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Sep 17 2019

How the Latest State Budget Impacts Ohio’s Women and Working Families

Read the full analysis of the Ohio budget through a gender lens on the Ohio Women’s Public Policy Network’s website.

Ohio’s new two-year state operating budget brought numerous improvements for the livelihood of women, but that’s not to say there weren’t plenty of drawbacks and lack of action on key issues as well.

Progress was made to improve the quality of childcare in Ohio. But there’s more work to be done.

The new state budget allocates $198 million to improve the quality of Ohio’s publicly funded childcare system. This increase in funding will allow improvements in ensuring that workers within the childcare sector are paid fair wages, and will also help to facilitate professional development and facility improvements.  Where the budget falls short is allocating resources to increase the access and affordability of childcare. By increasing the accessibility of childcare, children would enter school well prepared, and parents would have the opportunity to participate in the workforce.  While the DeWine Administration stated that increasing eligibility for childcare was a policy priority, ultimately no funds were allocated to support this endeavor. 

After attempts to restrict access to Medicaid via the inclusion of the “Healthy Ohio” Program in the budget, Medicaid services were ultimately left unharmed.

The provision of the so-called Healthy Ohio Program would have required premiums to access Medicaid, which would have had crucial implications on women, who comprise more than half of Ohio’s Medicaid population. Medicaid has long been a lifeline for women, and the legislature’s decision to ultimately remove the “Healthy Ohio” language was crucial to protect access to the program.

Progress was made towards addressing wage theft, an issue that faces many working-class Ohioans, particularly women and people of color working in low-wage jobs.

When workers are paid less than they were contractually promised, it is known as wage theft. Whether it be through violation of minimum-wage laws, not getting paid overtime, or forcing an employee to work off-the-clock, Ohio clocks in with the second-highest amount of wage theft among the ten largest states. Additional funding was allocated to the Ohio Bureau of Wage and Hour to help address this issue.

The state budget also codified some policies that we expect to negatively impact Ohio women and working-class families. 

By continuing to support a business tax cut known by many public service advocates as the  “L.L.C. loophole,” Ohio loses out on about $528 million per year or $1.1 billion for the duration of every state operating budget where it remains intact. There is little evidence to suggest that this tax break for L.L.C.s has created any significant number of new jobs in the state. Ohio is missing out on billions of dollars of revenue that could have been allocated towards programs to address our school funding crisis, increase childcare assistance eligibility, or invest in a refundable Earned Income Tax Credit (which we’ll discuss in just a moment), to name only a few ways this money could be better spent. 

There were also some issues facing Ohio women and their families that the state budget failed to address, entirely. 

Ohio’s Earned Income Tax Credit remains non-refundable.

One of these crucial areas of inaction was the budget’s failure to make Ohio’s Earned Income Tax Credit (E.I.T.C.) refundable, a policy that would have given a major economic boost to low-income families across the state.

.@PolicyMattersOH led the charge to advocate for a refundable state #EITC during the state operating budget process.

Unfortunately, lawmakers did not answer the call, and Ohio’s state EITC remains non-refundable. #OHBudget — Women’s Public Policy Network (@OhioWPPN) September 10, 2019
Nationally, the E.I.T.C has been crucial in lifting working families out of poverty. However, it is not without its limitations here in the state. The greatest shortfall of Ohio’s state E.I.T.C. is that it is non-refundable. If this gap in anti-poverty policy had been addressed, the state budget would have been able to put money back into the hands of working families. 

Despite the 2020 Census being right around the corner, the bill allocated no funding towards planning or conducting a complete census count in the Buckeye state. 

About $33 billion dollars in federal funding rests upon the outcomes of the U.S. Census, which determines how those federal dollars are dispersed, state-by-state. Without a correct and complete count, the well-being of women and historically undercounted communities, populations which rely heavily on these federal grant dollars, are undermined.

No efforts were made to create a framework for statewide paid family leave. 

Paid family and medical leave policies allow workers to address the needs of their families or their own health without risking their financial health. Currently, only 17% of American workers have access to paid leave through an employer, but lawmakers made no effort through the state budget to increase those statistics here in Ohio… To learn more about the push to bring paid family leave in Ohio, check out the Women’s Public Policy Network’s Paid Leave Advocacy page on their website.   

Read the full analysis of the Ohio budget on the Ohio Women’s Public Policy Network’s website.

