Investing in Ohio's Future: Thriving Economy Download PDF

Ohio's economy was strong before the onset of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, and Ohio remains above the national average on Moody’s Analytics/CNN’s Back-to-Normal Index and on the path to recovery. The virus has significantly impacted certain sectors of the economy.

Ohioans are resilient. We are pioneers, and we are innovators. We see opportunity in the challenge, and this Executive Budget plan will assist Ohioans by investing in our communities, businesses, and economies. Governor DeWine’s Executive Budget includes a $1 Billion Investing in Ohio Initiative, an aggressive plan to accelerate economic growth and ensuring economic vitality. By making targeted investments, we can address disparities, build prosperity, and set Ohio on the road to a bright future.

Investing in Ohio by Sustaining Our Businesses

Recognizing that some sectors – such as entertainment, hospitality, and new businesses – have been hit especially hard by the pandemic, the Executive Budget invests $460 million to help these entities cover costs and keep their doors open. The Executive Budget will:

• Provide funding for grants of up to $30,000 to assist bars and restaurants that have been severely impacted by the pandemic.
• Assist 15,000 small businesses by providing $10,000 grants to the qualified Small Business Relief Grant applicants who have yet to receive assistance through the state's share of the Coronavirus Relief Fund.
• Provide funding for grants up to $30,000 to support lodging industry businesses that have seen a significant occupancy reduction during the pandemic.
• Provide funding for grants up to $30,000 to support indoor entertainment venues that have been most impacted by the pandemic, including movie theaters, bowling alleys, trampoline parks, and privately-owned museums.
• Assist 2,000 new businesses across the state that opened their doors between the beginning of January and the end of March 2020 with grants of up to $10,000 each. These critical grants will help our newest entrepreneurs make it through this challenging time.

Investing in Ohio by Enhancing our Communities

Through a nearly half-billion-dollar investment, we are supporting key infrastructure projects and the development and adoption of a more robust broadband network in communities throughout the state. The Executive Budget will:

• Invest $250 million to provide grants to expand broadband access throughout Ohio, with the goal of ensuring that all households have the basic connectivity necessary to support children’s homework, a job search, or online training.
• Invest $200 million to provide up to $2.5 million in grants to pay for infrastructure projects in communities.

Investing in Ohio by Telling Ohio's Story

Whether looking for a place to call home, receive an education, take a vacation, or start or advance your career, we want people living in and outside of Ohio to know they will find their future here. This budget will invest $50 million in a national marketing campaign to drive 3 billion impressions across broadcast tv, connected tv, digital and social media, paid search, and limited radio and print advertisements promoting Ohio as the ideal place to live, learn, work, and play.

Investing in Ohio by Growing a Skilled Workforce

We are investing in programs to help tens of thousands of Ohioans upskill and find success in new careers and ensure businesses can access the talent needed in today's economy. While assisting Ohioans in accessing high-demand, quality-wage careers, these initiatives also ensure businesses have access to the talent needed in today's economy and make targeted workforce investments in rural and urban parts of the state. The Executive Budget will:

• Fund an additional 5,000 technology-focused credentials through the TechCred Program (including the Individual Microcredential Assistance Program) in Fiscal Year 2021 ($5 million) and an additional 45,000 credentialed individuals in the next biennium ($25 million in both Fiscal Years 2022 and 2023).
• Invest $15 million to support targeted workforce investments in economically distressed rural and urban communities. This program partners with businesses, communities, organizations, and educational institutions throughout Ohio to establish and expand programs that help Ohioans reskill and pursue new, in-demand employment opportunities.
• Invest $16 million with the goal of helping high school students earn 70,000 workforce credentials each year. An additional $25 million investment is recommended to aid schools in offering new and high-demnad credentials to students.
• Expand Ohio to Work to help Ohioans facing job loss connect with a career coach, supportive services, and rapid re-training to become employed in an in-demand job.
• Fund the Industry Sector Partnership Grant to support partnerships among business, schools, training providers, and community leaders, strengthening the local workforce.
• Continue to support and expand successful programs like the Export Internship, Diversity & Inclusion Internship, and Choose Ohio First. The Export Internship and the Diversity and Inclusion Internship programs will provide opportunities to 690 individuals across the biennium. Choose Ohio First will provide 2,000 new scholarships in addition to the 3,375 total scholarships in the 2019-2020 Academic Year.
• Guarantee that every student in Ohio has access to computer science education.

