The Ohio Council of the American Society of Civil Engineers released its report card for critical state infrastructure Wednesday, just hours before floor votes on , the budget that allocates $60 billion in state funds.
The state report card, which ASCE every four years federally and state-by-state, lifted Ohio from a cumulative 鈥淐-minus鈥� to a 鈥淐,鈥� in line with the ASCE national report card.
The engineering society did not change the grades it gave drinking water and wastewater systems, calling them 鈥渟everely鈥� underfunded statewide.
But the final version of the budget slashes funding to H2Ohio, a multi-agency clean water initiative Gov. Mike DeWine established in 2019. Under HB 96, which lawmakers finalized at 1 a.m. on Wednesday, the state Environmental Protection Agency and Departments of Agriculture and Natural Resources will have way less to work with in 2026 and 2027. Across agencies, the cuts account for about 40% of funding.
鈥淚t鈥檚 technically accurate to say (we) cut H2Ohio, but we took the money and paid for other similar things, or other things like funding brownfield programs, historic tax credits, a number of things like that,鈥� said House Speaker Matt Huffman (R-Lima).
Kathleen Dreyfuss-Wells, executive director of the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, said in an interview water issues deserve more attention.
鈥淭hat when you flush your toilet, it gets treated,鈥� Dreyfuss-Wells said. 鈥漈hat when water falls on your property, it gets managed.鈥�
The report did lower the state鈥檚 rail infrastructure grade from a 鈥淏鈥� to a 鈥淏-minus,鈥� largely due to the East Palestine derailment in 2023. The grade is one of the highest letters Ohio saw. Still, ASCE is recommending further federal and state investments in railroad crossings to reduce accidents.
Jim Pajk, a longtime engineer and advocate with the engineering society, said the state鈥檚 marks suffer too because of little investment in passenger rail.
鈥淚t is the one thing Ohio truly lacks between our major cities,鈥� Pajk said in an interview.
Budget conference committee members also removed two earmarks for passenger rail and restructured a state commission to favor freight rail.
鈥淓very time you get into a conference committee, there are negotiations, and some things get in, some things get taken out and I wouldn鈥檛 read too much into it,鈥� said Senate President Rob McColley (R-Napoleon).