The “State of the State,” as it’s called, musters what little pomp there is at Ohio’s distinctly down-home legislature. As previously noted here, for Ohio’s first 114 years of statehood, governors sent a written State of the State message to the Senate and House. But in 1917, Democratic Gov. James M. Cox of Dayton delivered his State of the State message in person. In Statehouse lingo, a “tradition” was born.
DeWine’s speech last week wasn’t big on high-concept proposals but instead tended to focus on Ohio’s human capital – its children, ranging from their health to reading skills.
On a related front, though, the governor earned a big demerit last year by letting legislative goobers cut the funding of Ohio’s best-in-the-nation public libraries, destroying what had been a truly bipartisan policy consensus developed in the 1980s.
One of the most crucial issues DeWine’s speech ducked was the prairie fire sweeping Ohio over the property taxes Ohioans pay on their homesteads and farms. If petitioners gather enough valid signatures from voters – 413,487 – then Ohioans could decide in November to abolish the property tax
If voters did, that would wreck local government finances, especially funding for public schools. And whomever Ohioans elect as their next governor – Democrat Dr. Amy Acton of Bexley, or Republican Vivek Ramaswamy, of Upper Arlington – would be faced with a huge state budget crisis.
That’s all the more ironic, because one of the things for which DeWine and his staff truly deserve to brag about is Ohio’s excellent budget management. The state’s bond ratings have risen during DeWine’s stewardship, which saves taxpayers bond-interest-costs, reflecting solid, careful state budgeting.
Likewise, the speech didn’t directly address the emerging debate over Ohio’s electricity supply given the surge in Ohio-based data centers.
According to the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association, “when forecasts move into transmission plans and utility investment proposals, customers can end up paying (steeper rates) years before the (electricity) demand appears and, in some cases, even if it never does.” And as the House Bill 6 scandal demonstrates, the Statehouse lobbying clout of electric utilities is huge. (DeWine signed HB 6.)
All in all, the thinking behind the governor’s address seemed to be that, with barely ten months left in his term, it’d be pointless for him to ask politically fickle General Assembly Republicans to pass measures that, for whatever reason, might rake up controversy in GOP legislators’ re-election campaigns.
Also in play in Columbus, if not in the governor’s speech, is the future of health-care services for low-income Ohioans given Republican congressional antics with what amounts to care-rationing.
According to the state Budget Office, the latest count of Ohio Medicaid clients is about 2.8 million, just under 24 patients per 100 Ohio residents. That is, statistically speaking, next time you’re in your doctor’s office, or visiting someone in the hospital, keep in mind that Ohio taxpayers are covering the bills of nearly one in four patients.
The governor emphasized investing in Ohio’s future – its children – and in a range of governmental tweaks, That’s why, as throughout much of his career, DeWine offered what he’s usually delivered: Common sense, no glitz, management.
Thomas Suddes is a former legislative reporter with The Plain Dealer in Cleveland and writes from Ohio University. You can reach him at tsuddes@gmail.com.