02/08/2025

House Bill 96

Status: House hearings are ongoing

Description: CCAO’s top priorities for this budget cycle are bolstering Ohio’s child welfare system, reforming and fully funding the indigent defense system, supporting county jail construction and renovation, continuing the rollout of NG 9-1-1, and increasing access to child care. However, CCAO is monitoring many other areas in the budget to advance county interests. This page is split between the five priority areas and other budget items.

Beginning on February 7, each issue of the Statehouse Report will analyze certain budget areas. This page will be updated each week and will serve as a comprehensive analysis.

Priority Areas

Children Services

The budget proposal includes a $25 million increase in SFY 2026 and a $30 million increase in SFY 2027 in the State Child Protection Allocation (SCPA). These funds go directly to county public children services agencies for placement costs of children in foster care. Statewide placement costs rose 68 percent between 2020 and 2024, and this investment will help counties meet the challenge of paying appropriate placements.

Additionally, the budget includes $20 million in SFY 2026 and $10 million in SFY 2027 to assist communities in starting child wellness campuses. These are one-time funds and will be available regionally and to the major metro areas. The child wellness campuses would provide short-term treatment and care for multi-system youth at risk of custody relinquishment or in PCSA custody and unable to access timely, appropriate placements.

In addition to funding, CCAO has asked for transparency and stability in placement costs.  The budget includes language that authorizes the Department to issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) to establish statewide rates for placement and care of children eligible for foster care maintenance payments. A statewide RFP is intended to provide price transparency for placement options.

Indigent Defense

The budget includes funding for the Northwest Regional Hub pilot program to administer the indigent defense system in Allen, Hardin, and Putnam counties. This pilot program was a recommendation of two different task forces that studied the indigent defense system in recent years. The pilot program will provide a basis for potential expansion of direct state administration of the system in future budget cycles.

Unfortunately, the budget also provides only a negligible increase to the county reimbursement appropriation items ($800,000 in SFY 2026 and $5.2 million in SFY 2027). The Ohio Public Defender’s estimate for the reimbursement rate for the remainder of the current state fiscal year is 78%. With no change to the reimbursement appropriation, next year’s reimbursement rate will likely decrease.

The agency requested the reimbursement items to total $240 million in SFY 2026 and $252 million in SFY 2027. In its budget request, OPD estimated three scenarios to show the reimbursement rate that would result from potential total system costs. Since OPD provided these estimates, it is fair to say that the agency thinks total system costs at these levels are reasonable estimates. The table below contains these scenarios with both the funding level the agency requested, and the funding provided in the Governor’s proposal.

The Governor’s proposed budget’s lack of funding for indigent defense reimbursement will harm county general funds as they must continue to cover a disproportionate share of a system that is a constitutional requirement of the state. CCAO urges the General Assembly to increase the funding for this purpose to at least the OPD request and will work with Representatives and Senators to stress the need for this funding.

Additionally, the budget includes a cap on reimbursement for county-appointed counsel at $75 an hour for non-capital cases and $140 an hour for capital cases. The language would only allow OPD to reimburse counties up to these amounts, and the county would be responsible for the costs if they elect to pay appointed counsel at a rate above the cap. CCAO will work with the Ohio State Bar Association and other stakeholders to remove that language from the budget as it disproportionally impacts smaller counties that need to raise their appointed counsel rate to attract attorneys to their county.

Finally, the budget contains new language that OPD believes will assist with maintaining a consistent reimbursement rate throughout the fiscal year. The language in HB 96 requires counties to submit an estimated indigent defense budget for the upcoming biennium by July 1, 2026. This information will allow OPD to submit a request for funding to cover projected indigent defense budgets from counties and provide them with an accurate projected cost of the overall system. There is no penalty for an inaccurate estimation or for failing to provide an estimate to OPD by the designated date.

County Jail Construction and Renovation

The Governor's proposal includes $154.9 million over the biennium for county jail projects. These funds come from the excise tax on adult-use marijuana, distributed to several different purposes (see "Adult-Use Marijuana Tax" later on this page). County jail projects will receive 25% of the revenue from the adult-use tax. The funding will be distributed through a Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (DRC) process in a manner similar to most of the prior jail funding rounds. The DRC-led approach enables flexibility for county match rates and is CCAO’s preferred method.

Next Generation 9-1-1

The budget will complete construction of the state system and continue to provide operational funding. 

HB 96 removes language from the previous budget bill that would revert the monthly 9-1-1 access fee from $0.40 per month to $0.25 per month. The removal of this language is a CCAO priority, and we are pleased to see it included in the Governor’s version of the budget.

However, the bill does not contain an increase in the monthly access fee. The fee increase in the previous budget was projected to provide approximately $100 million dollars a year in revenue and it is currently providing around $50 million dollars. CCAO is presently working with members of the House of Representatives to increase the monthly user fee $0.40 per month to $0.70 per month, which is projected to cover the $50 million dollar shortfall.