Transforming the Unemployment Insurance System

Ohio's unemployment insurance system needs to be modernized to better serve Ohioans. In the short term, Ohio will use federal funds to administer and provide additional call center support for Ohioans who receive unemployment insurance benefits and pandemic unemployment assistance through this crisis. The Executive Budget will invest more than $10 million to modernize the unemployment insurance tax, benefits, and appeals systems to allow Ohio Job and Family Services (ODJFS) to provide a more efficient administration of the unemployment insurance program in the future.

Expanding Access to Affordable Childcare

The Executive Budget will ease the burden on low-income working parents and caregivers who struggle to provide adequate childcare. By raising family initial income eligibility requirements from 130 percent to 138 percent of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL), and 150 percent FPL for special needs children, more children will receive the care, supervision, and developmental opportunities they need.

Supporting K-12 Learning

As Ohio recovers from the pandemic, we must catch up kids who were left behind during school closures and continue to support students with the most need. Investing in children allows us to strengthen our future workforce and economy. In the Fiscal Years 2022 and 2023 budget recommendation, the Ohio Department of Education will disburse more than $13.1 billion to schools and districts across the state to support Ohio's 1.7 million schoolchildren. This investment includes $1.1 billion in Student Wellness and Success Funds, adding $100 million to this program in each year, to help schools and districts continue partnerships with local organizations for programming to meet students' social and emotional needs. Additionally, $125 million in foundation funding to schools and districts will also be restored in Fiscal Years 2022- 2023.

The Executive Budget also will appropriate over $2 billion of additional federal funding provided in the recent stimulus package to give kids access to the learning opportunities they have missed out on because of the pandemic. To help kids catch up, schools and districts will develop extended learning and learning recovery plans. Schools and districts will partner with community organizations to deliver extended learning and activities to targeted student populations.

Additionally, $1.6 billion in federal funding will support child nutrition programs, including the National School Lunch, National School Breakfast, and Child and Adult Food. These programs reimburse schools, childcare centers, after-school programs, and adult day centers for providing nutritious meals and snacks that contribute to the health and wellness of children, older adults, and chronically disabled persons.

The recommended Fiscal Years 2022-2023 funding levels allow the Department to leverage state and federal funds to promote high-quality professional development and school improvement initiatives. This includes targeted support for students with disabilities, literacy improvement, social and emotional learning, and promoting the use of data to improve learning for all students. The budget promotes local partnerships, which are essential to student success and school improvement.

To encourage and identify high-quality charter schools, the Executive Budget will increase the Quality Community School Support Fund to $54 million per year. To access these funds, charter schools must meet several academic, good-standing, and financial criteria set forth by the Department. These funds will help successful charter schools build the capacity to serve more Ohio students.

Prioritizing Higher Education and Student Scholarship Programs

Ohio prioritizes access to a quality college education for our disadvantaged students to create more opportunities to succeed. The cost of higher education is a barrier to many students to obtain a degree and the skills necessary to compete in today's fast-paced economy. The Executive Budget will:

• Raise the per-student Ohio College Opportunity Grant award by $500 over the biennium to make college more affordable for students with financial need.
• Provide at least 2,000 new scholarships through the Choose Ohio First scholarship program, which helps students become skilled in high-demand areas and prioritizes awards for underrepresented populations enrolled in the critical STEMM disciplines of science, technology, engineering, math, and medicine.
• Continue to support Ohio's wide range of colleges and universities throughout the state by increasing our investment in the State Share of Instruction institutional subsidy by 1.8 percent over the biennium to maintain quality and provide support services.

Investing in Ohio's Future: Healthy People Download PDF

The health of Ohioans and the health of our state's economy are unquestionably connected. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us directly how physical health, mental health, accessibility to wellness services, and healthcare inequities in our communities affect an individual's ability to participate in the marketplace. Healthy people lead to renewed communities and a thriving economy. Our economy cannot rebound without healthy individuals.

For more information about ongoing efforts to address the pandemic, visit coronavirus.ohio.gov for information and resources. This site also contains the latest information from the Ohio Public Health Advisory System and the Governor's Responsible RestartOhio Initiative.

