Ohio House Dems set their 2015 agenda

By Marc Kovac | January 28, 2015 at 12:02a.m.

COLUMBUS

Democrats in the Ohio House said Tuesday they’ll oppose tax changes that further hurt local governments or inordinately benefit wealthy residents.

“We want to see a tax structure that’s fair,” said Rep. Denise Driehaus, D-Cincinnati, ranking minority member on the House Finance Committee. “The reduction in the income tax has created a situation of imbalance because it impacts lower-class, middle-class people, and it hits them harder than it does the wealthiest among us.”

Democrats serving on the House Finance Committee also want more access to health care for needy residents, lower tuition rates for college students and increased regulation of charter schools.

Driehaus and other Democratic lawmakers spoke about the priorities during a press conference at the Statehouse on Tuesday.

“This is really in the context of what we hope to see by way of priorities in the budget,” Driehaus said. “It is not meant to be a policy rollout or anything specific.”

Republicans in the Ohio House, meanwhile, planned to introduce their priority legislation today, describing the types of policies they hope to move during the session.

Democrats have opposed past tax reforms moved by Republican lawmakers and Gov. John Kasich. They stopped short Tuesday of voicing support for specific tax-policy changes — an increase in cigarette taxes, for example — but reiterated their opposition to reforms that raise sales or other taxes as a means of reducing income-tax rates.

Rep. Michael O’Brien of Warren, D-64th, in his first term in the chamber and on the Finance Committee, said he wants to focus on restoring state support for local governments.

“The local-government-fund-dollars that went to Columbus and did not go back to the local communities is really crippling budgets and specifically, safety forces,” he said, noting that safety forces in his hometown have been reduced due to budget cuts.

He added, “You may balance the budget on the state level, but then you’re crippling the communities where they have to raise taxes just to be where they were before.”