· February 12, 2015

Legislation: Ohio House Bill 64 – Biennial Budget

Bill: House Bill 64 (full text) Title: Biennial Budget Sponsors: Representative Smith Co-sponsors: Representatives Amstutz, Anielski, Baker, Blessing III, Boose, T. Brown, Buchy, Burkley, Dovilla, Ginter, Green, Hackett, Hagan, Hambley, Hill, Kraus, Maag, McClain, Perales, Reineke, Romanchuk, Scherer, Sears, Sprague, Speaker Rosenberger, Bill Analysis:  The biennial budget spans the executive branch of Ohio government and thus has policy changes in every agency, many of which directly impact women and children in Ohio. The most significant changes are in the following areas:

• The Senate added new restrictions on transfer agreements that abortion clinics are required to have with private hospitals which will likely close Toledo’s only clinic. The language was briefly removed, but added back by a House-Senate conference committee.
• The Senate added another amendment that puts the last remaining clinics in Dayton and Cincinnati at risk of closure. Clinics that cannot obtain transfer agreements with local hospitals and apply for a waiver with the Department of Health will now have only 60 days in which the waiver can be granted, or it will be automatically denied.
• The Governor’s proposal would have meant that women who become pregnant or are diagnosed with breast and cervical cancer would no longer be eligible for Medicaid coverage if they make between 138 and 200 percent of poverty (or $16,105 to $23,340 annually). Senate amendments restored coverage.
• The Governor’s budget shifted future Medicaid funding to agency based providers of in-home healthcare services, threatening the livelihoods of tens of thousands of independent health providers, over 90 percent of whom are women. Independent providers earn between $13 and $16 per hour, compared to $8 to $9 per hour in agency settings. This provision was removed by the House.
• Extends gradually reducing subsidies for child care for families earning up to 300 percent of the federal poverty level ($39,325 per year for a single mom with one child), instead of ending it when incomes exceed 200 percent of poverty ($31,460 for the same family of 2). The budget also eliminates child care co-pays for families making less than 100 percent of poverty ($15,730 for a family of 2).
• Earmarks $13.4 million from Medicaid and sets rules to ensure delivery of preventive, prenatal and postnatal services to women in areas at high risk for infant mortality.
• Dedicates $2 million to train officials at Ohio’s public colleges and universities on best practices for the prevention of and response to campus sexual assaults.

Status: Introduced in the House February 11, 2015. Referred to House Finance Committee February 12, 2015. Passed 21-11 by House Finance Committee on April 21, 2015. Passed 63-36 by House on April 22, 2015. Referred to the Senate Finance Committee on April 28, 2015.  Passed an amended version 9-4 in Senate Finance Committee on June 17, 2015.  Passed 23-10 by Senate on June 18, 2015. Reported by House-Senate Conference Committee on June 25, 2015.  See how your legislator voted here. On June 30, 2015 the bill was signed by the governor, effective immediately with certain provisions effective on September 25, 2015 and unspecified later dates. Votes Cast:

House 4/22/2015
Yeas: 63
Amstutz	Anielski	Antani	Baker
Barnes	Blessing	Boose	Brenner
Brown	Buchy	Burkley	Butler
Conditt	Cupp	DeVitis	Derickson
Dever	Dovilla	Duffey	Ginter
Gonzales	Green	Grossman	Hackett
Hagan	Hall	Hambley	Hayes
Henne	Hill	Huffman	Johnson, T.
Koehler	Kraus	Kunze	LaTourette
Landis	Maag	Manning	McClain
McColley	Patmon	Pelanda	Perales
Reineke	Retherford	Rezabek	Roegner
Romanchuk	Rosenberger	Ruhl	Ryan
Schaffer	Scherer	Schuring	Sears
Slaby	Smith, R.	Sprague	Sweeney
Terhar	Thompson	Young
Nos: 36
Antonio	Ashford	Becker	Bishoff
Boyce	Boyd	Brinkman	Celebrezze
Cera	Clyde	Craig	Curtin
Driehaus	Fedor	Gerberry	Hood
Howse	Johnson, G.	Kuhns	Leland
Lepore-Hagan	O’Brien, M.	O’Brien, S.	Patterson
Phillips	Ramos	Reece	Rogers
Sheehy	Slesnick	Smith, K.	Stinziano
Strahorn	Sykes	Vitale	Zeltwanger