Health Surge

Access to quality care is critical to the health of all Ohioans. Still, access is limited by a program or service's ability to reach communities, the conditions of the community, and the trust those communities have with the providers. Governor DeWine's Executive Budget includes a $50 million one-time investment to advance public health equity initiatives to be led by the Ohio Department of Health. The Executive Budget will:

• Provide $6 million to support local health departments in improving Ohio’s population health based upon the findings and recommendations in Ohio’s 2020-2022 State Health Improvement Plan (SHIP) and to incentivize efficiencies, including shared services or the consolidation of local health districts that formally merge on or after July 1, 2021. The Department of Health may also use a portion of this funding to support pre-merger analysis and planning for districts interested in a merger.
• Invest $5.5 million to improve the health of infants and women. The Governor’s Office of Children’s Initiatives will support programming of community and local faith-based service providers who provide services and support to pregnant mothers to improve both maternal and infant health outcomes. In addition, the Departments of Health and Medicaid will develop a universal needs assessment for vulnerable women to identify and provide needed health and wrap-around supports.
• Allocate $2 million to the Ohio Department of Health along with other agencies, boards, and commissions, to identify and address social determinants of health which will improve health equity for all Ohioans.
• Fund $3.25 million for emergency department diversion and harm reduction efforts. Governor DeWine’s RecoveryOhio Initiative will support the continuation of the Emergency Department Comprehensive Care Initiative to enhance Ohio’s response to the addiction crisis by creating a comprehensive system of care for patients who present in emergency departments with addiction. In addition, the Governor’s RecoveryOhio Initiative will support local health providers’ harm reduction efforts for accidental drug overdose rates and deaths.
• Provide $5 million for nursing home quality training. The Ohio Department of Aging will incentivize quality-improvement initiatives in or regarding long-term care facilities or connect long-term care facilities with technical assistance programming including training on infection control, elder abuse, or other topics identified by the Department of Health informed by trends in citation data from the Bureau of Nursing Home Survey and Certification.
• Provide $2.25 million for housing for pregnant mothers. The Development Services Agency, along with the Department of Health and the Governor’s Children's Initiatives Office, will support stable housing initiatives for pregnant mothers to improve maternal and infant health outcomes.
• Allocate $1 million for the Technology First Initiative. The Department of Developmental Disabilities will invest in projects to increase technology access for individuals with developmental disabilities through the Technology First Initiative. This initiative strives to use technology to better support individuals with developmental disabilities and ensure opportunities to live, work, and thrive in their communities.
• Invest $25 million to improve public health data. The Departments of Health and Administrative Services will support or procure a comprehensive and integrated technology solution to align data systems and records and streamline timely data to improve and enhance disease reporting and healthcare delivery across the state. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of more accurate and timely health data to improve community health programs and protect Ohio lives.

Nursing Home Initiatives: Protecting Ohio's Most Vulnerable

Governor DeWine's budget proposes needed reform to further the State of Ohio's ability to regulate and ensure quality in long-term care service delivery. The Governor's plan to make the needed investment into high-quality nursing homes, while at the same time providing an option for low quality providers to exit the business or invest and improve their care models, is one that will provide better quality care and opportunity across the board for Ohioans. In addition to the one-time nursing home reform initiative, the Governor's Executive Budget will:

• Invest $50 million for a nursing home reform initiative in response to the underutilization of licensed nursing home beds in Ohio. The Department of Health, in collaboration with the Department of Aging and Medicaid, will launch a reform initiative to encourage facilities to voluntarily downsize, move to single patient rooms, and remove the costly excess unused beds from the system. The way the nursing home payment structure in Ohio was designed years ago, Medicaid is required to cover a portion of expenses for unused bed days. According to current Department of Health records, nearly 20% (approximately 11,000) of eligible nursing home beds were vacant prior to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. As Ohioans demand more community-based care options, this initiative will help rebalance the services available and improve the quality of care for all Ohioans, regardless of setting.
• Increase the authority and ability of the Department of Health to protect nursing home patients from dangerous situations. The Patient Protection proposal would give the Department of Health the authority to swiftly intervene to protect patients in nursing facilities when they determine the health and safety of patients is in jeopardy. If needed, the Department will have the authority to immediately remove patients and relocate them into a safe facility. Protecting patients from dangerously low-quality providers is essential to Governor DeWine’s commitment to protect the lives of all vulnerable Ohioans.
• Launch new training opportunities through the Department of Aging. The Training and Improving Ohio Nursing Facilities proposal will launch a series of new quality improvement initiatives and a technical assistance programs to improve the quality of care across the board for Ohio nursing homes. Programming will be targeted to address infection control, elder abuse, and other areas that are flagged as prominent during the Department of Health's inspection process.
• Invest $440 million into quality outcome incentives for Medicaid nursing home services. The Quality Driven Reimbursement proposal seeks an increase of $100 million into a new payment formula that moves to reward nursing homes for providing high-quality care, based on meaningful outcome-driven industry leading metrics. The Department of Medicaid will work in collaboration with a joint committee and seek input from experts across multiple agencies, providers, and senior advocates to ensure a robust and highquality incentive-based payment structure. Additionally, to encourage high quality oversight, recipients will be required to ensure that key nursing home staff such as an administrator, medical director, nursing director, and quality improvement director reside in and work in the state of Ohio.