Written by Erin Ryan · Categorized: Democracy, Economic Development and Jobs, Gender Equity, Ohio State Budget, Paid Leave, Reports, Taxation, Winning Agenda · Tagged: Budget, earned income tax credit, Ohio, Ohio Budget, ohio wppn, State Budget, taxation, Taxes, women's public policy network, women's rights, Women's Watch

Jun 30 2019

Innovation Ohio Statement on GOP Budget Failure

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 30, 2019 Contact: Michael McGovern, 937-245-1232, mcgovern@innovationohio.org Columbus, OH – Today, Innovation Ohio president Janetta King released the following statement in response to the failure of Ohio’s Republican leaders to meet the budget deadline: “To miss a constitutional deadline like this is extraordinary. In the very few times it has happened in the past, it has been during a recession with divided government. Neither is true in this case. This is unprecedented under one-party rule and even more unbelievable given the rosy budget estimates. The Ohio GOP is clearly not able to get the job done. “Blowing past a constitutional deadline like this is an embarrassment and will be noticed by those who evaluate the health and stability of Ohio’s finances. This dysfunction by the party that claims to be fiscally responsible jeopardizes Ohio’s bond rating and could be very costly for Ohio’s reputation and taxpayers. “The question now is if GOP legislators will leave town and ignore the unfinished business required of them by the Ohio Constitution. Ohioans are known for our work ethic and grit—not throwing in the towel to go on vacation when there is a job to do. Gov. Mike DeWine deserves to be furious. Missing this deadline will have a significant impact on his administration and his effectiveness as a leader of the state and his party.” Founded in 2011, Innovation Ohio is a nonpartisan, nonprofit think tank that blends policy research and advocacy to fight for working families in Ohio. ###

Written by Colleen Craig · Categorized: Ohio State Budget, Press Releases, Statehouse Update · Tagged: Budget, Ohio Budget

Mar 19 2019

Governor DeWine Outlines His First State Operating Budget

Last Friday we saw the first outlines of Gov. DeWine’s proposed two-year operating budget, which contains over $70 billion in annual spending authority for all of state government (except Transportation, which is handled in a separate budget. At first glance, it appears to offer small, but needed spending increases while failing to make significant investments in the things that suffered the most during the Kasich years; K-12 education, Higher Education and support for Ohio counties, cities, townships and villages through the Local Government Fund. The lack of meaningful investment is not surprising given that it is funded in the DeWine proposal exclusively through growth in the larger economy, and not with any new sources of revenue. No effort was made to close the unproven $1 billion LLC loophole, to apply a reasonable tax to oil and gas drilling or to restore the top tax rates on Ohio’s highest-earning individuals. The DeWine budget does make commitments to spend more in certain, targeted areas, including children’s services, opioid treatment and enforcement, restoration efforts for Lake Erie, in-school services for at-risk youth, kinship care programs and home visits for new moms and babies. In the absence of new revenue, the Medicaid program is tapped to pay for many of these priorities, raising questions about its impact on the traditional Medicaid population. Of the budget priorities we outlined last week, we are pleased to see the proposal includes wraparound services for school children, a small increase in child care, the preservation of the Medicaid expansion (paired with federal approval of Ohio’s proposed work requirements make this one bittersweet), a slight increase in funding for Ohio College Opportunity Grants . But, overall, the budget fell short of our expectations because it, unlike the Governor’s proposal for dealing with the state’s transportation funding shortfall, failed to fully solve the state’s problems created by years of tax cutting and underinvestment.

Written by Terra Goodnight · Categorized: Featured Items, Front Page, Ohio State Budget · Tagged: Budget, Funding, Mike DeWine, OHbudget, Ohio Budget, State Budget, state funding

