Federal Budget: On Friday, March 23, 2018, President Trump signed a $1.3 trillion spending bill into law. With many thanks to the policy team at IEDC and other economic development allies, OEDA is able to share positive news. Several key economic development programs,...

State Capital Bill: A $2.6 billion State Capital Bill for FY 2019-2020 was introduced February 26 as HB 529 and SB 266 and is on a fast track to become law. It was passed by the House March 7 and had its first hearing before the Senate Finance Committee March 13. Hearings will resume there March 21. Under the bills, $222 million will be dedicated to addiction and other health and human services purposes, including a $20 pool of money to be made available through competitive grants for opioid community resiliency projects that focus on youth. The Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services will establish a program to distribute those funds.

Chris Schmenk. Bricker & Eckler LLP. State Activity: State Capital Bill: A $2.6 billion State Capital Bill for FY 2019-2020 was introduced February 26 as HB 529 and SB 266 and is on a fast track to become law. It was passed by the House March 7 and had its first...

Federal Infrastructure Plan:

President Trump released his long-awaited infrastructure plan on February 12. The proposal apparently would leverage $200 billion in federal dollars, matched by cuts elsewhere in the overall federal budget, to achieve $1.3 trillion in state, local, and private spending. Reports indicate that the $200 billion would be broken down as follows:

$100 billion for on a competitive grant program for state and local governments, favoring revenue-generating projects
$50 billion for rural infrastructure
$20 billion for “transformative” projects, defined as “ambitious, exploratory, and ground-breaking project ideas”
$20 billion to expand low-cost federal loans aimed at waterways, railroads, and private activity bonds
$10 billion to improve federally owned infrastructure

State Legal and Legislative Activity:

On February 21, Franklin County Common Pleas Court Judge David Cain ruled that language in the state budget bill (HB 49 ) allowing for the centralized collection of municipal net profits taxes meets constitutional muster. The ruling came in a lawsuit that included as plaintiffs more than 160 cities and villages across the state. Plaintiffs had asked the court to issue an injunction to prevent the law from going into effect. However, Judge Cain rejected the arguments made by the municipalities that the language violates both home rule and the single subject rule of lawmaking. “Everything comes down to whether the General Assembly has the power or it doesn’t,” he wrote in the nine-page decision. “In this case, the General Assembly has the power.”

Judge Cain found that the Ohio Constitution makes it clear that all taxes must be levied pursuant to the law. He went on to say that using common sense, the court could only find that the collections deal with the levying of taxes, and that the General Assembly has the authority to enact the collection provisions.