Health Programs

As we move through the pandemic and into economic recovery, it is crucial that we build on our momentum in priority health programs to ensure that Ohio children grow up healthy, and that our adults are strong and job-ready. The Executive Budget will:

• Increase funding for Help Me Grow, Ohio's evidenced-based home visiting program serving more than 8,200 families, encourages early prenatal and well-baby care, as well as parenting education to promote the comprehensive health and development of children. The Executive Budget invests an additional $1.9 million each fiscal year - for a total investment of $41.2 million in Fiscal Years 2022 and 2023 - allowing the Ohio Department of Health to increase home visiting services for at-risk, expectant mothers, and families of young children at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level. Home visiting is proven to reduce infant mortality and promote child development and school readiness.
• Continue the lead hazard control programs, to make Ohio’s homes and communities lead-safe. The Ohio Department of Health will conduct lead hazard control and abatement services on hundreds of Ohio homes, conduct public outreach and education, and increase the number of lead hazard workers through the Lead Worker/Contractor Licensure Repayment Program. A new, statewide Lead-Safe Housing Fund will provide competitive grants to Ohio communities to abate lead hazards in their housing stock, promoting revitalized, renewed communities.
• Support the FQHC Primary Care Workforce Initiative, which addresses the need for more qualified health professionals by providing medical, dental, behavioral health, advanced practice nursing, and physician assistant students with clinical rotations in Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC) that are recognized as Patient Centered Medical Homes (PCMH). Funds are distributed to the Ohio Association of Community Health Centers (OACHC).
• Address chronic disease and health equity through increased awareness and action in all Ohio Department of Health programs and initiatives.

Continuing RecoveryOhio

RecoveryOhio is the state’s initiative to address the crisis of substance use disorders and support the mental health and well-being of Ohio’s citizens. The goals of the initiative are to create a system to help make treatment available to Ohioans in need, provide support services for those in recovery and their families, offer direction for the stat’s prevention and education efforts. These executive budget highlights underscore the comprehensive, collaborative work that is happening across Ohio’s state agencies, boards, and commissions. The investment from the Executive Budget will:

• Expand early identification programs to increase screening, provide early intervention, and connect people to treatment.
• Support forensic services to reduce the stress on the hospital and criminal justice systems that interact with people with serious mental illnesses and expand treatment capacity for those incarcerated with critical mental illnesses by providing access to the medicine they need.
• Support programs to address disparities and disproportionate negative impacts on minority, poor, and underserved populations, including African Americans, Hispanics and Latinos, immigrant populations, refugee and traumatized populations, Deaf, Hard of Hearing, disabled, veterans, elderly, and other special communities.
• Continue the support of crisis services to meet the mental health and addiction needs of children, youth, families, and adults.
• Expand access to the Tobacco Use Prevention and Cessation program for all Ohioans. The program provides and promotes tobacco control activities that support the three primary objectives of: 1) decreasing the initiation of tobacco use, including e-cigarettes and vaping products; 2) increasing quitting of tobacco; and 3) protecting Ohioans from exposure to secondhand smoke. Furthermore, the Ohio Department of Health's My Life, My Quit youth-centered quit program also seeks to educate Ohio youths of the risks of the vaping/e-cigarette epidemic.
• Fund the expansion of Specialized Dockets with new courts that seek to connect individuals with support services around mental health, substance abuse, trauma care, and other service to better the individual's wellbeing. There are currently 183 specialized court dockets across 57 counties, serving more than 8,000 Ohioans, seeking to ensure public safety by identifying individuals with mental health needs involved in the criminal justice system and supporting them via diversion or linkage to trauma-informed, culturally-responsive, and consumer-directed services and supports when appropriate.

