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Smith Comment on Senate Passage of Transportation Budget

March 19, 2025
Kent Smith News
 

Today, state Senator Kent Smith (D-Euclid) commended the Ohio Senate’s passage of House Bill 54, the state’s two-year transportation budget. The budget invests $11.5 billion over the biennium into Ohio’s roads, bridges, airports, and railways, with nearly $200 million being invested in public transportation.

“The transportation budget is designed to put people to work and get people to work,” said Smith. “It fixes roads and bridges. It helps power public transit. These are necessary investments that make Ohio better and stronger.”

Republicans in the Ohio House added a provision to H.B. 54 that would blanketly prohibit the Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) from offering voter registration to those who are ineligible to vote. The Senate clarified this provision by requiring customers to present proof of U.S. citizenship during the BMV transaction to be offered voter registration. Senator Smith offered an amendment to remove all voter legislation language from the bill, but it was rejected by Republicans on the committee.

“We should not include any sort of mandates directed towards the clerks at the Ohio BMV on how they should or should not assist people in their voter registration process,” said Smith. “According to the Department of Public Safety, the BMV has issued over 9 million Ohio driver's licenses. Just under 55% of these are the new REAL IDs, where people have had to prove their citizenship in order to obtain them, and about 45% are standard IDs that do not require the same documentation.

“I believe voter registration law is serious enough to warrant a full vetting by the Ohio General Assembly so that in the process of issuing driver's licenses, we are not also canceling voter registrations or disenfranchising voters.”

Senate Democrats advocated for the following provisions that were included in House Bill 54:

  • Maintain an increase in funding for Transportation Improvement Districts to invest in local infrastructure ($18M over the biennium);
  • Continue funding for the Ohio Workforce Mobility Partnership program ($13.5M per fiscal year);
  • Continue the Systemic Safety Program, which awards funding for projects that reduce pedestrian-related crashes;
  • Support contract changes supported by Regional Transit Authorities, including the Cleveland RTA;
  • Appropriate an additional $2.56 million each FY for maintenance of roads within the boundaries of metropolitan parks;
  • Distribute gas tax revenues to municipalities, townships, and counties;
  • Continue funding commitments to the Brent Spence Bridge;
  • Maintain funding requested by ODOT to expand access to truck parking in Ohio; and,
  • Allow ODOT to remove abandoned telecommunication or utility lines.

House Bill 54 now heads back to the Ohio House of Representatives for concurrence.