The Ohio transportation budget is funded through gas tax revenues raised by the state and handed down by the federal government.
All that money is set aside in House Bill 54 for a variety of purposes in fiscal years 2026 and 2027, including roadwork development, highway construction, research and development, public transportation, airport maintenance and improvement, and handouts to local governments.
Aside from specific spending earmarks, House Bill 54 also contains provisions to reroute some gas tax revenues to support publicly owned airports via the Ohio Airport Improvement Program Fund; to complete a life cycle cost analysis comparing asphalt and concrete highways; and to create the Division of Advanced Air Mobility to support the usage of new-age aircraft from the likes of Joby Aviation.
Joby makes and flies electric air taxi aircraft, quiet emissions-free craft that lift off and land like helicopters but fly like airplanes. The company has a facility near the Dayton International Airport and recently said it’s on track to deliver its first parts later this year.
Local Rep. Bernie Willis, R-Springfield, vouched for the budget’s special attention to airports and its effort to modernize Ohio’s airspace regulation for advance air mobility.
“We have electric flying vehicles — no kidding, electrified aircraft — that are going to be built at the Dayton airport, in the birthplace of aviation, that will support us as a home of aviation and (we’ll need to) build an entirely different infrastructure whereby we move people and all of those precious cargo," said Willis, who chairs the House Transportation Committee.
The bill is likely to see further revision in the Ohio Senate, which will run its own vetting process. If it does, select members of both chambers will be tasked with ironing out the differences before the bill heads to Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine for final approval.
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Avery Kreemer can be reached at 614-981-1422, on X, via email, or you can drop him a comment/tip with the survey below.
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