COLUMBUS, Ohio — Even though Ohio is starting a gas tax holiday, drivers won't see prices fall immediately.
Gov. Mike DeWine signed a bill temporarily reducing the state's gas tax into law Thursday morning. While the provisions are effective now, the holiday won't fully start until 12:01 a.m. this Sunday.
"This will give some relief to people throughout Ohio," DeWine said. "The gas is so high today, and we know that it really hurts people."
Lawmakers passed House Bill 519 to reduce Ohio's motor fuel tax for 90 days, dropping what you pay at the pump by $0.385 cents per gallon for gasoline and $.47 cents for diesel. The new tax will be one-hundredth of a penny.
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Republican candidate for governor Vivek Ramaswamy worked with lawmakers to make this happen.
"We're just talking about suspending the gas tax and putting more money in people's pockets, Morgan; we were able to work together," Ramaswamy told me after the bill's passage Wednesday.
Even though the holiday doesn't start until Sunday, it will take even longer for prices to drop
Wholesalers pay the Ohio tax, and then retailers, like Sheetz, buy product from them. This means that when retailers need to buy new fuel, gas and diesel would be sold at an untaxed price, and everyone could pass on the savings.
"If you buy gas today at a higher price, you need to sell it at the higher price in order to recoup the money that you paid for that gas," state Sen. Bill DeMora (D-Columbus) said.
DeMora raised concerns that the wholesalers could just take the tax break.
"All the people who are going to make money are the oil companies," he said. "As soon as this price goes down, the oil companies are going to find some storms somewhere in the Gulf, and they’re going to raise the price by 25, 30 cents."
Republican leaders say they are monitoring if this happens.
"I can't predict the future about whether it's gonna be 100% of savings, but what I can tell you is we fully expect, and we have data to back up the fact that consumers will see very meaningful relief," Ramaswamy said.
Senate President Rob McColley (R-Napoleon), Ramaswamy's running mate, predicts at least 75% of the savings will go back to consumers.
"They're already walking it back because they know it's not feasible," DeMora said. "Again, they sell the bill of goods to the people in all the bulls*** that they do."
Democrats point out that this may only save consumers $3 a week, and argue this was a political vote-grabbing effort.
"It's a gimmick to help their gubernatorial candidate who's underwater because he's unlikable," DeMora continued.
McColley denied this, saying it's just good policy. The market will regulate itself, he added.
"If somebody can sell it for lower than their competitors and get a little bit more market share by doing it, I think they're going to do that," the president said.
The bill also has an enforcement aspect to prevent price gouging.
Ramaswamy's start
Statehouse Republicans are cheering Ramaswamy for his involvement in legislative policy ahead of the election.
Securing a gas tax holiday wasn't the first time lawmakers followed his request. Earlier this year, Ramaswamy asked the lawmakers to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot to require photo ID in order to vote in person. It took some cajoling, but the GOP legislators, who have dominant majorities in each chamber, complied.
"This is a preview of how things are going to work under a Ramaswamy administration," the candidate said Wednesday evening. "We're going to be focused. We're going to be substantive... We're going to be fast."
While the governor serves as the state's top executive, they must still persuade legislators to pass policy. Even DeWine has struggled to get some of his major priorities passed in the legislature, like when he had to beg the lawmakers for years to ban 'intoxicating hemp.'
Is Ramaswamy this powerful, is it election time or are they just good policies?
For the past several years, Speaker Matt Huffman (R-Lima) has had near-complete control over if and when bills get passed. While he is the head of the House, he previously was the Senate president before he had to switch chambers due to term limits. He often jokes that he has been referred to as the "most powerful" man in Ohio.
When asked if it was appropriate for Ramaswamy to be so involved ahead of an election, Huffman said he rejected the idea.
"We've been talking about this for months," Huffman said. "It's not like, 'Hey, there's an election coming up here. Why don't we do something?'"
McColley also defended the legislators' independence by saying both of Ramaswamy's proposed ideas are part of the GOP platform.
"I think the assertion is pretty ridiculous," McColley said.
Democrats argue that none of these proposals would have gone through as quickly as they did if Ramaswamy hadn't gotten involved.
"This really smacks in the face of bringing, in a way that I've never seen before, bringing a political campaign actually into the chamber of the Ohio legislature," Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio (D-Lakewood) said.
Other progressive leaders blame Ramaswamy's poor polling performance for the extra assistance, and don't believe Huffman will allow the candidate to get away with as much if he becomes governor.
Follow Statehouse and Columbus bureau reporter Morgan Trau on X, Instagram and Facebook. Email her at Morgan.Trau@wews.com.
