Republican lawmakers at the Statehouse all but finalized the budget that would slash income taxes for some of the state’s highest earners, give the owners of the Cleveland Browns $600 million to build a new domed stadium, and winnow Ohio’s Medicaid rolls. 

All the final language of the bill was not made public until about 1:30 a.m. Wednesday when lawmakers capped a marathon, rapid-fire announcement of compromises between the competing versions of the budget passed by the House and Senate. 

As of 2:30 a.m., the state legislature’s website did not list a full accounting of what provisions made the final budget, which will pay for the state government and public services for the next two fiscal years.  

Lawmakers are expected to vote on the final bill Wednesday afternoon. It will likely stretch past 5,000 pages after legislative analysts draft a final version.

Senate Finance Chair Jerry Cirino, a key Republican negotiator, said the income tax cuts in the budget will make Ohio more competitive and the budget is “miraculously” doing it in a way that will preserve strong public education, higher education and social services in Ohio.

Democratic leaders say they expect this will be the first state budget since 2001 to pass without a single Democratic vote. They described the full package as one that underfunds public education and restricts health care coverage for poor Ohioans on Medicaid while cutting income taxes for the wealthy and steering hundreds of millions of dollars to “billionaires” who own the Cleveland Browns. 

“We were elected to make choices for the people of Ohio, and we believe that this budget is making the wrong choices,” said Rep. Bride Rose Sweeney, the House Democrats’ lead negotiator. “They made choices that are really good for billionaires, that are really good for the top, and it is the average Ohioans we did very little for.”

Given Republicans supermajorities, they can pass legislation and override vetoes without any Democratic support. 

From here, the legislation goes to both chambers where it must pass with simple majorities. DeWine then has 10 days to approve or veto each individual provision

Browns stadium 

After a yearlong lobbying campaign from top brass behind the Cleveland Browns, lawmakers and the governor all generally agreed on a plan to provide $600 million in state funds for the team. That would support the Browns’ proposed $2.4 billion domed stadium and surrounding bar and restaurant district in Brook Park, a Cleveland suburb. 

Over the past year, political leaders’ rhetoric around the stadium shifted from whether to provide the money to the means of doing so. 

After throwing out ideas to bond-finance the project or increase the sports betting tax to underwrite it, lawmakers agreed on a $1.7 billion withdrawal from the state’s pot of $4.8 billion in unclaimed funds – comprised of Ohioans’ forgotten dollars from utility deposits, last paychecks, uncashed insurance claims and more. Some $600 million of that would go to the Browns, and the rest could be used for other pro teams’ upgrades down the line. 

Democrats have announced plans to challenge the legality of the move. Jeff Crossman, an attorney and former Democratic lawmaker from Parma, said in an interview that spending Ohioans’ unclaimed funds amounts to an unconstitutional government taking. 

Tax revenue generated by the new stadium would repay the state, although economists are skeptical of returns on investment for the public financing of privately owned stadiums, and the state’s own budget analysts have warned of rosy revenue estimates coming from the Browns’ project. 

Republicans have framed the money as an investment in economic development. Despite the duplicative nature of the project – the Browns already play in a downtown stadium in Cleveland – they say a domed facility opens up possibilities of more events during cold weather months. 

Democrats have criticized the measure as a giveaway to billionaires – the Haslam family, along with owning several pro sports franchise in Ohio, Tennessee and Wisconsin, recently sold major stakes in the Pilot gas station franchise. Both Jimmy and Dee Haslam are also major donors to senior Republicans including DeWine and Senate President Rob McColley. 

Tax cuts 

The state budget also continues Ohio’s steady march of reducing income tax rates, with most of the benefit flowing to the highest earners. 

Specifically, the budget reduces the current tax rate for the 1 in 5 Ohioans who make $100,000 or more from 3.5% to 2.75%.

This means Ohio would now have a “flat” income tax system where millionaires and more modest earners pay the same rate, as opposed to the longstanding progressive system where higher earners pay higher marginal tax rates. 

State budget analysts estimate the change will cost Ohio at least $1.1 billion in lost revenue. 

Medicaid cuts

The budget makes several major changes to Ohio’s Medicaid program, which provides health insurance to about 3 million low-income Ohioans. 

For one, it stops Ohio from an ongoing process of adopting a policy of making sure than any baby deemed eligible for Medicaid remains eligible until their fourth birthday. 

The bill also contains a “trigger” provision that would end coverage for the nearly 800,000 insured via Ohio’s Medicaid “expansion” of the 2010s if the federal government decides to decrease its federal funding for the program below its current 90-10 match. 

And, the legislation decreases from 12 months to 6 months the frequency with which Medicaid clients must prove their eligibility to the state via paycheck or other financial records. 

“We have some audit provisions to make sure that we are making sure if those folks are getting Medicaid and not supposed to, that we’re going to have a better opportunity to get those folks,” said House Finance Chairman Brian Stewart.

Earlier versions of the budget included language that prohibits Medicaid from covering gender-affirming behavioral care for transgender people. At about 2 a.m. Wednesday, Republican leaders couldn’t say for certain whether this was included in the final bill. 

Short window for public to digest budget

As of 2:30 a.m. Wednesday, the state legislature’s website did not list a full accounting of what provisions made the final budget. 

Cirino took issue when asked whether 12 hours between the late night/early morning session and a final vote are enough for lawmakers and the public to digest the final outcome.

“We’ve been working on this together for a long time,” he said. “I think when our members vote tomorrow, they’re voting on a very informed basis.”

Some notable changes discussed Wednesday morning include:

• Prohibitions on the use of computer-generated “deep fakes” without consent of the person depicted
• A general expression of state policy “recognizing only two sexes, male and female, which are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality.”
• A requirement that the state repeal the “air nuisance rule,” a longstanding legal tool used to fight industrial polluters 
• A prohibition on environmental, social and governance or “ESG” investments with state money
• Removal of an idea to shift county coroners from an elected to an appointed role