Complete Story
12/15/2022
House & Senate send massive relief bill to Governor, housing concerns remain
House & Senate send massive relief bill to Governor, housing concerns remain
In a marathon all night session, the Ohio House and Senate finished their work for the year by sending Sub. House Bill (HB) 45 to the Governor’s desk for signature. The bill includes a number of long-awaited aging and health policy proposals attached to it as part of a massive omnibus amendment valued at $6 billion in total. Sub. HB 45 was voted unanimously out of the Ohio Senate just before 6:00AM, followed by concurrence in the Ohio House immediately after.
The bill features only one aging-related substantive change from what was approved by the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday, which is that the $350 million in nursing home relief funding will be disbursed through the Office of Budget and Management (OBM) rather than the Department of Medicaid to ensure funds reach providers within six months.
To read a complete list of the aging-related items included in Sub. HB 45, please click here.
The bill will now move to Governor DeWine for review and signature. Because the bill contains billions in federal appropriations, the Governor can line-item veto certain provisions of the bill if he chooses.
The bill passed with language included relating to tax valuation of low-income housing properties, continuing the conversation begun with SB 36 during the last General Assembly. LeadingAge Ohio is joining other housing stakeholders in a letter to Governor DeWine asking for a line-item veto of this specific provision.
Questions can be sent to Patrick Schwartz, Director of Government Affairs & Communications, at pschwartz@leadingageohio.org, or Susan Wallace, President/CEO, at swallace@leadingageohio.org.