State Representative Fowler Arthur Supports Passing of House Bill 101 Out of Ohio House

COLUMBUS –State Rep. Sarah Fowler Arthur (R-Ashtabula) announced her support of House Bill 101 that passed out of the Ohio House today, legislation that would establish a County Jail Construction Funding Formula.

“HB 101 recognizes the many requirements the state has put on local governments to provide modern jail facilities.  If passed, it would allow counties like Ashtabula to apply for state dollars to update outdated facilities and help meet local jail needs,” said Fowler Arthur. 

Under House Bill 101, the County Jail Construction Funding Formula would be structured similarly to that of Ohio’s school construction formula, which has been in place for over two decades and has proven to be very successful in assisting school districts with major construction projects.

The legislation would allow the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission to work in conjunction with the Ohio Department of Correction to develop the funding formula based on the following factors:

• Rank counties and award them funds based on need, such as income per capita, property value and sales tax revenue capacity.
• Develop a matching program where the state will match a certain percentage of construction of a county jail based on the same factors used in ranking. Similarly to the school construction formula, state dollars would only be used for construction costs.
• OFCC and ODC will work directly with the respective county to establish the best possible solution for a new jail using projections of use and other means of establishing the size of a jail.

The program would be funded through the state capital budget on the biennium. The last capital budget allocated $50 million for jail construction.