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Job and Family Services details agency transfers, Ohio Benefits move and plan to replace unemployment system with fee proposal
Summary
Director Matt Damschroder told the Senate Finance Committee that the Department of Job and Family Services wants to centralize several assistance programs, transfer the Ohio Benefits system to JFS, and replace the aging unemployment insurance system using an administrative fee structure to fund the modernization.
Matt Damschroder, director of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (JFS), told the Senate Finance Committee on April 8 the agency is seeking transfers of several programs into JFS and described plans to modernize Ohio’s unemployment insurance system.
The agency proposed moving means‑tested assistance programs and the Community Services Block Grant from the Department of Development into JFS to consolidate state supervision of household assistance programs. Damschroder told senators the proposal is intended to preserve local delivery by community action agencies and counties while achieving state administrative economies of scale.
JFS also proposed transferring the Ohio Benefits computer system from the Department of Administrative Services to JFS. "Ohio Benefits is kind of the backbone of the public assistance programs in Ohio," Damschroder said. He described the system as the portal counties use for SNAP, TANF, Medicaid and publicly funded childcare eligibility determinations and applications.
On unemployment insurance, Damschroder said the current mainframe system is outdated and that the agency has awarded an RFP to a vendor to replace it and plans a go‑live in fall 2026. Because the replacement and related project costs are substantial, JFS proposed funding the system by allowing an administrative fee on the state unemployment tax — up to 0.15% on the first $9,000 of payroll. The director said that cap would generate about $74 million per calendar year (approximately $13.50 per covered employee) and that 25 other states use similar approaches.
Damschroder said the House moved the proposed fee from permanent law to temporary law, which the agency views as functionally similar because it requires future legislative justification for ongoing fees. He also highlighted workforce programs, apprenticeship rankings and other locally administered services JFS oversees and offered to follow up with additional details.
Committee members discussed potential sunset language for any fee and the importance of maintaining competition and avoiding vendor lock‑in for future upgrades; senators advised careful documentation of customizations and long‑term procurement terms. Damschroder said the vendor selected for the unemployment system is Geographic Solutions (a commercial off‑the‑shelf product) and that the agency also contracted IV&V and customer‑experience vendors to ensure implementation success.
