Public Safety Committee hears DPS budget testimony; highway patrol seeks fee increases to avoid cuts

On Feb. 12, 2025, the Ohio House Public Safety Committee heard invited testimony from Andy Wilson, director of the Ohio Department of Public Safety, and Colonel Charles Jones, superintendent of the Ohio State Highway Patrol, on House Bill 96, the state operating budget. Wilson and Jones said the highway patrol faces a structural funding shortfall and urged the committee to approve targeted fee increases to preserve patrol operations and shared services with local law enforcement.

Wilson told the committee the patrol’s long-term funding has not kept pace with inflation since a 2003 funding restructure and described two proposed fee changes in the budget: a $10 increase to the motor-vehicle registration fee and a $3 increase to the motor-vehicle title fee. "Every dollar associated with this fee increase . . . all goes directly to the highway patrol to fund the cost of patrol operations," Wilson said, adding the budget language would guarantee the revenue is restricted to patrol operations.

Why it matters: Wilson and Jones said a continued funding gap would force the patrol to cut services that local agencies rely on, from traffic enforcement and aviation support to specialized units such as the Special Response Team and the Ohio Investigative Unit. Wilson warned, "If we do not address our looming funding crisis for the patrol in this budget, the Ohio State Highway Patrol will look very different at the end of this biennium than it does today, and that difference will put Ohio citizens in danger." The committee heard graphic, on-the-record examples of trooper interventions used to illustrate the stakes.

Program details and examples - Wilson highlighted divisions and recent work across DPS programs, including the narcotics intelligence center (ONIC), the Ohio School Safety Center, the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, the Division of Emergency Medical Services, the Ohio Emergency Management Agency, and the Office of Criminal Justice Services. He said the Office of Criminal Justice Services administered $250,000,000 in grants last year to local law enforcement and first responders. - ONIC has opened offices in Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Toledo, and Wilson said it recently aided a multi-agency prosecution that included a record $150,000,000 cryptocurrency seizure. - The Ohio School Safety Center trained 17,564 people in 2024, Wilson said, and the center leads statewide work on behavioral threat assessment and active-aggressor drills. - Wilson described a 2024 BMV average wait time of 12 minutes compared with a national average he cited at about 44 minutes, and he cited the BMV’s "get in line online" system and the Apple Wallet ID option as customer improvements. - The emergency management agency requested a new $1,000,000 state hazard mitigation program; Wilson told the committee that each mitigation dollar prevents roughly $6 in future disaster costs.

Highway Patrol operations and threats to services - Colonel Jones summarized patrol operations and cross-agency support, saying troopers ran more than 60 targeted operations in 2024 and helped remove hundreds of illegal firearms and hundreds of stolen vehicles. He said the Aviation Section answered more than 1,000 mission requests in 2024 and located more than 300 people. - The panel heard a detailed account from Wilson of a November 2024 Jefferson County hostage incident in which a highway patrol special response trooper fired one shot that incapacitated a suspect and, Wilson said, "saved that little girl's life." Wilson used the example to argue that specialized, highly trained units require secure funding.

Other proposals, pilots and workforce items - The testimony included a budget proposal to expand the Ohio Investigative Unit’s statewide enforcement role for adult-use marijuana rules and to enhance grant support for local drug task forces. - The department described a pilot oral-fluid (saliva) testing program for suspected drug-impaired driving; Colonel Jones said the pilot supplies a noninvasive test and uses the state lab for analysis. The department said local agencies may submit samples at no charge during the pilot. - Wilson described a driver-education grant program in the budget that would provide grants to schools to expand low-cost in-school driver's education or partner with private driving schools to improve teen access to training. - The department proposed investment in expanded peace-officer basic and scenario-based training facilities to increase statewide training capacity and support regional needs.

Committee questions and committee action - Committee members questioned the department about the fee proposals’ magnitude, how revenue would be restricted, the timeline for achieving longer-term sustainability, potential cost-savings within DPS, and the potential impact on low-income residents and on owners of electric vehicles. - The committee approved the minutes of the Feb. 12, 2025 meeting by unanimous consent while Wilson and Jones remained at the table.

What the testimony did not resolve - The testimony recorded no committee vote on House Bill 96 during the session. Lawmakers asked for follow-up budget projections and for more granular revenue forecasts; the department offered to provide additional financial detail, including a projection that the fee package would buy roughly a decade before another major fix is needed.

The committee did not make any final decisions on the proposed fee language during this hearing; next steps will depend on budget negotiations and draft language adopted by the Finance Committee.