Representative Wesley Goodman
The Ohio House on Tuesday passed a $63.7 billion, two-year state budget with additional money to fight Ohio’s opioid crisis.
The bill passed 58-37, mostly along party lines, and now heads to the Senate, which will make its own revisions over the coming weeks. Both chambers must agree to a bill before the new fiscal year begins July 1.
Rep. Ryan Smith, a Bidwell Republican, said the $170.6 million boost for anti-drug addiction efforts will make an impact on the state’s biggest challenge.
“If we had a natural disaster where 5,000 people died, we’d drop everything and help. That’s what this is,” Smith said on the House floor.
State and federal funding totals $123 billion in fiscal years 2018 and 2019 for education, Medicaid, prisons and other public services.
Representative Wesley Goodman (R), who represents northern Marion County, was among 12 conservatives who voted no on the budget, citing a need for more restraint in spending. Representative Goodman issued the following statement on the House budget:
“There are a number of positive aspects to the House’s spending plan. I applaud the work of our leadership and my colleagues on a number of fronts including the Current Agricultural Use Valuation (CAUV) formula, which will go a long way to ease the tax burden on farmers. I’m encouraged to see continued focus on addressing the opiate epidemic that has ravaged our state and additional support for our local communities. I am also pleased that in a tough budget we did not make the unwise decision to raise taxes on Ohioans and instead began the work of cutting spending out of the Governor’s proposal.”
“Unfortunately, this budget does not yet go far enough in reducing the growth of government spending in our state to ensure that we are being as responsible as possible with taxpayer money. While the House budget decreases the spending from the Governor’s proposal, it stops short of truly checking the growth of government by maintaining government involvement, and taxpayer funding, in areas where the government has no proper role. The House budget also misses an opportunity to put the brakes on Ohio’s Obamacare Medicaid expansion, which continues to overtake our budget and stands as a substantial liability as Congress considers legislation that would end federal funding for the expansion population, leaving states to foot the bill. Now is the time for state legislators to stand up for our states and our most vulnerable citizens who have been negatively impacted by this law.”
“As the budget process goes forward, I will continue to do all I can to ensure the responsible use of taxpayer dollars and fight for the conservative priorities that I campaigned on and told my constituents I would do. I will continue to work with our leadership and my colleagues as the budget process continues and sincerely hope that at the end of this process I am able to support a budget that achieves additional and needed reforms to government.”
House Republicans made hundreds of changes to Gov. John Kasich’s budget proposal. They scrapped Kasich’s proposed income tax cuts, sales tax increase and tax hikes on oil and gas drillers, tobacco products, wine and beer. They largely left Kasich’s school funding formula intact, and added about $90 million over two years to the formula.
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