All Aboard Ohio's legislative advocacy for the Statehouse has been clear - we are asking our elected officials to rejoin the Midwest Interstate Passenger Rail Commission (MIPRC), to fully fund the Ohio Rail Development Commission (ORDC) and support their commitment to completing Step 2 of the Corridor ID process, and to commit to completing the Corridor ID process over the next few years to get a clear picture of the impact of passenger rail expansion in Ohio.

On March 5, members of our Board and our partners from around the state spent the day at the Statehouse, meeting with over 50 legislators and their staff. We finished the day by hosting a reception in the Statehouse Museum Gallery which was attended by over 100 people. Our focus was on education about MIPRC, Corridor ID, and passenger rail benefits.

As many of you are aware, the House-passed version of the Transportation Budget (House Bill 54) was amended to include language for Ohio to rejoin MIPRC and an allocation to fund it. The Senate removed this language from HB 54 before passing it out of committee and off the floor. The House concurred with Senate amendments, so HB 54 is on its way to the Governor's desk - unfortunately without the MIPRC language.

The good news is, that the reason the Senate removed the MIPRC language was technical in nature - all allocations using General Revenue Funds (GRF) were removed from HB 54. This included dozens of other items that had nothing to do with MIPRC or passenger rail. We are working with our coalition to get the MIPRC language amended into the Operating Budget (HB 96) in the House, along with increasing the budget for the Ohio Rail Development Commission (ORDC).

We expect to see the next version of HB 96 this week. Over 3000 amendments were offered by members of the House, so instead of handling them each individually in committee, Finance leadership has been working to create a substitute bill (sub bill) that will have its first hearings on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of this week. Depending on the contents of this sub-bill, we will need your help to send a message to Columbus.

Later this week, you'll receive an advocacy guide with tips about our messaging for you to use and share throughout your network. The team at All Aboard Ohio will let you know who to call or write, what to say to them, and what the next steps are for our efforts in Ohio. Thank you so much for all of your advocacy as members so far, and for your help later this week!