Lawmakers hear budget requests for disability services as providers warn gains could slip

Kevin Miller, director of Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities, and Kim Hauck, director of the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities, told the Ohio House Health Committee that recent investments have expanded services and improved workforce stability but that continued funding is needed to sustain gains.

Miller said OOD served more than 42,000 Ohioans with disabilities in federal fiscal year 2024—an increase of 5,444 people, or 14.8 percent, from the prior year—and highlighted outcome metrics including a 59.4 percent employment retention rate one year after program exit. "My name is Kevin Miller, and I am the director of opportunities for Ohioans with disabilities," he told the committee. He asked legislators to support the administration’s proposed OOD appropriation, saying "OOD's budgets represents a state investment of $43,900,000 in the general revenue fund in each year of the biennium." Miller noted that OOD leverages federal funds and said the department currently receives about $3.69 in federal match for every state general revenue dollar invested.

Hauck presented the Department of Developmental Disabilities' budget request…