by Nicole Piscitani • Feb. 10, 2025
The 136th General Assembly officially began on Jan. 6, 2025, with the swearing in of the 99 elected state representatives to the Ohio House and 33 elected state senators to the Ohio Senate. Both the Ohio House and the Ohio Senate voted on leadership; the following elected officials will serve in these positions.
Ohio House
- Speaker of the House: Rep. Matt Huffman (R-Lima)
- Speaker Pro Tempore: Rep. Gayle Manning (R-North Ridgeville)
- Assistant Speaker Pro Tempore: Rep. Phil Plummer (R-Dayton)
- Majority Floor Leader: Rep. Marilyn John (R-Shelby)
- Assistant Majority Floor Leader: Rep. Adam C. Bird (R-New Richmond)
- Majority Whips: Rep. Riordan T. McClain (R-Upper Sandusky), Rep. Steve Demetriou (R-Bainbridge Township), Rep. Nick Santucci (R-Howland Township) and Rep. Josh Williams (R-Sylvania Township).
- Minority Leader: Rep. C. Allison Russo (D-Upper Arlington)
- Assistant Minority Leader: Rep. Dontavius L. Jarrells (D-Columbus)
- Minority Whip: Rep. Dani Isaacsohn (D-Cincinnati)
- Assistant Minority Whip: Rep. Michele Grim (D-Toledo)
Ohio Senate
- Senate President: Sen. Rob McColley (R-Napoleon)
- President Pro Tempore: Sen. Bill Reineke (R-Tiffin)
- Majority Floor Leader: Sen. Theresa Gavarone (R-Bowling Green)
- Majority Whip: Sen. George F. Lang (West Chester)
- Minority Leader: Sen. Nickie J. Antonio (D-Lakewood)
- Assistant Minority Leader: Sen. Hearcel F. Craig (D-Columbus)
- Minority Whip: Sen. Kent Smith (D-Euclid)
- Assistant Minority Whip: Sen. Beth Liston (D-Dublin)
One of the first legislative actions will be introducing the majority caucus’ priority bills. Typically, the first 10 bills are designated as priority bills and are released shortly after each majority caucus has met to determine the focus of the General Assembly. In regard to education-related bills, it is likely that property taxes will be an area of focus for both the Ohio House and Ohio Senate.
Additionally, the speaker and the senate president will announce committee chairs and determine each legislator’s committee assignments. The committee chairs will largely be responsible for moving the priority bills through the legislative process.
Budget overview
The next biennial budget will commence when Gov. Mike DeWine presents the executive budget, no later than Feb. 1. His budget will include his fiscal and legislative priorities. Additionally, state departments and agencies submitted budgets requests based on guidance that came from the Ohio Office of Budget and Management (OBM).
The chair of the House Finance Committee will take the governor’s executive budget and introduce it as the budget bill. The House Finance Committee will then invite OBM Director Kimberly Murnieks to present the executive budget to the committee and provide an estimate on the entire state budget amount. That amount is based on the expected revenue OBM has calculated as the department analyzed and monitored the state’s fiscal data. Additionally, the House Finance Committee will invite the Ohio Legislative Service Commission’s Legislative Budget Office to provide its analysis of the revenue the state is expected to collect during the biennium.
The chair of the House Finance Committee is responsible for the process of amending the executive budget to create the House’s version of the budget. Several subcommittees will be established to work on specific areas of the budget, including the House Finance Subcommittee on Primary and Secondary Education. It is in that committee that the school-funding plan will be developed for fiscal years 2026-27. The Ohio House must pass its version of the budget bill before the Ohio Senate begins its work.
Similar to the House, the Senate Finance chair is responsible for developing the Senate’s version of the budget. The Senate Education Committee is expected to work on the school-funding formula and other education-related expenditures and legislative policies. The Senate Finance Committee will produce the amended version of the budget and typically completes its work by late May to early June.
By the beginning of June, the governor, Ohio House and Ohio Senate will have all weighed in on what the next budget should look like. Those three versions of the budget will contain different fiscal and legislative priorities. To produce a budget that will pass both the House and Senate, a conference committee is created to work out the difference among the various versions of the bill. The members of the conference committee will develop an agreed-upon version of the budget that includes any updated revenue information that may have occurred during the budget process. Once the conference committee approves the bill, both the Ohio House and the Ohio Senate will vote on the floor. If both chambers pass the bill, it moves to the governor for his action.
DeWine has a few options on how to proceed once the budget bill is delivered to his office. He can sign the bill, veto it or use a line-item veto to remove specific parts of the bill while passing the remainder. In the past several budgets, governors have used the line-item veto. Once DeWine has determined how he will act on the bill, the budget process ends, and the new fiscal year is set to begin. The biennial budget must be signed before July 1.
The first six months of 2025 will be a busy time in the Ohio legislature and an important time for public education to communicate to their legislators how state and local funding impacts their districts.