The Ohio House and Senate both passed a bipartisan operating budget Wednesday afternoon, just hours before the deadline.

The legislation will lower taxes, decrease regulations, increase public school funding and expand transparency in the healthcare industry. It passed the House 75-17 and the Senate 29-1 with the leadership of both parties supporting the final product. 

This budget will include a four percent income tax cut across the board and eliminate the bottom two tax brackets. Eliminating these tax brackets means that Ohioans who earn less than $22,500 per year will pay no income tax.

The bill also retains the full small business tax credit that House Republicans initially sought to reduce in its version of the budget, but decided to add back into the bill after negotiations with the Senate Republicans who insisted the credit remain. This credit exempts eligible businesses from paying 75 percent of their taxes on the first $250,000 of their income.

Mirroring a federal policy, the budget will also require that two regulations be eliminated for every new regulation that is added. 

“I believe small business is the heart and soul of American [and] the heartbeat of every one of our districts,” George Lang, R-West Chester Township, said on the House floor urging his colleagues to support the legislation.

The legislation will also retain the motion picture tax credit, which creates $40 million worth of tax subsidies available for the film industry. It will also keep tax subsidies for NetJets, which will fund luxury business jets. The House initially removed these provision as well, but added it back in after the negotiations. 

On the Senate floor, Sen. Bob Peterson, R-Washington Court House, said that this budget helps the working poor by eliminating their taxes, but also protects the interests of certain industries by retaining these credits. 

Thanks to a budget surplus, legislators also included record spending for K-12 education. In the first year of the budget, spending will increase by 4.1 percent and in the second year, it will increase by another 2.1 percent. There will also be additional spending for wraparound programs.

The budget also includes funding for Gov. Mike DeWine's H2Ohio plan, which is a a multimillion dollar trust fund designed to protect the state's lakes and rivers. 

There will also be a number of changes to the state's healthcare system. The Legislature is hoping to reduce medical costs with a provision that allows cost advertising for healthcare. The budget also includes more spending on some healthcare programs and includes an audit of manage care companies until 2023.

The legislation was supported by the leadership in both parties, despite some objections from Democrats who wanted more education spending.

The ranking member of the House minority party, Jack Cera, D-Bellaire, said ahead of the vote that the bill did not contain everything that Democrats wanted, but that it made progress. He said that this budget helps his district that is too often neglected by the state.

Senate Minority Leader, Kenny Yuko, D-Richmond Height, said on the Senate floor that although Senate Democrats did not get everything they wanted, neither did Senate Republicans. He said that everyone's voice was heard in the process. 

Senate President Larry Obhof, R-Medina, said ahead of the vote that passing the budget this year was a long process, but that "the final product is worth it" because everyone in the Legislature and everyone in Ohio can be proud of it. 

Although the state had a surplus and Republicans had a majority in both chambers, the Legislature missed its initial budget deadline and was forced to pass a temporary budget for more than two weeks. A House-Senate conference committee recommended this budget plan after an impromptu meeting last evening. 

The bill will now head to DeWine, who is expected to sign the legislation.