COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine spent more than an hour highlighting Ohio’s accomplishments and laying out his plan for the future, in his second-to-last State of the State address Wednesday.
DeWine focused much of his speech on workforce development, touting the number of jobs that have been created in the state, but said we are going to need people to fill them. He suggested clearing roadblocks for disabled Ohioans, for example, to enter the workforce.
“It’s important to help those individuals with disabilities transition into the workforce,” Rep. Josh Williams (R-Sylvania) said. “They still have a lot of skills that they can provide to our employers, and we want to incentivize our employers to make sure we hire those individuals.”
DeWine also suggested helping seniors and formerly incarcerated Ohioans to fill some of those positions.
“I think that’s something that we should be encouraging, particularly if they’re getting training within the four walls of the prison that they might have served their time in,” Senate President Rob McColley (R-Napoleon) said.
“It should not be and hopefully will not be a partisan issue that people who have served their time should be able to reenter society, find a job, find housing, and be productive members of the community,” Rep. Dani Isaacsohn (D-Cincinnati) said. “That should be a priority for all of us.”
While some ideas, like removing roadblocks to get more people working, garnered cheers and claps during the address, others were not as popular. One proposal that DeWine pushed lawmakers to consider is increasing the sports gaming tax, to both fund after school programs for youth, but also professional sports stadiums.
“I think there’s an appetite to get a funding structure for the stadium that doesn’t include the increase of sports gaming taxes,” Williams said. “So, I don’t think you’re going get a lot of members in my caucus to support an increase in taxes at all.”
“We need kids to have the funding,” Isaacshon said. “They need to be able to afford afterschool sports and programming, so that’s what we’re focused on. And how do we get students in Ohio access to afterschool programming, sports that they deserve that is free, that’s accessible. And so that’s the part of the governor’s proposal that we’re most focused on.”
DeWine also wants to keep funding and increasing the state’s child income tax credit, but some leaders said they are hesitant that an income tax credit is “the way to go.”
“I guess I’d like to see some modeling on whether this particular income tax credit would really promote the ability of people to have children,” Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman (R-Lima) said.
DeWine recued his ask of the legislature to ban cell phones in schools. He asked lawmakers to take that action during his State of the State in 2024, and they required each school district to adopt a policy, but did not expressly ban them.
“Is it a continued conversation we need to have? Yes,” Ohio House Minority Leader Allison Russo (D-Upper Arlington) said. “Is there a one size fits all that should come from the statehouse? I don’t think so because we’ve got different needs and different communities and different schools.”
But what all did lawmakers think was missing from the speech? For one, any mention of helping to bring Ohioans property tax relief.
“We desperately need property tax relief,” Isaacsohn said. “But we can’t fund it on the back of cutting income taxes for the wealthiest Ohioans. It is not what people are clamoring for.”
“People in my area are getting inundated with huge property valuation increases,” Williams said.
Williams said he was also looking for any sort of path forward to continue cutting the state’s income tax, which is at the lowest it has ever been.
“More Ohioans should be able to keep more of their paycheck in their own pockets and decide what they want to invest in by purchasing items in the consumer market,” Williams said.
Public school funding, housing and healthcare are something some Democratic members said they wanted to hear more about. Ohio Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio (D-Lakewood) said she wanted to hear more about solutions for food insecurity.
“One in five Ohio children are also food insecure and our food banks are experiencing record high demand,” Antonio said. “You didn’t hear the governor talk about food insecurity because his budget actually cuts the food bank funding.”
While some of the governor’s ideas did not illicit an immediate reaction, good or bad, leaders said they are open to working through nearly anything, as long as the state can afford it and it aligns with each chambers’ priorities.
“I wouldn’t say there’s anything that I would deem a nonstarter, obviously, when you’re giving a state of the state speech you’re talking in general details, you’re covering a lot of topics,” McColley said. “Really what it comes down to is we’ll take a look at any of the proposals that the governor puts forward.”