COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Billions of dollars are being allocated at the Ohio Statehouse, including a $700 million one-time fund, that lawmakers call “historic.”

The spending bill was made public on Tuesday evening and passed the House floor less than 24 hours later, 75 to 19, the bill now goes to the Senate for consideration. In total, House Bill 2 accounts for nearly $2 billion. $700 million of that money is surplus tax dollars. Each chamber is working to allocate half of those funds.  

“We feel like we got it right,” Chair of the Ohio House Finance Committee Representative Jay Edwards (R-Nelsonville) said.

“It is a happy accident that was not ever expected,” Ranking Member of the Ohio House Finance Committee Representative Bride Rose Sweeney (D-Westlake) said.

The $350 million that the House appropriated today is slated to go to a diverse range of more than 300 projects across the state, from $7 million to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, nearly $400,000 for pickle-ball facilities, and millions of dollars to local YMCA projects.

“A lot of it had to do with what the members specifically felt was a priority,” Edwards said.

Edwards said House Republicans alone brought forward over 2,600 projects to be considered. But on Wednesday, some members said they are not happy with the way things ended up. All 19 nay votes were Republicans.

“We had several reasons, the biggest one was process. We didn’t get the bill until just yesterday,” Ferguson said.

None of the Republicans who voted against the bill were recognized to speak on the House floor.

“It’s certainly not being allocated fairly, the first step to fairness is to actually have discussion and debate,” Representative Ron Ferguson (R-Wintersville) said.

The Senate, as Edwards and Speaker of the Ohio House Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) explained it, now works on their $350 million.

“It was agreed upon at the time that our $350 million wouldn’t be touched by them, their $350 million wouldn’t be touched by us,” Edwards said.

But, in the letter below, Senate President Matt Huffman (R-Lima) said there was “no such agreement,” in this letter and the Senate will not move the bill until late May or June, to allow for additional debate. 

Ferguson said the House should not have moved the bill so quickly either. 

“It was very difficult to read and find out exactly what was in the bill and also they didn’t have public testimony,” Ferguson said.

“We had our members submit, we knew what their priorities were, which is how we typically do it,” Edwards said. “And we spent a lot of time amongst leadership talking to members, trying to figure this out.”

The $1.6 billion in the bill that is not part of the one-time fund will go to local jails, schools and infrastructure projects, each category slated to receive hundreds of millions of dollars.