Columbus, OH – Rea S. Hederman Jr., executive director of the Economic Research Center at The Buckeye Institute and vice president of policy, issued the following statement on Substitute House Bill 110, Ohio’s biennial operating budget, which was passed by the Ohio Senate Finance Committee. 

“The Buckeye Institute heartily applauds the Ohio Senate for embracing education savings accounts, a policy championed by The Buckeye Institute. While the new Afterschool Child Enrichment Educational Savings Account program is limited, its inclusion in the budget is an important step in helping parents afford desperately-needed resources giving them the flexibility necessary to improve their children’s educational outcomes.

“On saving taxpayers’ dollars, the Senate budget is more of a mixed bag. While the final Senate budget wisely retained a five percent across the board tax cut, giving taxpayers more of their money back, it eliminated the Tax Expenditure Review Committee, which if used as intended, could have saved Ohio taxpayers more than $1 billion by closing tax loopholes.

“In the area of criminal justice reform, the Senate should have maintained the House’s expansion of Ohio’s successful Targeted Community Alternatives to Prison program to all 88 counties. However, by expanding the voluntary program’s eligible population, the Senate still took steps in the right direction for Ohioans in need of treatment and rehabilitation.” 

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