The Ohio Senate Finance Committee favorably reported amended House Bill 434 after a second hearing that focused on time-sensitive budget corrections and technical fixes.

Chair Cerino said the bill, HB 434, contains two recent budget corrections from the transportation and operating budgets and will be used to carry a set of other time-sensitive or low-level cleanups. Vice Chair Chavez moved the proposed amendment (AM 1161), which the committee adopted without objection. Vice Chair Chavez then moved that the committee favorably report the bill, and the committee approved the motion by roll call; Senator Romanchuk asked to be excused from voting.

The amendment package includes 24 items, the chair said, of which 20 are corrections to provisions in the recently passed operating budget (HB 96) and three are revenue-neutral corrections tied to the capital budget passed earlier in the General Assembly. Among the provisions highlighted was the state response to new federal cost-sharing changes for SNAP administration: the amendment would provide $14,800,000 in new General Revenue Fund (GRF) appropriations for the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services for SNAP administration in fiscal 2027, and $21,000,000 (split half state GRF and half federal match) for JFS to update the Ohio benefit system with the goal of reducing the state error rate below 6 percent.

The chair said counties have raised concerns that the federal administrative cost‑sharing changes will strain county General Fund budgets; the committee acknowledged that the magnitude of that issue exceeds what can be solved in this budget-correction bill and said it will continue discussions with stakeholders.

The amendment also contains a technical clarification to homestead property-tax language enacted in the operating budget that concerns local "piggyback" homestead and owner‑occupied credits. The chair said the clarification is intended to ensure that a local piggyback option mirrors the existing homestead exemption so counties choosing to implement the option will provide the same benefit.

Committee leadership gave the Legislative Service Commission permission, without objection, to harmonize amendments as needed. The committee left the roll open at the chair’s discretion and reported the bill favorably to the committee on rules and reference.

Votes at the committee roll call showed unanimous support among members present; Senator Romanchuk was excused from voting.