Mental Health Expansions

People with serious mental health issues often interact with multiple systems, including health care, behavioral health, human services, homeless services, and criminal justice. An expanded investment in multi-system adult collaboration will help connect these individuals to needed care, recovery supports, stable housing, and positive community participation. This $11 million to strengthen cross-system collaboration and expand access to services and supports that promote continued stability and recovery outside of institutions for adults with serious mental illness.

OHMHAS & ODRC Partnership

Incarcerated Ohioans struggling with substance use disorders need access to reliable resources for recovery. Sixty-seven percent of incarcerated people have a moderate or severe need for recovery services. Almost 23 percent of incarcerated people are on the mental health caseload; and 10.2 percent with a serious mental illness. This investment will expand access to treatment within Ohio's correctional facilities, including counseling, peer support, technology, and medication. Recovery services provided during incarceration significantly increase the likelihood that these individuals become productive members of society when released.

K-12 Student Wellness

One of our most disrupted populations due to the pandemic are our school children. The pandemic has further strained the health, mental wellbeing, and academic success of these students. The Executive Budget includes $1.1 billion to continue support for Student Wellness and Success programs, which fund partnerships between schools and community organizations to develop programs that meet the social and emotional needs of students.

A recent study released by the Ohio Department of Education called Student Wellness and Success Fund Survey Data Report, released in December 2020, found schools and districts implementing more than 3,000 initiatives, serving over 1 million Ohio students. More than one in four initiatives was focused on mental health services, with nearly two-thirds of districts implementing or planning an initiative in this category. Almost one in seven initiatives was focused on physical health services across more than one-third of districts.

Medicaid Highlights

Medicaid serves many vulnerable Ohioans. The Department of Medicaid and its priority programs to meet Ohioans' needs, the Executive Budget invests $28.4 billion for Fiscal Year 2022 and $29.7 billion for Fiscal Year 2023. It is crucial that this safety net program incentivize self-sufficiency. Just prior to the onset of the pandemic, Ohio’s Medicaid work requirement had been approved by federal regulators; however, current federal law prohibits the state from implementing the requirement during the ongoing public health emergency. To continue our momentum, the Executive Budget includes a voluntary Medicaid work program to bridge the gap until the new work requirements can be implemented. Additionally, the Executive Budget will:

• Support the re-procurement of Ohio's managed care system to improve wellness and health outcomes while emphasizing a personalized care experience. This managed care system will improve care for children with complex behavioral needs, and it will support providers in better patient care while increasing program transparency and accountability.
• Increase access to and care for Medicaid members with significant behavioral health needs through continued funding of Medicaid's Behavioral Health Care Coordination program.
• Expand access to personalized care through Medicaid's Emergency Telehealth program, which made access to care easier and more flexible during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through partnerships with the Governor's office, Ohio agencies, managed care plans, providers, and consumers, this budget seeks to expand telehealth services for medical, clinical, and behavioral health, ease technology restrictions on patientphysician interaction to deliver telehealth services, reduce prior authorization requirements, enhance pharmacy benefits for the consumer and the pharmacy, and enable nursing home and congregate care members to access telehealth service with no prior authorization.
• Prevent custody relinquishment of multi-system youth children with an additional $5 million per Fiscal Year. Multi-system youth utilize various services beyond public children’s service agencies (PCSA) such as mental and behavioral health and health care.

Investing in Ohio's Future: Renewed Communities Download PDF

As Ohioans, we know that our communities are the best places to live, work, play, and raise a family. Our cities, counties, small towns, townships, and villages have been challenged by the pandemic but are already on the road to recovery. This Executive Budget will provide the needed boost our renewal and carry our communities forward. Our livelihood, wellness, and Ohio's economic recovery and stability are grounded in our diversity. The initiative provides a variety of investments to strengthen our communities and the quality of life in Ohio.

With investments in renewed communities, our economy will rebound stronger.

Local Government Fund and the Public Library Fund

Ensuring stability for local governments and public libraries is critical to sustained communities. The Executive Budget renews its commitment to Ohio's local governments and public libraries by continuing funding for the Local Government Fund and the Public Library Fund at their statutory levels. Based on current revenue estimates, the Local Government Fund and the Public Library Fund will each provide $425 million in Fiscal Year 2022 and $440 million in Fiscal Year 2023 in shared revenue to these critical local partners.

