COLUMBUS, Ohio–(AVC News)–After much debate and a late night session, Ohio lawmakers sent the state’s $60 billion operating budget to the governor’s desk on Wednesday.
Reports out of Columbus say the budget passed on party lines without any Democratic support by a 59-38 margin in the Ohio House and the Ohio Senate approving the bill by a 23-10 vote.Senate Democratic Leader Nickie J. Antonio said it’s the first time since 2001 that all Senate Democrats voted against the state operating budget.
Some of the budget bill include:
Income Tax Changes. Moving over the next two years to a flat income tax of 2.75% for people making over $100,000 annually.
Property Tax Changes. This includes requiring school districts to return funds to taxpayers if their “rainy day fund” or carry over, exceeds 40% of their annual operating budget.
Sets aside $600 million from the state’s Unclaimed Fund line to help with construction of a new stadium for the Cleveland Browns.
Also reportedly contained in the budget is $53,600 earmarked for the state’s H2Ohio program and $10 million for school bus safety programs. In addition, the budget bill includes policy items, including; recognizing only two sexes, male and female, which are not interchangeable and changing control of the state teachers pension board to appointees rather than educators.
The final document represents a major overhaul of the 4,063 page budget plan that DeWine introduced in February. During its’ trip around the statehouse, the Budget Bill grew by almost 1,000 pages in the Ohio House, all the way to the Senate’s 5,648 page version. Reports indicate that the final budget document, provided to Gov. DeWine totaled around 5,500 pages.
Governor DeWine now has several options, but only a limited amount of time. He can approve or veto the document as a whole, allowing it to become law without his signature or conducting a line item veto, striking individual provisions he disagrees with while approving the rest of the bill. However, Gov. DeWine cannot add or change the wording of the bill, his only option to make any changes the budget bill is by line item veto. Gov. DeWine, by law has until Monday. The budget bill must be signed by June 30th for the appropriations to take effect on July 1st, the start of the new state fiscal year.
The General Assembly can override the governor’s veto by a 3/5’s majority vote. If the veto is not overridden, the budget, or the specific line items vetoed, do not become law. The General Assembly can then attempt to pass a revised budget or negotiate with the governor.
Last Updated on April 22, 2026 by AVC News
