Ohio House Minority Leader Allison Russo. (Photo by Nick Evans, Ohio Capital Journal.)
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine is scheduled to deliver his state of the state address before a joint session of the General Assembly today, Wednesday. DeWine’s Republican party dominates both chambers of the legislature. But in the days leading up to his speech, Democratic leaders — at turns critical, curious, or even cautiously supportive — laid out what they want to hear from the governor.
Schools and child care
Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Ohio Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio emphasized the importance of securing funding for childcare and K-12 education.
The latest proposals on publicly funded childcare cut off at 200% of the federal poverty line, Antonio explained, but Democrats want to see coverage extended to families earning three times the poverty limit.
“Look, frankly, if we can increase (K-12) vouchers to 400(%)-plus of federal poverty level, then certainly we should be able to increase the threshold for our some of our lowest income folks to be able to access childcare,” she argued.
And the state’s school voucher program came in for criticism from House Minority Leader Allison Russo, as well.
“In my opinion, we should not be entertaining expansion or addition of dollars to a voucher program if we have not addressed the public-school funding — fully funding — first,” she said.
House Speaker Matt Huffman has argued in recent weeks that the state’s multi-year effort to adequately fund schools ‘unsustainable.’
Alluding to Huffman, Antonio quipped, “Well, I know where a billion dollars could come from to pay for public schools. It could come from those vouchers that have gone to folks who are already sending their kids to private, religious based schools.”
Huffman has also threw cold water on the idea of universal school meals as wasteful — Russo disagreed.
“Any child who goes to school hungry or has to go through the day hungry, that’s one child too many,” she argued.
Property tax relief
Flowing directly from the school funding question, Democrats are eager to hear where DeWine stands on property taxes. Antonio said the state needs to land on idea that protects homeowners without jeopardizing schools.
Assistant Minority Leader Hearcel Craig, who served on a recent property tax reform committee, chimed in “The simple truth is, we’ve got to find a mechanism that really helps families, because that’s a true burden.
“Nobody’s calling my office regarding income taxes,” he added, “but we get lots of calls in my office regarding property taxes.”
Two ideas lawmakers have floated are an expansion of the homestead exemption or a ‘circuit-breaker,’ capping the amount paid at a particular percentage of income. In both cases, the policies are geared toward benefiting people living on fixed incomes.
Russo said that expanding the homestead exemption is “low hanging fruit.”
“It’s been well over a decade — well before my time — but the qualification to get that exemption, and the amount that it covers, hasn’t been increased in a very long time,” she said. “So that’s particularly helpful for, I think, many of our older Ohioans who are on very set incomes.”
Sin taxes
Democrats’ ears perked up when DeWine announced plans for a $1,000 child tax credit, but they’ve got some questions about the funding. The governor’s proposal would pay for the tax credit by imposing higher taxes on tobacco products.
“The intent is good,” Russo said, because higher prices make a big difference among younger users who ideally won’t pick up the habit.
“Is it a long-term sustainable way to fund things?” she said. “Probably not, if you’re doing them right, because the original intent should be to drive down use.”
Russo noted that Republicans she’s heard from haven’t been enthused with a big tax increase on tobacco. For her part, Antonio argued failing to impose new taxes on tobacco shouldn’t kill the child tax credit. “I think that we have to look at the general fund,” she said.
“We keep hearing that children are a priority,” she said. “Then we need to figure out where that those funds come from, because children should be, and we know that families would benefit from this.”
Antonio added that there’s “a whole lot of merit” in the governor’s stadium funding plan, too.
The Cleveland Browns are lobbying lawmakers for a $600 million bond package to defray the cost of a new stadium; they’re seeking another $600 million from local governments as well. DeWine’s plan, on the other hand, would impose higher taxes on sports books and collect the proceeds in a fund that could be tapped for the Browns and whichever team needs help funding a new stadium next.
“To me, it’s solving the problem today, but also setting it up for solving it in the future,” Antonio said.
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