Law Enforcement Investments

Safe and secure communities are thriving communities. This budget seeks to increase police transparency by expanding body camera accessibility, reduce violent crimes and substance abuse, assist local agencies in the recruitment and hiring of new peace officers, and create safe schools. The Governor’s Executive Budget will:

• Fund $10 million in grants to local law enforcement agencies across the state to implement or enhance body-worn camera programs. This includes the body cameras themselves and other expenses associated with running the program.
• Provide $8 million to help reduce violent crimes through state and local law enforcement agencies. This new program is designed to provide flexible grant funding that can meet individual communities' needs with promising or proven crime reduction strategies.
• Invest $1 million to support state and local law enforcement agencies in recruiting and hiring new peace officers.
• Invest $6.5 million to expand the Ohio Narcotics Intelligence Center (ONIC) to further support local law enforcement and their partners further. The ONIC assists Ohio narcotics task force and law enforcement agencies through investigative, analytical, and digital forensic support. Launched in December of 2019, it has assisted with more than 100 criminal investigations, analyzed more than 220 cellphones, and conducted more than 840 forensic examinations. The ONIC has also supported 70 agencies across federal, state, local, and county task forces, as well as within sectors including criminal justice, homeland security, and public health.
• Provide $4.6 million in additional funding for the Ohio School Safety Center (OSSC) to support operations and ongoing initiatives. The OSSC assists local schools and first responders with preventing, preparing for, and responding to threats and acts of violence, including self-harm, through a holistic, solutions-based approach to school safety. This funding is in addition to the continuation of funding for maintaining and promoting the Safer Ohio Schools Tip Line. In April 2020, the OSSC implemented a social media-scanning program of posts from K-12 Ohioans, resulting in 1,145 alerts. The OSSC maintains the state’s Safer Ohio School Tip Line offering suicide intervention and counseling services for individuals. Furthermore, OSSC has reviewed 2,797 school emergency management plans and helped schools create and implement pandemic response procedures.

Indigent Defense

The right to legal representation is part of the fabric of our justice system. This right can be accessed through public defenders and other indigent defense services for those unable to pay for a lawyer. This budget will reimburse Ohio counties $125 million per year for such services.

H2Ohio

Water quality, preservation, and accessibility are crucial to healthy people and our communities’ economic strength. We must continue the work started with the H2Ohio initiative in Fiscal Years 2020 and 2021 implemented by the Ohio departments of Agriculture and Natural Resources, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, and the Lake Erie Commission. H2Ohio addresses critical water quality needs and innovative solutions for some of the state's most pressing water challenges. Governor DeWine’s Executive Budget will:

• Invest $100 millionfor the Department of Agriculture to continue to enroll and engage more than 1,900 agriculture producers in nutrient management, water management, and erosion management. Farmers rely on nutrients to ensure the maximum crop yields, and this program helps farmers with implementing proven practices that prevent nutrient runoff. To date, more than 1.1 million acres across 14 counties, 36% of the representative cropland, is part of this program to implement ten best practices for nutrient management.
• Provide $50 million for the continuation of wetland restoration through the Department of Natural Resources, supporting 44 projects encompassing 80,000 acres of watershed and protecting threatened or endangered species. To date, this initiative has 26 wetland projects in contract, engaged with 18 nonprofit conservation partners to support 60,000 acres of watershed filtered by wetland projects, and identified 90 species threatened or endangered that will benefit from this additional habitat.
• Allocate $92 million for the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to continue the protection of public health by improving water and wastewater infrastructure, reducing lead exposure by replacing an additional 1,500 lead service lines and more than 600 failed home treatment systems across seven counties. To date, H2Ohio has replaced 185 lead service lines, repaired or replaced 180 failed home sewage treatment systems, improved the quality of drinking water for 4,000 people, and served 670 people with three new wastewater projects.

Farmland Preservation

Agriculture is an integral part of the Ohio economy, and through this budget, we seek to stabilize and expand this sector of our marketplace. The Farmland Preservation Program's goal is to permanently preserve farmland through the purchase of agricultural easements from landowners. Similar to an economic development program, the proceeds are used to expand farming operations, reduce debt, and install conservation practices. To aid farmers and landowners to move forward quickly and preserve at least 3,500 additional acres, this budget adds $7 million in addition to the $12 million in recent capital appropriations.