Feb 11 2019

Statehouse Preview: It’s Infrastructure Week

At The Statehouse: It’s Infrastructure Week in Ohio

Last week, we learned Ohio faces a looming crisis in transportation funding. Speaking to an Advisory Committee appointed by Governor DeWine, new ODOT Director Jack Marchbanks revealed that Ohio had effectively run out of money to maintain its roads and bridges. According to ODOT, the state has maxed out its ability to borrow against future gas tax revenue and, compounding the issue, the state’s 24-cent per gallon tax — which hasn’t been increased since 2005 — only buys a fraction of what it used to, thanks to inflation. The DeWine administration was fairly blunt in calling out the prior administration for leaving them a mess. The state estimates the shortfall in funding for maintenance, safety and major new construction is $1.5 billion per year, $500 million of which is at the local level, as cities, counties, townships and villages see their share of the gas tax decline. This week, against the backdrop of these newly-understood funding challenges, the DeWine administration will introduce its two-year transportation budget for fiscal years 2020-2021. While Ohio law requires the passage of this spending plan for motor fuel taxes and fees by March 31, the process is certain to be more closely watched than usual this year. The first hearing of the yet-to-be-introduced legislation has been scheduled in the House Finance committee for Wednesday at 10am (see “Week at a Glance,” below). While no agenda has been made public, we expect committee members will hear from the ODOT Director, and additional hearings will be scheduled to give the public an opportunity to testify.

House Committee Assignments

On Friday, Speaker Householder released the list of committee assignments for the Ohio House. Notably, some important committee leadership jobs went to members who supported Householder’s rival in the recent race for Speaker. The Senate will announce committee assignments in a press briefing tomorrow morning.

Week at a Glance

Tuesday 10 am – Press Briefing on Legislative Priorities – Senate President Obhof will reveal committee assignments and legislative priorities for the Senate majority caucus. Watch online at ohiochannel.org. Wednesday 10 am – House Finance Committee – First hearing on the soon-to-be-introduced Transportation Budget in Statehouse Room 313 or watch online at ohiochannel.org. Follow us on Twitter  for for updates on newly scheduled events and hearings.

New Legislation 

Ballot Measures – Since our email last week, we shared what we know so far about proposed new legislation from Republican State Representative Kyle Koehler to reform the process for placing constitutional amendments on the ballot, and shared it on our website. You can read our post here. Other Legislation – As noted earlier, Senate leaders are preparing to introduce their list of “priority” bills tomorrow morning, which they have said could include proposals around regulatory reform, Lake Erie, criminal justice reform, human trafficking and abortion. When bills are introduced, you can find and track them online at legislature.ohio.gov.

Last Week’s Most-Clicked Political News Stories

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As always, we will be sharing updates on Twitter using the #OHLeg hashtag for legislation and #OHGov for executive actions. Follow us to stay up-to-date on what’s happening at the Statehouse. >> Sign up for legislative alerts and other updates at innovationohio.org/signup

Written by Terra Goodnight · Categorized: Legislative Updates, Statehouse Update · Tagged: Budget, gas tax, Transportation

Feb 10 2013

IO Week In Review – February 10, 2013 Edition

Feel out of the loop? Here is your chance to catch up on what we’re watching this week. School Funding The Kasich administration released the much anticipated district-by-district school funding amounts this week and our own Stephen Dyer’s reaction was less than enthusiastic.
However, reality has proven otherwise. Looking at Kasich’s own district-by-district runs released yesterday, poor districts actually fare worse than wealthy. According to administration figures, for every dollar going to a kid in the property richest school districts, just 25 cents goes to the property poorest districts.
Severance Tax  On Monday, the Governor’s recommended operating budget was released. Included in the many tax changes were changes made to how the state wants to levy the severance tax that oil and gas developers pay. We commented that the administration was once again failing to put up a fight against big oil interests and allowing them to walk away with millions in tax savings. Turnpike Plan Hearings started this week on plans to borrow against future Turnpike tolls but it seems that promises originally made by the administration failed to make it into the legislation. Promises made to spend 90% of the revenue in northern Ohio and protect workers from lay-offs were no where to be found. Earlier in the week Jenny Brodie weighed in and asked where exactly is the new Turnpike money going if it isn’t going to projects in northern Ohio? Budget Review Ron Sylvester put together a recap of Governor Kasich’s budget that was released on Monday and asked whether middle and low income Ohioans were being short changed by policy included in it. Tax Reform We highlighted a new Policy Matters Ohio report that showed that the tax proposals in the Governor’s budget will overwhelmingly favor wealthy Ohioans. The analysis showed that Ohioans in the top 1 percent of incomes would receive an annual tax cut of $10,369 while those in the bottom fifth would see a net tax increase of $63 School Levies Intern Joey Crushham reviewed and previewed the most recent batch of school levies that voters weighed in on during last weeks special election. His analysis showed that half of school levies failed last week. Don’t forget to ‘Like’ us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for up-to-the-minute analysis and commentary.

Written by bpeyton · Categorized: Innovation Station · Tagged: Budget, John Kasich, Ohio Turnpike

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