Rep Dyer Sounds Legislative Alarm (HB 400)

Friends,

I’m writing you today about a bill that would devastate schools.

HB 400, sponsored by Representative John Adams, calls for the wholesale elimination of Ohio’s personal income tax over ten years without identifying replacement revenue.  

Attached, you will find the data from the Legislative Service Commission that breaks down the impact this bill would have on local districts. As you can see in the far right column, once it’s fully implemented, HB 400 would cut funding by $26 million for Portage and $84 million for Summit County compared to the amounts districts in these counties received under HB 1.

In fact, when you look at the losses to Summit, Stark, Wayne, Medina and Portage counties, over $231 million in funding to districts in our five-county area would be eliminated. By way of comparison, that’s more than all the state money that currently flows to districts in Portage, Wayne and Medina counties combined.

I am greatly concerned about this irresponsible legislation and the potentially devastating impact it could have on our kids.

Often, constituents ask legislators how they can help. In this case, voicing your concerns to the sponsor and cosponsors of this legislation would instrumental in preventing this harmful bill from moving forward.

Representative Adams is the main sponsor of this bill. He can be reached at (614) 466-1507 or district78@ohr.state.oh.us

The two legislators in our five-county area who co-sponsored this legislation are:

Representative Bill Batchelder, who can be reached at 614-466-8140 or district69@ohr.state.oh.us

Representative Todd Snitchler, who can be reached at 614-466-9078 or district50@ohr.state.oh.us

I would also encourage you to contact the other co-sponsors, Representatives Mandel, Blessing, Morgan, Martin, Maag, Wagner, Hall, Wachtmann, Combs, McClain, Derickson, Goodwin, Jordan, Uecker, Boose, Huffman, Ruhl, Sears, Grossman, Stebelton, Blair, Hackett, Burke, Beck, Hite, Mecklenborg, Bubp, and Daniels 

Contact information for these representatives is available at the following site:  http://www.house.state.oh.us/index.php?option=com_displaymembers&Itemid=57

Remember, in HB 1, we committed more than $3 billion for education over 10 years – the first time the state has ever committed any additional money to education beyond the two-year budget cycle. This funding greatly reduces the need for property tax levies and eases the burden on our already exhausted property owners.

In those same ten years, HB 400 would instead cut over $2 billion from current levels, which would create an even greater overreliance on property taxes than currently exists.
That is a $5 billion difference between the state commitment contained in HB 1 and HB 400. In fact, it would mean the state would commit $272 million less to education than it did in 2001 – the year before the fourth DeRolph ruling by the Ohio Supreme Court.

I find HB 400’s vision to be an unacceptable roll back of the hard won gains we achieved in HB 1 – chief among them was the state accepting its long overdue, constitutional responsibility to bear the primary burden of funding public schools.

If HB 400 moves forward it would constitute a massive shift of funding responsibility back to property tax owners. I strongly urge you to contact every sponsor and tell them how you see this legislation working in your districts.

 As always, if there are questions I may be of assistance in answering, please contact my office. The Ohio House’s Ways and Means Committee is currently hearing the bill. Feel free to contact committee Chairman Tom Letson at 614-466-5358 or district64@ohr.state.oh.us if you would like to testify before the committee about this bill.

Sincerely,

 Steve (Dyer)

 

Click here to view attached spreadsheet.