The $0.70 per month figure is the official recommendation of the 9-1-1 Steering Committee, which Henry County Commissioner Glenn Miller and CCAO Managing Director of Policy Kyle Petty serve on.

Child Care

The budget proposes increasing the statutory eligibility for publicly funded child care from 145% of the federal poverty level (FPL) to 160% of the FPL. Additionally, the Child Care Choice Voucher program will continue to provide publicly funded child care to families between 161% and 200% FPL. The Child Care Choice Voucher program was implemented last spring following Governor’s DeWine’s State of the State address. These initiatives are funded primarily with TANF and Child Care and Development Block Grant dollars.

DCY is also implementing several federal child care requirements during this biennium, including: capping parent co-pays at 7%; paying providers by enrollment; and paying at the 50th percentile of the 2024 market rate.

An additional child care support in the budget is the creation of a refundable child tax credit of up to $1,000 per child under the age of six. The credit, funded by an increase in the cigarette excise tax, is intended to aid parents who are working or in education.

 

Other Budget Items

State agencies and departments are presented in alphabetical order, starting with the statewide elected offices. If you have any questions about provisions listed below, please contact policy@ccao.org.

Attorney General

Law Enforcement Training

The budget includes $35 million in SFY 2026 and $40 million in SFY 2027 for peace officer training. The funding is drawn from the adult-use marijuana tax and may also be used for construction, renovation, or improvement of facilities.

Auditor of State

Audit Costs

The Auditor of State’s budget request proposed that the hourly rate for audits charged to local governments increases from $41 per hour to $42 per hour in SFY 2026 and $43 per hour in SFY 2027. However, according to Auditor of State Keith Faber’s testimony, the agency received less funding than they requested which will necessitate increasing the hourly rate to $50 per hour in SFY 2026 and $56 per hour in SFY 2027.

Auditor Faber estimates it would cost $16 million per year to bring hourly rates to the agency’s proposal.

Secretary of State

Help America Vote Act (HAVA)

The budget largely eliminates funding from the federal HAVA appropriation item. The appropriation item has previously totaled about $5 million per year.

(Note: An earlier edition erroneously indicated that HAVA had been repealed at the federal level. That is not the case, and CCAO apologizes for the confusion)

Treasurer of State

County Recorder Modernization

The budget eliminates funding for county recorder modernization assistance. These funds were intended to be one-time funds to assist county recorders in complying with digitization requirements.

Department of Administrative Services

MARCS

The budget consolidates appropriation items in the Department of Administrative Services’ budget that deal with MARCS. There is not expected to be any change in the level of support for MARCS.

Department of Agriculture

Soil and Water Conservation District

The budget increases funding for soil and water conservation districts by 17% in SFY 2026.

County and Independent Fair Support

The budget does not provide funding for county and independent fairs. Funding has intermittently been provided through budgets, including in SFY 2025 and, before that, SFY 2022.

Department of Behavioral Health

Department Name

The budget changes the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services’s name to the Department of Behavioral Health.

ADAMHS Funding

The budget combines several funding streams that flow to local ADAMHS boards into six targeted block grants: prevention, mental health, substance use disorder, recovery supports, criminal justice, and crisis.

9-8-8 Line

The budget provides $31.7 million in SFY 2026 and $41.3 million in SFY 2027 for the 9-8-8 hotline. This funding comes from the adult-use marijuana tax.

Behavioral Health Drug Reimbursement Program

The budget increases the earmark for psychotropic drug reimbursement for county jails from $5 million per year to $5,250,000 per year.

Department of Children and Youth

Child’s Benefits in Custody

The budget will preserve the Social Security and survivor benefits for children placed in PCSA custody. More details about this policy change will be available when the budget language is released next week.

Provider Suspension

The budget authorizes the Department to immediately suspend the operations of a congregate care provider or foster care provider in the event a child dies in their custody or is determined to be at risk of serious harm while in the provider’s custody.

Home Visiting

The budget increases investment in home visitation by $37.1 million over the biennium, allowing the state to serve an additional 25,000 children.

Funding for Programs

The budget provides an additional $16 million over the biennium for early intervention services.

The budget provides the same level of funding for multi-system youth supports, kinship support programs, kinship permanency incentives, family and children first councils, and best practices funding for PCSAs as SFY 2025.

Department of Development

Grant Programs

The Department of Development’s budget contains no funding for new grants under the Water and Sewer Quality Development, Brownfield Remediation, or Demolition grant programs. A small amount of money is retained to administer the Brownfield and Demolition programs.

