Signed by Governor Mike DeWine

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to concur with Senate amendments and pass a bill that exempts individuals with valid foreign drivers licenses living in Ohio for work associated with the military from certain drivers education requirements, and makes various other amendments to state programs.

Highlights:

• Exempts individuals with valid foreign drivers licenses living in Ohio with a work visa for work associated with the military from certain drivers education requirements (Sec. 1).

• Amends the procedure for transferring a transformational mixed-use development (TMUD) tax credit (Sec. 1).

• Repeals from the Workforce Housing Project Grant Program the grant metric that favored polyvinyl chloride water pipe over ductile iron (Sec. 1).

• Repeals the authority of the Office of Budget and Management to award funds (made up of unclaimed funds that have escheated to the state) to organizations to construct or renovate Ohio cultural facilities (Sec. 1).

• Specifies that, beginning January 15, 2027, funds from any case brought or joined by the Attorney General to recompense for damages to the state by the opioid crisis must be remitted for deposit into the Targeted Addiction Assistance Fund (Sec. 1).

• Amends the eligibility requirements of a local option homestead exemption to align with the state homestead exemption (Sec. 1).

• Authorizes fees collected by a municipal, county, common pleas, or appeals court for special projects of the court to be used for training or education that takes place anywhere within the continental U.S., rather than just within Ohio (Sec. 1).

• Requires the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) to establish a methodology and technical system to determine payment error rates within the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) (Sec. 1).

• Requires ODJFS to consult specified stakeholders in establishing the system and to consult the chairpersons of the House and Senate Finance committees prior to implementation (Sec. 1).

• Requires ODJFS to provide quarterly updates regarding SNAP payment error rates (Sec. 1).

• Authorizes a charitable organization to temporarily apply for an abatement of delinquent property taxes on conservation and preservation property owned by the applicant without regard to continuing law’s payment limitations (Sec. 1).

• Defines a “newly opened community school” for disadvantaged pupil impact aid calculations in FYs 2026 and 2027 as a community school that was not open in FY 2025 (Sec. 1).

• Prohibits the calculated average daily membership (ADM) of economically disadvantaged students for school districts, JVSDs, STEM schools, and community schools that are not newly opened community schools for FYs 2026 and 2027 from exceeding the school’s enrolled ADM for that fiscal year (Sec. 1).

• Expands the Drones for First Responders Program, enacted in H.B. 96 of the 136thGeneral Assembly, to apply to first responders in counties and townships (Sec. 1).

• Appropriates various funds for FYs 2026 and 2027 (Sec. 2-8).

Full Bill Text