Committee weighs bill to add tax refund donation option for spay/neuter funding; debate centers on oversight

House Bill 148, which would create a Companion Animal Fund (a voluntary income-tax refund donation option to support spay and neuter services), received its third hearing in the Ohio House Agriculture Committee.

Proponents, including Peggy Kaplan of the Ohio Pet Fund and Dr. Leanne Bertani (board president, Ohio Pet Fund), said the organization has administered spay/neuter grants for about 20 years using revenue from specialty license plates and that adding an optional tax-refund checkoff would expand funding without affecting the state general fund. Kaplan said the Ohio Pet Fund is a 501(c)(3) established in statute and files annual IRS Form 990s and that HB 148 requires reporting to the Attorney General and to the General Assembly on fund use. “Adding this donation option is a…