The Ohio Council of the American Society of Civil Engineers released its report card for critical state infrastructure Wednesday, just hours before floor votes on House Bill 96, the budget that allocates $60 billion in state funds.
The state report card, which ASCE issues every four years federally and state-by-state, lifted Ohio from a cumulative “C-minus” to a “C,” in line with the ASCE national report card.
The engineering society did not change the grades it gave drinking water and wastewater systems, calling them “severely” underfunded statewide.
But the final version of the budget slashes funding to H2Ohio, a multi-agency clean water initiative Gov. Mike DeWine established in 2019. Under HB 96, which lawmakers finalized at 1 a.m. on Wednesday, the state Environmental Protection Agency and Departments of Agriculture and Natural Resources will have way less to work with in 2026 and 2027. Across agencies, the cuts account for about 40% of funding.
“It’s technically accurate to say (we) cut H2Ohio, but we took the money and paid for other similar things, or other things like funding brownfield programs, historic tax credits, a number of things like that,” said House Speaker Matt Huffman (R-Lima).
Kathleen Dreyfuss-Wells, executive director of the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, said in an interview water issues deserve more attention.
“That when you flush your toilet, it gets treated,” Dreyfuss-Wells said. ”That when water falls on your property, it gets managed.”
The report did lower the state’s rail infrastructure grade from a “B” to a “B-minus,” largely due to the East Palestine derailment in 2023. The grade is one of the highest letters Ohio saw. Still, ASCE is recommending further federal and state investments in railroad crossings to reduce accidents.
Jim Pajk, a longtime engineer and advocate with the engineering society, said the state’s marks suffer too because of little investment in passenger rail.
“It is the one thing Ohio truly lacks between our major cities,” Pajk said in an interview.
Budget conference committee members also removed two earmarks for passenger rail and restructured a state commission to favor freight rail.
“Every time you get into a conference committee, there are negotiations, and some things get in, some things get taken out and I wouldn’t read too much into it,” said Senate President Rob McColley (R-Napoleon).
