COLUMBUS, Ohio — Mike Dewine’s second term as governor of Ohio is officially underway.
He took the stage with his wife to accept his oath as governor for the next four years, in front of lawmakers from both sides of the aisle and chambers.
During his speech, he mentioned key points to what he hopes to accomplish this year.
“We will go after the violent offenders who are terrorizing our communities and going after the drug dealers who are peddling poison to our citizens,” DeWine said. “Let’s work to remove the stigma surrounding addiction and mental illness by transforming Ohio into the best state in the nation for mental health treatment, research and prevention.”
The 2022-23 budget is $74 billion, which will go toward important sectors to improve Ohio’s economy, jobs and education.
DeWine also emphasized the importance of ensuring every child has access to quality child care, good schools, and positive role models and mentors.
Republican lawmakers applauded many of DeWine’s key points, but Assistant Minority Leader for the Senate, Hearcel Craig, wanted to hear more specifics on how DeWine plans to help the people of Ohio who are often overlooked.
“We’ve got to be able to make sure that there are resources dedicated in that area, whether that’s access to affordable housing,” Craig said. “Whether in terms of employment opportunities and workforce opportunities that for those that are most vulnerable, the marginalized, that we’re making sure that we have resources dedicated to our families and children. Early childhood development is so critical. And so it’s my hope and my desire that we continue to work on those issues in a very real way.”
House Minority Leader Allison Russo is looking forward to seeing what’s inside the governor’s budget requests.
“He talked very high level. So we will see, you know,” Russo said. “To me where we will start to see where the real priorities are looking at the governor’s budget and his version of the budget that he proposes to the House.”
DeWine remains optimistic and has called on the members of the General Assembly to “invest in things that many times, many cases we would not where we would not see the results during this administration or even many times, we would not see the results in our lifetime.”
Now, both chambers and lawmakers from both sides of the aisle will work together to figure out where budget dollars are needed.
