COLUMBUS – Statehouse Republicans are proposing a $170 million assault on Ohio’s opioid epidemic as part of their version of the two-year budget.
The GOP leaders rolled out their $2.5 billion alternative to the biennial budget proposed by Gov. John Kasich adds more than $170 million to combat Ohio’s drug epidemic.
“The House focused its scarce resources in this package to fight the drug epidemic. Our plan makes critical investments to empower communities and strengthen services. Appropriations and policy changes in this plan span the continuum of care to ensure there are no gaps for individuals seeking services,” Finance Committee Chairman Ryan Smith (R-Bidwell, pictured above) said.
Ohio led the nation in opioid-related overdose deaths in 2016.
Under the plan, $130 million would be set aside for treatment efforts, including county mental health an addiction boards, child protective services and detox.
The plan also calls for $19.4 million to be spent toward mental health programs, such as stabilization centers and a drug court pilot program.
Other provisions call for $12.2 million to be spent on prevention efforts and $9 million toward workforce training for food-stamp recipients and short-term certificates.
The Republican budget also sets aside more money for schools than the governor’s version and scraps Kasich’s planned increases in the sales tax for cigarettes and other tobacco products, and other “tax shifting” proposals intended to reduce income taxes.
Kasich’s $66.9 billion budget package contained a 17 percent income tax cut and a two-year college tuition freeze paid for in part through tax hikes on alcohol, tobacco products and gas drilling.
Kasich also proposed imposing a half-percent increase in Ohio’s sales tax and extending it to such services as cable TV subscriptions and elective cosmetic surgery.
The liberal-leaning think-tank Policy Matters Ohio criticized the plan for seeking federal approval for work requirements for many of the 700,000 Ohioans who benefited from Medicaid expansion and eliminating spending additions the governor had proposed for higher education and need-based financial aid for students.
The GOP spending blueprint increases per-pupil for K-12 education by more than $90 million over the biennium and promotes tuition guarantee programs for college students.
The bill also removes teacher externship language that infuriated educators.
“We appreciate the addition of $90 million in education funding in the House budget given the tight revenue situation, and we are glad the House listened to the voices of educators and removed the unnecessary and unworkable teacher ‘externship’ proposal,” said Becky Higgins, president of the Ohio Education Association, which represents 124,000 teachers and other education workers.
The measure provides $3 million for the Bureau of Children with Medical Handicaps and removes recommended changes to the program included in the Kasich’s proposal and sets aside $15 million in funding towards indigent defense in various counties across the state.
Smith says he plans to have the Finance Committee vote the bill out of committee Monday.