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October 2026 OSHGAC Newsletter
Government Affairs Coalition Updates
October 2026 Newsletter
Legislative Update
Session Schedule & Remainder of 2026
As discussed during the September OSHGAC meeting, the 136th General Assembly began in January 2025 and will conclude at the end of 2026. The legislature is on an extra-long summer break for the campaign season before the November General Election.
However, the legislature did return for two days – September 29 & 30 – for an emergency measure dealing with the suspension of the state gas tax. Gov. Mike DeWine signed the emergency piece of legislation into law on October 1 to suspend Ohio’s excise tax on gasoline and diesel fuel for 90 days. The temporary relief for Ohioans has a price tag of $725 million. Lawmakers introduced separate bills on the topic – SB 475 and HB 1019 – but ultimately folded the proposal into HB 519, an anti-car theft measure that had already cleared the House and was being heard in a Senate Committee. The legislation cleared both chambers with bipartisan majorities on September 30 after only two days of deliberation. The Ohio Department of Taxation thereafter released administrative guidance to implement the policy and said it will continue to provide updated information and guidance on the initiative through its website here.
Legislative Report from GPG
House Bill 1012 – To amend Sections 265.10 as subsequently amended, 265.20, and 265.210 of H.B. 96 of the 136th General Assembly regarding the threshold cost pool for school districts serving students whose services exceed the special education threshold cost and to make an appropriation. (OSHGAC Monitoring)
• HB 1012 is a bill that was recently introduced by State Representatives Cindy Abrams and Andrea White to provide expanded funding to schools to support students with special education needs.
• Currently, schools receive additional state funding beyond their base amount for services provided to students with special education needs within their district. Once the costs of serving an individual special education student exceeds a certain threshold, school districts can apply to the state for additional funding to help cover these costs. As both the number of students needing services and the cost to provide those services have risen, more dollars are now needed to fully cover districts’ growing costs. HB 1012 would require the state to cover the full additional cost when students’ service costs exceed their special education threshold amount.
• Under the bill, a new dedicated appropriation line (GRF200402) for Special Education Threshold Cost Reimbursement totaling $360,000,000 would be created, increasing overall General Revenue Fund appropriations to the Department of Education and Workforce to roughly $10.7 billion and total budget appropriations to about $15.66 billion.
• The bill now awaits to be referred to a committee for further consideration, however, at this point of the General Assembly, it is unlikely to receive much, if any, movement.
• OSHGAC discussed the bill and decided that should it be reintroduced next year, the group would like to support the measure, although there are some concerns that the language is not a long-term solution.
Other Updates
• Meeting with OOD & OSHGAC: Representatives from Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities (OOD) and a few OSHGAC members recently held a virtual meeting to hear an update regarding OOD’s purchasing process for hearing devices. OOD shared details of the latest round of changes from the agency regarding a new system for purchasing hearing devices based on models from other states, namely Minnesota. The conversation was overall positive, but given that the current OSHGAC members primarily represent mission-driven or hospital models, we agreed to help OOD in coordinating feedback from private practice audiologists to ensure their billing and reimbursement hurdles are addressed before the process is finalized in early November. Sydney and Gina Hounam agreed to help
OOD find more resources in the coming weeks.
• Advocacy Day: OSHGAC has confirmed advocacy day at the statehouse on December 1, 2026. We have successfully reserved the Governor Thomas Worthington Center room. Sydney will plan an Advocacy 101 presentation for the group before attendees head out for meetings. During the month of October, the group will work on handouts and prioritize messaging for advocacy day, which will largely center on the idea that investing in Ohio’s children will create a long-term investment in workforce. We will also mention specific bills that OSHGAC is supportive of and priorities for the 137th General Assembly.
Additional Items
There are several bills/items that OSHGAC is tracking that did not have any status updates and/or movement since our last meeting. We’ve moved these items to the end of our meeting agenda to save time and focus our discussions on the most pertinent topics. Here is the list of topics we are still watching, but did not discuss at length during the September meeting:
1. Legislative Report
a. HB 461 (Upchurch) – To require municipal and county correctional facilities and
state correctional institutions to provide inmates who are deaf, hard of hearing, or
severely speech impaired with access to teletypewriters.
b. SB 254 (Craig, Wilson) – To change the designation for “Ohio Deaf History Month” to the month of April.
c. SB 400 (Manchester) – To provide for the designation of high-quality youth
development programs.
d. SB 162 (Blessing) – Regarding the timeframe for health insurer recoupment from
health care providers.
e. HB 523 (Brennan, Manning) – To enact the Future Educators Support Act regarding
financial support for student teachers and teaching as an in-demand job.
f. SB 389 (Weinstein) – Regarding insurance coverage for augmentative and alternative communication tools.
g. HB 766 (Lorenz, Salvo) / SB 388 (Weinstein) – To designate October as
"Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) Awareness Month."
h. HB 939 (White, A., Odioso) – Require County DD boards to provide early intervention services.
2. Audiology & Speech-Language Pathology Interstate Compact (ASLP-IC)
There are several bills/items that OSHGAC is tracking that did not have any status updates and/or movement since our last meeting. We’ve moved these items to the end of our meeting agenda to save time and focus our discussions on the most pertinent topics. Here is the list of topics we are still watching, but did not discuss at length during the September meeting:
1. Legislative Report
a. HB 461 (Upchurch) – To require municipal and county correctional facilities and
state correctional institutions to provide inmates who are deaf, hard of hearing, or
severely speech impaired with access to teletypewriters.
b. SB 254 (Craig, Wilson) – To change the designation for “Ohio Deaf History Month” to the month of April.
c. SB 400 (Manchester) – To provide for the designation of high-quality youth
development programs.
d. SB 162 (Blessing) – Regarding the timeframe for health insurer recoupment from
health care providers.
e. HB 523 (Brennan, Manning) – To enact the Future Educators Support Act regarding
financial support for student teachers and teaching as an in-demand job.
f. SB 389 (Weinstein) – Regarding insurance coverage for augmentative and alternative communication tools.
g. HB 766 (Lorenz, Salvo) / SB 388 (Weinstein) – To designate October as
"Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) Awareness Month."
h. HB 939 (White, A., Odioso) – Require County DD boards to provide early intervention services.
2. Audiology & Speech-Language Pathology Interstate Compact (ASLP-IC)
