For Gov. Mike DeWine, the next four years are about planting a legacy, the capstone of more than four decades in Ohio politics.
DeWine will be sworn in for a second term at noon Monday at the Statehouse.
In his first State of the State address, DeWine promised lawmakers that he would invest in things without an immediate return, much like planting seeds: “In many cases, we won’t see results during the term of this administration or even in our lifetimes.”
Then, the COVID-19 pandemic hit. And a massive state bribery scandal that ousted the sitting House speaker. And a deeply political fight over redistricting resulting in unconstitutional maps.
“Timing’s everything,” DeWine told reporters in December. “The first pandemic in 100 years.”
With a decisive victory over Democratic former Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley, Ohio voters gave DeWine more time.
“The most precious thing there is in life is time, and we have more time to invest in our people, more time to give young children a good start in life,” DeWine said Friday. “We want more time to really focus on Ohio as being the state of opportunity.”
Building a better mental health system
DeWine wants to use that time to build a mental health system that was promised in President John F. Kennedy’s Community Mental Health Act of 1963 but never actually fulfilled.
Those with severe persistent mental illnesses were promised housing and support when the nation closed its mental health institutions, but for many Americans − and Ohioans − that wasn’t the case. Instead, many filled emergency rooms, county jails and homeless shelters.
“Our goal is to build a mental health system in the state of Ohio that we should have built 60 years ago and nobody did really very, very well,” DeWine said during an Ohio Chamber of Commerce event in November. “That community system that President Kennedy envisioned was never built.”
That system will require “significant dollars” and will be a focus of DeWine’s next budget. His priorities include:
- Increasing the number of workers in mental and behavioral health fields, including devoting $85 million to paid internships and residencies.
- Expanding behavioral health research, focusing on the root causes of illness and addiction and early intervention.
- Creating a full continuum of treatment from prevention and crisis intervention to outpatient counseling services and housing.
“We have a governor who says that for the least among us, I’m going to step up and we’re going to make this a priority,” said Luke Russell, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Ohio. “It’s clearly not political, because there’s no political advantage to doing what he’s doing. He’s doing it because he cares about those with serious mental illness.”
But helping those with serious mental illness could also save money in the long run by cutting costs at jails, prisons and psychiatric stays frequently paid for with Medicaid dollars, Russell said.
“Just sending someone to the doctor once a month to pick up their medication and sending them home isn’t working,” Russell said. “It hasn’t worked for 30 years, and so the question is: Are we willing to address it?”
Plugging the brain drain
Ohio’s population has remained largely stagnant in recent decades and its residents are growing older. DeWine is focusing on keeping Ohio’s approximately 375,000 college students in-state after graduation.
“It’s about keeping our young people here in Ohio,” DeWine told reporters.
That might include matching college students with paid internships and externships with Ohio businesses, said Steve Stivers, president and CEO of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce. “We think that if they make a connection with an Ohio-based employer while they are in college, they’ll be more likely to take a job with that employer and stay in Ohio after they graduate.”
Ohio’s leaders also hope to attract more companies like Intel to the state, bringing high-paying jobs with them. Lorain County outside of Cleveland and the Cincinnati suburbs would be attractive areas for future projects, Stivers said.
“We don’t have mountains. We don’t have oceans, but our value proposition is an affordable cost of living, high quality of life and just an easier, more inviting lifestyle,” Lt. Gov. Jon Husted told reporters.
But Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat who campaigned on protecting abortion access, contends that attracting and retaining younger people is about more than jobs and low tax rates. Ohio’s GOP-controlled Legislature has passed abortion restrictions and failed to pass LGBTQ protections.
Whitmer made a pitch during her campaign: “Go to Purdue and talk to every woman engineer, as well as Ohio State, and bring them to Michigan, where you can have full rights to make your own decisions about your health and your body and a great job.”
Making housing affordable
DeWine promised to tackle affordable housing in his next budget after signing a bill that opponents fear will undermine it.
DeWine did not line-item veto changes in a massive bill allocating federal COVID-19 response dollars that will prohibit projects from claiming both the federal low-income housing credit and Ohio’s Historical Preservation Tax Credit. Opponents say this threatens affordable housing developments across the state.
The change wasn’t DeWine’s idea, but it was part of a negotiated bill that included his priorities, such as $175 million for mental health. “I did not feel that in good faith for the agreement we had before and agreements that we might have in the future that this would be a very wise thing to do,” DeWine said of his decision.
DeWine did promise to propose a low-income housing tax credit to construct and rehabilitate properties. DeWine said if approved, the credit would be a “game changer.”
Across Ohio, there is a shortage of rental property available for extremely low-income households, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition. About 28% of renters are at or below the poverty guideline or 30% of their area median income.
DeWine also wanted to create a tax credit to develop more single-family homes to encourage home ownership in the state.
Hot-button issues: abortion to guns
Tackling mental health or affordable housing could engender bipartisan support, but DeWine is sure to face more divisive issues.
“Mike DeWine has the opportunity to live up to his bipartisan rhetoric on the campaign trail. Now that he has no office left to run for, he can finally stand up to (Senate President) Matt Huffman and extremists in the legislature on issues ranging from redistricting to voting rights to gun safety,” Ohio Democratic Party Chair Liz Walters said. “We’re hopeful DeWine will finally use the governor’s office to put working families first, but we’ll hold him accountable if and when he doesn’t.”
Those issues include:
Abortion: DeWine, who describes himself and Ohio as “pro-life,” will likely receive a bill to ban all abortions in the state. Ohio Right to Life President Mike Gonidakis expects DeWine will sign it, saying “I expect Ohio to be abortion-free before the end of his second term.”
Guns: DeWine proposed several changes to crack down on criminals with guns and restrict access to firearms, but they went nowhere in the Republican-controlled Legislature. Instead, he signed bills to eliminate training needed to carry concealed guns and make it easier to arm teachers.
Death penalty: DeWine hasn’t shared his personal opinion on the death penalty, but he hasn’t overseen any executions during his tenure as governor because of a shortage of lethal injection drugs. “We’ve had no executions and I don’t anticipate any,” DeWine said.
Marijuana: DeWine opposes the legalization of marijuana. Lawmakers have four months to act on a proposal to legalize recreational marijuana before it could head to voters.
LGBTQ rights: DeWine sidestepped questions about whether he would ban transgender girls from female sports or restrict treatment for transgender youth when both proposals died in the Ohio Legislature. But conservative lawmakers are likely to push them again.
This story will update on Monday after DeWine is inaugurated for a second term.
Jessie Balmert is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Akron Beacon Journal, Cincinnati Enquirer, Columbus Dispatch and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.
