They say the state is making a fiscal transition from the post-pandemic period and are no longer counting on billions in federal aid to help boost state spending.
They insist, however, that they are not intentionally sticking it to the governor.
“This is not a process where the governor shows up and says, ‘Here’s what I want,’” House Speaker Matt Huffman told reporters Wednesday. “You know, we try to do a couple things.”
He added: “I had a great meeting with Gov. DeWine today. He didn’t grab me by the throat and shove me up against the wall or anything like that.”
Haslam stadium funding plan lands in budget bill
As expected, House Republicans also threw out the governor’s plan for funding pro sports stadiums, including the Cleveland Browns’ proposed $2.4 billion domed stadium complex in Brook Park.
DeWine had called for creating a special commission to administer a pool of money for sports stadium projects around the state. That pool would be funded by an increase on the gambling tax.
The House budget includes the financing plan proposed by Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam, which calls for the state to finance $600 million for the project. The bill language calls for the debt to be repaid by increased state tax revenue associated with the new stadium. It also essentially makes the state a part owner of the stadium, and therefore, could saddle the state with its potential liabilities in a worst-case scenario.
School funding changes
The House Republican budget increases funding for traditional K-12 schools by about $383 million over two years compared to DeWine’s budget, which called for cutting school funding slightly compared to 2024 levels. The number is far less than the additional $1.8 billion school districts want, which they would get if state officials were to use schools’ most recent cost numbers to build their funding formula.
Republicans are telegraphing plans to overhaul the state school-funding formula in a couple years, saying it doesn’t direct enough money toward fast-growing schools, or account for the huge property value increases that have directed more local revenues toward schools recently.
What’s next in the budget debate?
The House could approve its budget bill as soon as next week. It then would go to the Senate for more changes. The two chambers then will meet to hash out a final bill and send it to the governor for his signature before the end of June.
So everything noted here – library funding, the Browns project, the child-care tax credit, etc. – remains a work in progress.
What might DeWine veto?
The legislature’s power in budget negotiations comes from their ability to actually set funding.
But once the numbers are locked in, DeWine can veto individual line items he doesn’t like while keeping the rest in place. He typically vetoes a few dozen items every budget bill, a mix of high-profile and more technical changes. The legislature can overturn these vetoes by getting votes from three-fifths of both the House and Senate. There are enough Republicans in both chambers to overturn vetoes without any Democratic support.
In a brief interview on Wednesday, DeWine re-stated his case for his driver’s education program and his stadium funding proposal.
He also called the child tax credit “a huge priority.”
But he said it’s too early in the process to say much about the budget. He offered no clues about what he may or may not veto.
“We’ve got a long way to go for all this,” DeWine said.
Cat and mouse
Democrats and liberal activists have made a mission of hounding U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno and other Republican officials, pressing them to hold town hall meetings ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
They managed to get one, more or less, in an unlikely setting last weekend.
A group of anti-Trump protesters mobilized last Saturday to a bar in Strongsville for an event featuring Moreno organized by the Strongsville GOP, a large Republican club in the Cleveland area.
John Leonard, a retiree who’s involved with the Medina County Democratic Party, helped convene the loosely organized anti-Moreno contingent after someone he knows caught wind of it.
He said it’s part of a larger effort “to raise awareness that Moreno is in fact hiding from us.” Medina Indivisible, another group of which Leonard is a part, recently held an “empty chair town hall meeting” that Moreno didn’t attend.
Members of the Cuyahoga Democratic Women’s Caucus also protested Moreno at a Cleveland-area Tesla dealership last Friday after getting a tip he would be there, and talked with him briefly outside, according to Cindy Dempsey, the CDWC’s president.
“All of these Republican politicians are afraid to appear before the constituents,” said Leonard, who said he wasn’t able to get into the Strongsville event, but knew someone who did.
Shannon Burns, the Strongsville GOP’s leader, said in fact that five to six people -whom he referred to as “not active supporters” of Moreno – got into the bar event.
Moreno ended up fielding several less-than-friendly questions, Burns said, including ones about President Donald Trump, Project 2025, food bank and Medicaid funding and the PACT Act, a federal law that guarantees benefits to veterans exposed to toxic burn pits.
“We let everyone speak,” Burns said. “Everyone got a chance to ask a question. We probably went through the whole crowd.”
The event was publicized primarily to club members. But Burns said the event was open to the general public.
Another similar event is planned in a couple weeks at the same venue with U.S. Rep. Max Miller, the Rocky River Republican, Burns said.
“If people come in and want to ask questions of our U.S. senator and be respectful, we are absolutely going to facilitate that,” Burns said. “And they were welcome.”
