Dear Friends,

Today, I had the privilege of joining my fellow House Democrats in voting "YES" on an historic two-year budget. We are proud to share Governor Strickland's vision for Higher Education, Health Care, and preserving tax relief. It is truly exciting to be a part of a unanimous Democratic Caucus in voting for this budget.

I am truly honored and humbled at the same time to have joined my colleagues in accomplishing some of the things you and I have discussed and shared as goals for the 43rd House District and the great State of Ohio. Priorities include higher education funding for our students, health care for our children, and tax relief for our homeowners.

These are the crown jewels of Governor Ted Strickland's plan to turn around Ohio, and we fought hard to keep them intact. The Governor challenged us to live within our means and invest in what matters. We can all confidently say we have done that for the people of Ohio.

Highlights of the $52.3 billion budget passed by the conference committee:

A two-year tuition freeze for all public colleges and universities, tantamount to a tax cut for every family trying to send a son or daughter to college;

A health care expansion through the State Children's Health Insurance Plan that extends the availability of affordable coverage to 20,000 additional Ohio children;

A chance for qualifying parents to buy into Medicaid to help children with otherwise uninsurable conditions;

A tax cut for one in every four Ohio homeowners, including every senior who owns a home, through an expansion of the Homestead Exemption;

Increases in per-pupil spending, poverty aid and parity aid for K-12 education;
An initiative to expand STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education, including five pilot schools;

The biggest expansion of public preschool in two decades;

An expansion of programs such as PASSPORT to allow aging Ohioans to live their lives at home; and, new state funding that doubles the number of women served by breast and cervical cancer screenings, while preserving money for local health clinics and pre-natal care for uninsured women.

In addition, I was thrilled to see the first state funding for breast and cervical cancer screening for uninsured women.

The conference committee, charged with putting the House and Senate versions of the budget together, worked with the Administration to address a $167 million revenue gap presented on the first day of its work.

I am proud to say that all parties were able to find solutions without gutting the governor's goals of better education, jobs, health care and tax relief.

Everyone in the 43rd House District will benefit from what has been accomplished through many compromises over the past few weeks. It is a testament to the Governor's incredible vision and ability to find common ground for the good of our great state that these worthwhile programs will receive proper funding.

The biennial budget passed the House by a 95-1 vote, and passed the Senate unanimously (33-0). The budget now goes to the Governor for consideration and his signature. I look forward to working with Governor Strickland and my colleagues to further strengthen our state as we move Ohio forward!

Sincerely,

Steve

Stephen Dyer
State Representative - 43rd House District
Ohio House of Representatives