Ohio Statehouse Update: Ohio House Finance Committee Unveils Substitute Budget Bill

The Ohio House Finance and Appropriations Committee accepted a substitute version of House Bill 59, the state’s biennial budget bill, at a hearing yesterday afternoon.  Among numerous significant changes in the bill, the substitute legislation removes Governor Kasich’s proposed tax reforms and replaces them with an across the board 7% income tax reduction, and removes the proposed expansion of Medicaid that was projected to leverage $2.4 billion in federal funds to provide coverage for uninsured Ohioans over the next two years. 

Click here for a Summary of the changes in Substitute House Bill 59.

Click here for a full copy of Substitute House Bill 59.

Chairman Amstutz has scheduled committee hearings for 9:00 A.M. today, tomorrow and Friday, April 12, to hear testimony on the bill.  The committee is expected to consider amendments and report the bill out of committee on Tuesday, April 16, and send it for a vote on the Ohio House floor on Thursday, April 18.