Housing

The budget allocates $100 million in SFY 2026 for a new housing support program, Ohio Housing Investment Opportunity (OHIO) Program. The program will award grants and loans to local governments, or their designees, in rural and border counties. Funds from the program can be used for site acquisition, demolition, remediation, wetland mitigation, or extension/enhancement of sewer, water, gas, and electricity services. Priority will be given to sites designated for housing development that previously received funding from the Brownfield Remediation or Building Demolition grant programs.

The bill does not make clear who local governments may make their designee.

The funding for the program comes from a transfer of unused Expanded Sales Tax Holiday reimbursement dollars.

Broadband

The budget includes $793 million in federal funding for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program, a one-time federal award.

The budget also includes $50 million for grants to facilitate projects to replace broadband poles and broadband undergrounding projects.

Cybersecurity

The budget includes $7 million for local government cybersecurity grants in SFY 2026. Details about the grant program will become more available after the introduction of legislative text.

Individual Energy Assistance Programs

The budget shifts administration and operation of five energy assistance programs to the Department of Job and Family Services. The programs transferred are those that are available to individuals or households. Similar programs that are available to commercial entities or community-level entities will remain in the Department of Development. The transition will occur in SFY 2027. The programs are:

• Low Income Energy Assistance
• Utility Community Assistance
• Home Energy Assistance Block Grant
• HEAP Weatherization
• Community Services Block Grant
• Home Weatherization Program

Environmental Protection Agency

Cybersecurity

The budget includes $8 million for water system cybersecurity grants over the biennium. $2 million is available in SFY 2026 and $6 million is available in SFY 2027. Details about the grant program will become more available after the introduction of legislative text.

Department of Job and Family Services

TANF Spending Plan

The budget blue book does not provide details on the state’s spending plan for TANF dollars. CCAO is seeking more information and will share details as we learn them. Of note, however, is that the budget calls for spending federal TANF funding down to a $1.2 million reserve.

Benefit Bridge Program

Funding for the Benefits Bridge Pilot Program is eliminated in the budget. The program awards grants to Ohio employers to incentivize employees enrolled in public assistance programs.

During his testimony, ODJFS Director Matt Damschroder responded to a question about the elimination of funding for the program. Director Damschroder highlighted the pilot’s success and noted that additional GRF investment would be needed to scale the program across the 88 counties.

Public Assistance Administration

The budget provides no additional funding to support county job and family service agencies in administering public assistance programs.

Energy Assistance Programs

Several energy assistance programs currently housed in the Department of Development will transition to the Department of Job and Family Services beginning in SFY 2027. See the Department of Development section above for more details.

Department of Health

Assessment for Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs

The budget does not change the county assessments line item for the Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs program. Funding for the line item comes from counties at an amount not to exceed 0.1 mills of the county’s total general property tax duplicate, as determined by the Department of Health.

Department of Medicaid

Multi-System Youth Custody Relinquishment Funding

The budget reduces funding for the multi-system youth custody relinquishment program by $7.5 million, bring funding for the program to $20 million in each year. This funding is used to prevent custody relinquishment and to obtain services that meet the state’s multi-system youth action plan.

Testimony

During Medicaid Director Maureen Corcoran’s testimony, she specifically mentioned appreciation for how successfully county job and family service agency workers handled the Medicaid unwinding process at the end of the federal COVID-19 public health emergency. ODJFS Director Damschroder echoed those comments in his testimony as well.

Department of Public Safety

Drug Task Forces

The budget includes $12.5 million in SFY 2026 and $18.5 million in SFY 2027 for drug task forces. The funding comes from the adult-use marijuana tax.

Peace Officer Training

The budget includes $40.0 million in SFY 2026 and $59.2 million in SFY 2027 for peace officer training. The funding comes from the adult-use marijuana tax.

Department of Taxation

Local Government Fund

The budget increases the share of state General Revenue Fund tax revenue that is distributed through the Local Government Fund from 1.70% to 1.75%. The Blue Book estimates the LGF will total $531.7 million in SFY 2026 and $549.1 million in SFY 2027.

Sales Tax Holiday

We reported that the Governor’s budget proposal eliminated the Expanded Sales Tax Holiday. This was based on a quote from the Governor’s press conference announcing the budget. After reviewing the bill language, however, the Expanded Sales Tax Holiday is not repealed. We apologize for the confusion.

Sales Tax, General

The bill does not include any new sales tax exemptions.

Income Tax

The bill does not include any changes to the state’s income tax brackets.

Adult-Use Marijuana Tax

The budget proposal dedicates 25% of the revenue from the adult-use excise tax to county jails. While this is slightly less than the share proposed by HB 86 of the 135th General Assembly, it is not subject to a cap, and it does not prescribe the use of a funding formula. Other county-related programs that receive funding from the tax structure include peace office training, substance abuse programs, and drug task forces. The full distribution table is below.

Department of Youth Services

RECLAIM Ohio

The budget provides an 11.3% increase in funding for RECLAIM Ohio in SFY 2026.