Ohio Senate lawmakers unveiled hundreds of amendments Tuesday afternoon to House Bill 96, the biennial state budget, which is due June 30.
Among them, the GOP-majority Senate Finance Committee added a measure that would flatten the state income tax, transitioning down from the current two-bracket system to a flat rate for everybody at 2.75% by tax year 2026. That would most immediately affect Ohioans who make more than six figures, if it goes into effect, saving them and costing Ohio more than $1 billion, according to Ohio Legislative Service Commission estimates.
Big tax tweaks
Senate President Rob McColley (R-Napoleon) said those LSC estimates don’t factor in the positive effect that reducing the tax burden could have on high earners.
“States that have a flat income tax or no income tax are seeing much more economic growth than the state of Ohio and some other states are, and it’s not just warm weather states, it’s states across the country,” McColley said Tuesday.
One of the biggest additions to HB 96 in the House was lawmakers’ creation of a ceiling on school districts’ cash reserves, a proposal House Speaker Matt Huffman (R-Lima) billed as “much-needed” property tax relief. Under it, if a district carryover balance exceeds 30% of cash on hand, county budget commissions would have to lower the taxes levied on homeowners for the following tax year.
The Senate version would raise that to 50% and add overflow allowance so districts could reserve an amount of money for certain ongoing and future construction, though that overflow must be used within three years.
Stadium funding stands
Senate lawmakers also got rid of the House’s debt and bond structure to fund a requested package of $600 million so the owners of the Cleveland Browns, the Haslam family, could build a domed stadium and surrounding economic project in suburban Brook Park.
They still earmark $600 million for the Browns. But it would be through a performance grant program they want funded by a percentage of money managed by the Department of Commerce’s Division of Unclaimed Funds. Assets turned over to the division come from Ohioans' dormant bank accounts and uncashed checks, among other sources.
“By the time the state gets it, it’s already (been) five to 10 or even longer years, and then it sits in the state for 10 years before it would be escheated,” Sen. Jerry Cirino (R-Kirtland) said, meaning the state would claim the funds.
The latest budget leaves intact House amendments to how libraries are funded in the long term, moving from a set percentage going to Ohio’s Public Library Fund, as used in prior budgets, to a line item. It still gets rid of the Ohio Elections Commission starting in January 2026.
Two of three Democratic members of the Senate Finance Committee voted against the slate of amendments Tuesday afternoon—a procedural vote letting members proceed with hearings on amended HB 96.
McColley said he wants to hold a floor vote on the bill by June 12, giving lawmakers more than two weeks to harmonize the differences between the House and Senate versions of the budget.
