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Capital Reappropriations Passes Ohio House

March 30, 2022
Scott Oelslager News

COLUMBUS — Last week, the Ohio House of Representatives approved a measure, with a vote of 94 to 0, to reappropriate $2.09 billion to the 2023-24 fiscal biennium. 

Capital Reappropriations, or House Bill 597, will help with the continuation of projects that were approved during the previous budget biennium. This is to ensure projects are not interrupted at the end of the fiscal year.

“This is a very straight-forward bill, that does not appropriate any new funding, and will allow for the continuation of essential projects important to Ohio,” said Chairman of the House Finance Committee and bill sponsor, State Representative Scott Oelslager (R-North Canton). 

Due to the challenges presented by the Covid-19 pandemic, the capital budget was not passed until December 2020, which is six months later than usual. This, along with supply chain interruption, resulted in an increased number of projects approved in 2020 still unpaid.  

Oelslager noted how the state responsibly managed funding and took appropriate action during turbulent times to keep Ohio in a strong financial state. Fortunately, the state is in a strong fiscal position and remains well below the 5% debt service limitation outlined in the Ohio Constitution, which today is approximately 3.4% of General Revenue Fund and Lottery revenue. 

“I’m proud to be a part of a body that maintained perspective when it was easy to panic,” said Oelslager. “We took careful action to ensure proper budgeting, thus putting the people of Ohio first.” 

H.B. 597 now heads to the Senate for further consideration.