STATE BIENNIAL BUDGET UPDATE
- gcook16
- Jun 26
- 3 min read
Yesterday, the Ohio General Assembly finalized the state’s biennial operating budget for Fiscal Years 2026–2027, sending the $90.5 billion plan to Governor DeWine for his consideration. The Governor has until midnight Monday to issue any line-item vetoes before signing the bill into law.
We’re pleased to report that several of the Ohio Business Roundtable’s top policy priorities were included in the final budget agreement—clear wins for economic growth, housing development, and workforce competitiveness.
Below are a few key highlights of OBRT-supported provisions that made it into the final bill:
HOUSING
Residential Economic Development Districts (REDD): The final budget adopts the Senate’s $25 million plan (Senate Bill 184) to incentivize housing within 20 miles of megaprojects, a proposal OBRT strongly supported to address Ohio’s housing shortage near major job centers.
Zoning Reform: Includes both the House’s exemption of megaproject-related zoning from referendums and the Senate’s increase in the threshold for all zoning referendums from 15% to 35%—a significant step to reduce barriers to needed housing.
Housing Trust Fund: OBRT successfully advocated to maintain the current funding mechanism for the Ohio Housing Trust Fund, preventing a harmful House proposal that would have undermined its reach and impact.
WORKFORCE & HIGHER EDUCATION
State Share of Instruction (SSI): While not fully achieving our proposed model, the final budget includes a 2% increase to the SSI formula and protects core programs like TechCred, Ohio College Opportunity Grant, Choose Ohio First Scholarship, and the Governor’s Merit Scholarship.
Career Readiness Funds: OBRT’s support helped maintain $5 million per year in career exploration funding—a program delivering strong ROI for students and employers alike.
CHILD CARE
Child Care Cred Program: The final bill includes a tri-share model, known as the Child Care Cred Program, which establishes a voluntary program that employers can use to provide employees a benefit where the child care cost is split between the state, employer and employee.
BUSINESS CLIMATE & INFRASTRUCTURE
Flat Income Tax: The Ohio Senate's flat 2.75% income tax was included in the final budget. OBRT supports the reduction of the income tax, however we cautioned against eliminating existing tax exemption deals with Ohio's businesses which was a consideration as a way to pay for the flat tax. We were successful in this advocacy.
All Ohio Future Fund: Though reduced significantly, funding remains available to develop industrial sites across the state—critical for securing future economic wins.
Unclaimed Funds for Sports & Culture: The budget adopts the Senate’s innovative proposal to use long-dormant unclaimed funds to establish a statewide framework for sports and cultural facility investments. This approach provides a fiscally responsible tool to drive tourism, job creation, and neighborhood revitalization across all regions of Ohio rather than creating a tax burden for Ohioans or using the state's bonding authority for a single venue.
Prescription Fee: OBRT helped limit the most burdensome elements of proposed pharmacy benefit manager regulation, avoiding a dispensing fee on every prescription in Ohio that could have cost businesses over $6 billion over the decade.
PROVISIONS OF CONCERN
Elimination of the Data Center Sales Tax Exemption: OBRT strongly opposes this provision, which removes a critical economic development incentive. This change severely undermines Ohio’s competitiveness against peer states for data center and technology infrastructure investment. We will be urging Governor DeWine to veto this provision.
SNAP Purchase Restrictions: We remain opposed to the inclusion of a requirement for the state to seek a federal waiver to ban the use of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits for sugar-sweetened beverages, which also sets a dangerous and unworkable precedent regarding food additives for Ohio's food manufacturing and agricultural industries. This sends a negative message to retailers and employers and creates unnecessary compliance burdens. We are also requesting a line-item veto of this provision.
We’ve prepared a more detailed breakdown of OBRT’s budget advocacy and the final outcomes. You can access that document here:
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