In this election year, Democrats are talking about affordability, including the 33 Democrats in the Ohio House.
Last week, Democrats talked up two bills that they say will help with energy and utility costs. On Monday, they talked about legislation that would also make housing, child care, and general living expenses more affordable. It's part of a legislative package Democrats are calling "An Ohio We Can Afford."
Rep. Beryl Brown Piccolantonio (D-Gahanna) said big changes are needed for Ohioans.
"Many are simply not able to get ahead. Not able to get beyond living paycheck to paycheck," said Brown Piccolantonio. "They go to work every day. Some of them raise kids, often while taking care of aging parents, and they try to save up for the hard times. But then they open an electric bill or pick up a prescription. And the dollars that were meant to go to the savings account are gone in an instant."
In addition to legislation to freeze energy bills for a year and levy a 7% severance tax on gas and oil drilling to provide a $150 rebate for each ratepayer, House Democrats are proposing a plan to lower health care costs by implementing something known as "reinsurance".
Rep. Anita Somani (D-Dublin), a doctor herself, said reinsurance allows the state to guarantee funds for catastrophic illness so insurers can lower health care costs across the board.
"In Ohio, we could fully fund this program without touching a single cent of general revenue funds or raising taxes on our constituents," Somani said. "We would be able to do this by using federal pass-through dollars from section 1332 of the ACA, and by adding a 1% assessment fee on health insurers operating in Ohio. Access to affordable health care should be a right, not a privilege."
Rep Karen Brownlee (D-Symmes Twp.) is calling for a $100 million revolving loan fund to make it easier for Ohioans to buy a home. She said the money is already in the budget for a loan fund, and by restructuring it, first-time homebuyers could get below-market loans and repay the fund to ensure those dollars are available for future borrowers.
Democrats have also proposed getting rid of hidden charges on tickets and banking known as junk fees, and impose more transparency for fees on goods and services. And they want to provide a tax credit of $2,000 per child for Ohioans with a child under the age of five.
"This is absolutely not a radical idea. Republicans have supported child care tax credits at the federal level for years, and there is absolutely no reason why Ohio cannot lead on this issue," said Rep. Crystal Lett (D-Columbus), noting the average cost of childcare in Ohio is more than $10,000 a year.
House Minority Leader Dani Isaacsohn (D-Cincinnati) said the Republican supermajority in the Statehouse for the past two decade is benefitting the wealthiest Ohioans and forcing everyone else to pay the price.
"For almost two decades, the politicians in charge of Ohio have chosen super-wealthy over the people with every tax break for millionaires, loopholes for corporations, or school vouchers for millionaires," Isaacsohn said. "The economy has made less and less sense for regular Ohioans."
Republicans say they're leading on affordability issue
Republicans say they have been helping Ohioans by letting them keep more of their own money in their pockets, while still making sure Ohio has a constitutionally-required balanced budget.
"We have gone to a 2.75% flat tax. It's the second-lowest flat tax in America, the lowest anywhere in the Midwest, and that's going to be $1.4 billion of additional money that individual taxpayers get to keep in their pocket over the next two years," said Rep. Brian Stewart (R-Ashville), the chair of the Ohio House Finance Committee.
Stewart added lawmakers have lowered property taxes, including giving counties the ability to double the homestead exemption.
"We have done historic property tax relief, about $3.3 billion. We're stopping the spikes that have been a problem for folks in our property tax system, where folks are going to see that relief on their bills from the beginning to the end of July," Stewart said in an interview.
Stewart said Republicans have also taken action to reduce energy costs with House Bill 15, which deals with brownfields, generation, efficiency, utility oversight and rate adjustments. And he noted the state's home energy assistance program to help people with utility bills is funded in the budget. Stewart also mentioned the expansion of the state's child care voucher program and the Child Care Cred Program, which allows employers to partner with employees and the state to pay child care costs.
"Our residents know how to spend their money better than we do," Stewart said. "When you let them keep more of their money through income tax relief, you let them keep more of their money through property tax relief, you let them keep more of their money through energy reforms, if you're going to drive down the amount of those monthly bills, that is the most direct benefit."
As for the Democrats' bills, House Speaker Matt Huffman (R-Lima) said last week: “I don’t think this is a very good idea.”
Specifically on the severance tax proposal, Huffman said he didn’t like it when it was proposed a decade ago by Republican then-Gov. John Kasich and doesn’t like it now.
“And especially now in an industry that is creating so many jobs and lowering energy costs for everyone by producing more oil and gas and the more of that that you have, the less energy costs are going to be," Huffman said.
Affordability is a campaign issue
Polls have repeatedly shown the cost of living is one of the top issues on the minds of voters, as gas prices have soared following the attack on Iran by the U.S. and Israel, and grocery and utility costs remain high. For many who'll be voting in the midterm and state legislative elections this fall, it could come down to who they believe will handle the economy better.
