The governor's recommendations for Ohio's budget for the next two years was presented to Ohio's general assembly as well as to the state in a press conference. DeWine laid out one of the major parts of the budget, called the Investing in Ohio initiative. That involves putting $1 billion back into the state of Ohio to go towards economic growth as we continue through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Part of the initiative provides $460 million to small businesses that have been affected over the last year, while more funding is going towards helping out communities throughout the state.
"The Investing in Ohio initiative will make a target investment of nearly half $1 billion to go to key infrastructure projects in places like Lima, Marietta, Ashtabula, Portsmith," said DeWine. "Investing in infrastructure projects will attract more jobs, bring more investment into the community, and improve the quality of life for the residents."
Another $70 million are planned to go towards job training and upscaling in the state, especially in tech-focused careers. This includes 40,000 credentials through the state's TechCred program over 2022 and 2023.
"This is, robotics, this is computerized machining skills, it’s cyber security, it’s analytics, it’s all of these things that you don’t have to go to college for four years to get them," said Lt. Gov. Jon Husted. "You can get these quickly in short-term programs that lead to the skills that will help you move forward, and your business move forward."
The proposed budget also includes funding for areas like education, behavioral health and H2Ohio. The full budget recommendations can be found www.budget.ohio.gov.
