New House budget “fights against the woke agenda,” Ohio Republicans say

Photo via Jeff Kubina/Public domain/Wikimedia Commons

Members of the Ohio House of Representatives took to the House floor last week to debate H.B. 96 — a 5,048-page bill that establishes state appropriations for the fiscal year of 2026/27 — before voting on its contents. The bill, sponsored by Republican Brian Stewart, passed by a vote of 60-39, with only five House Republicans crossing party lines to oppose the budget.  

Opening the debate with his own arguments in favor of the bill, Stewart touted increases in funding for public schools and school choice voucher programs, property tax relief, Medicaid reform and the authorization of $600 million dollars in bonds for the construction of a new Cleveland Browns stadium. 

In the hours that followed, Rep. Jean Schmidt, a Republican who represents Loveland, praised a provision that would establish the recognition of only two sexes under Ohio law. Borrowing language from a Trump administration executive order, Sec. 9.05(B) states that “It is the policy of the state of Ohio to recognize only two sexes, male and female. These sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality.” 

“This budget pushes back against the wokeness we are facing by prohibiting Medicaid funds from being used for discriminatory DEI programs,” Schmidt also said. Schmidt’s claims are in reference to Sec. 333.12, which states that no funds appropriated for Medicaid “shall be used for diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.” 

“I was proud to vote in support of a budget that fights against the woke agenda,” Schmidt said in a press release later that day. 

Sec. 333.13, titled “social gender transition,” goes on to state that no funds appropriated for Medicaid “shall be distributed for mental health services that promote or affirm social gender transition, which it defines as when “an individual goes from identifying with and living as a gender that corresponds to the individual’s biological sex to identifying with and living as a gender different from the individual's biological sex.” 

Similarly, Sec. 291.20, which deals with safety net services related to mothers and children, includes a provision that would withhold funds for youth homelessness shelters that “promote or affirm social gender transition.”  

The budget also addressed diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in the context of state-contracted construction projects, stating that “no public authority shall eliminate a bidder as unqualified on the basis that the bidder has not complied with an affirmative action program or a diversity, equity, and inclusion program.” 

Another provision would require public libraries to “place material related to sexual orientation or gender identity or expression in a portion of the public library that is not primarily open to the view of persons under the age of eighteen.” This language resembles that of H.B. 8, also known as the Parent’s Bill of Rights, which Governor Mike DeWine signed into law in January. The bill, which opponents have labeled “Don’t Say Gay Bill” and “Forced Outing Bill,”  requires schools to notify parents of instruction that deals with “sexuality content” and allows parents the opportunity to opt their students out of such instruction. The bill defines “sexuality content” as “any oral or written instruction, presentation, image, or description of sexual concepts or gender ideology provided in a classroom setting.” 

The budget bill also seemed to take inspiration from the Trump administration State Department’s “one flag policy” proposal and subsequent legislation passed by the Idaho House of Representatives in February. 

The Trump administration’s “one flag policy,” issued in the form of a State Department memo obtained by the Washington Free Beacon, a conservative news outlet based in Washington, D.C., states that “only the United States of America flag is authorized to be flown or displayed at U.S. facilities, both domestic and abroad.” The memo referenced the raising of the Pride flag and Black Lives Matter flags by the Biden administration. 

Idaho’s flag bill, signed into law April 4, is less narrow in its scope, allowing the Idaho flag, military flags, and other flags representing government entities alongside the American flag. The city of Boise announced April 14 that it was still flying the “Progress Pride” flag outside its city hall and intended to continue its noncompliance. 

Ohio’s flag policy, described in Sec. 123.30 of the budget bill, would prohibit “grounds or buildings under the control of a state agency” from flying “any flag except for the official state flag… the United States flag, or the POW/MIA flag.” 

H.B. 96 was introduced in the Ohio Senate on Thursday, where it will be subject to further debate and scrutiny prior to a Senate-wide vote.