Broadband

A lack of access to high-speed internet and digital resources is a significant barrier for Ohioans citizens and communities to connect with one another, with educational opportunities, and to job openings. A critical component of the DeWine-Husted agenda is to increase access to these important resources throughout the state. This Executive Budget will:

• Invest $200 million to expand access to broadband for Ohio households that lack basic connectivity necessary to be part of the modern economy, modern education system and modern healthcare system. This investment provides direct grants to internet service providers to expand their network and to build conduits along limited access interstate rights of way that can then be leased out to companies for long haul and middle-mile infrastructure.
• Provide $50 million to help companies provide low cost internet by paying infrastructure costs, leveraging state assets, and matching funds in order to draw down federal dollars to make broadband more affordable in both urban and rural areas.

Imagination Library

Encouraging imagination through books is essential to cultivating inquisitive learners and building sustaining relationships between the reader and the child. This Executive Budget provides $16 million to continue the Governor's Imagination Library, providing all Ohio children with a monthly book for the first five years of their lives. This program will help ensure that every Ohio child receives help spur their development and kindergarten readiness.

Children's Services Transformation

Creating safe, healthy, and stable environments for all Ohio children is central to thriving, renewed communities. This budget seeks to reinforce existing programs and invest in evidencebased strategies to promote independent families, build resilient children, and bring greater transparency to the children services system. The Executive Budget will:

• Invest $240 million for State Child Protection Allocation (SCPA) to Ohio’s 88 county public children services agencies, preventing custody relinquishment of Multisystem Youth, expand Foster Care Recruitment, and best practices to support Ohio’s nearly 16,000 youth in and out-of-home care and more than 10,000 kinship and foster caregivers who care for them.
• Provide $60 million in financial assistance to kinship while they work toward foster care licensure.
• Allocate $10 million to provide financial support caregivers in cases where children cannot return to their homes.
• Invest $1 million to engage college students in the protective services program with meaningful experiences that build commitment to the children services system and quality practice.
• Fund $20 million for evidence-based prevention services to prevent children from entering the children services system and, if children must enter foster care, to ensure appropriate settings are used.
• Support $1 million to establish a state-level ombudsman to independently investigate and resolve complaints made by or on behalf of children and families involved with children services.
• Devote $14 million to help find permanent homes for children in foster care through Wendy's Wonderful Kids, a child-focused recruitment model.
• Provide $2 million to help counties efficiently inspect and approve placements for foster and adoptive children.
• Fund $1 million to establish the Adoption Assessor Registry to evaluate the current home assessor workforce, develop home study completion measures, and adjust requirements for assessors.

Keeping Ohioans in their Homes

The loss of income for Ohioans due to the pandemic has placed many in jeopardy, behind in rent, utility, and energy bills. Ohioans impacted by the pandemic with rent, rent arrears, utilities and home energy costs, and utility and home energy cost arrears will receive assistance from funds awarded to local Community Action Agencies (CAAs). These funds total $565 million from the US Treasury and are approved for use in Ohio.

Foodbanks and Other Nutrition Programs

Local foodbanks have experienced a sustained increase in demand for their services as families struggle to put food on the table during the pandemic's economic impacts. The Executive Budget will help foodbanks purchase food for distribution and expand aid for the supply chain areas of transportation and storage capacity.

• Provide $49 million to support the Ohio Association of Foodbanks in purchasing and distributing food products.
• Fund $7 million in Fiscal Year 2022 to expand the storage capacity and meet the transportation needs of foodbanks during this crucial time.

Older Ohioans

The coronavirus pandemic has hit our older Ohioans very hard, amplifying health issues, increasing isolation, and reducing critical access to general healthcare, elective surgeries, nutrition, and long-term care. Governor DeWine’s Executive Budget expands aid to Senior Community Services and the Department of Aging's Statewide Aging Initiatives to meet older Ohioans' needs best. The Executive Budget will:

• Provide $8.7 million to support the implementation of health, nutrition, long-term care, and safety programs under the Older Americans Act and Medicaid through the state's Area Agencies of Aging.
• Allocate $9 million to support older Ohioans' needs, including access, equity, health outcomes, independence, and protection for older Ohioans in whatever place they call home, with special consideration given to older Ohioans with the greatest need.