Ohio House lawmakers made a slew of changes Tuesday to Gov. Mike DeWine’s initial proposed transportation budget, and among them, the potential for passenger rail expansion got a nod.
The latest version of House Bill 54, the biennial transportation budget, has Ohio rejoining the Midwest Interstate Passenger Rail Commission through a proposed $25,000 per year appropriation.
In 2013, the state relinquished its MIPRC member status under Republican former Gov. John Kasich—and according to a news release from the Democratic caucus at the time, didn’t settle member fee debt for some time after. That came after Kasich turned down $400 million in federal grants for an Amtrak line running from Cleveland to Cincinnati.
Advocates like All Aboard Ohio Executive Director John Esterly have said the state has since been left out of a decade of regional planning and potential funding discussions regarding Amtrak and other passenger transit.
“We think it’s very, very likely that it will continue to remain in the budget,” Esterly said Friday in an interview, “so that’s definitely a win.”
Two potential state-sponsored projects through Amtrak—one connecting Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati, called the 3C&D, and another connecting Cleveland to Detroit through Toledo—are early in the consideration process. The Ohio Rail Development Commission will pull phase two of state funds from its budget, he said.
Voter registration at Bureau of Motor Vehicles offices
GOP lawmakers also proposed making voter registration at Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles offices more stringent by requiring proof of U.S. citizenship.
Ohio residents can register to vote in-person at BMV registrars—in addition to county boards of elections, public libraries and other public agency offices. In 2023, BMVs statewide registered more than 190,000 new voters, according to agency data.
Senate President Rob McColley (R-Napoleon) said Wednesday he would back the idea because he believes “even one case of voter fraud is too many.” Voting rights advocates, alongside some Democrats, have been opponents before of similar proof of citizenship mandates that started materializing last year.
As amended, HB 54 proposes requiring further data sharing between the BMV and Secretary of State Frank LaRose, too, so LaRose’s office could check the voter rolls with BMV statewide statistics monthly rather than annually for noncitizens.
Voter fraud is rare, and in Ohio, noncitizens can’t vote legally. Ohioans reaffirmed that in 2022 when they ratified Issue 2, a statewide ballot measure that codified a ban on noncitizen participation in local elections.
The transportation budget, totaling $11.5 billion between fiscal year 2026 and 2027, must pass both legislative chambers by the end of March. Aside from public transit, it primarily funds Ohio Department of Transportation work on state highways and routes as well as bridges.
