DeWine proposes eliminating Ohio sales tax on baby items

Against the backdrop of a looming abortion ban, Republican Gov. Mike DeWine is asking lawmakers to eliminate sales taxes on baby items and expand insurance coverage for lower-income mothers.

On Friday, DeWine pitched several new ideas to make Ohio “the best place in the nation to have a baby and raise a family,” according to a news release. They included:

■ Eliminating sales tax on diapers, car seats, wipes, safety gear and other baby supplies. DeWine’s office estimated that would cost the state $16 million a year.

■ Expanding Medicaid eligibility for pregnant women and children up to 300% of the federal poverty level − an increase from the current 200% of the federal poverty level. If approved by lawmakers, single mothers making up to $54,930 a year or families of three making up to $69,090 a year would be eligible for Medicaid-covered prenatal, delivery and postpartum care.

■ Increasing paid maternity leave from six weeks to 12 weeks for state employees.

■ Expanding Medicaid insurance for adopted children even if their adoptive parents have private insurance. This would require federal approval.

Some ideas would need approval from Ohio’s GOP-controlled Legislature, which has championed some of DeWine’s ideas while killing others.

Republican lawmakers are poised to pass a near-total abortion ban later this year. DeWine spokesman Dan Tierney said it was too early to say what that final bill would look like and whether DeWine would sign it.

However, DeWine signed the six-week abortion ban into law in 2019 and told supporters earlier this year he wanted to “go as far as we can” to restrict abortion in Ohio. He has said little publicly about abortion while his Democratic challenger Nan Whaley makes it a key issue in her effort to unseat him.

Tierney said DeWine would have pitched these ideas to help pregnant Ohioans and children even if the U.S. Supreme Court had not overturned Roe v. Wade. “This is separate from the abortion issue in our minds.”

House Democrats say some of DeWine’s proposals look familiar. Democratic lawmakers previously pitched eliminating sales taxes on diapers and creating a program for safe sleep earlier this year.

“To make Ohio truly the best place in the nation to have a baby and raise a family, Republicans need to stop procrastinating and act on proposals already in front of them,” said House Minority Leader Allison Russo, D-Upper Arlington. She added that “families have seen their freedom to make their own health care decisions stripped away.”

Ohio had the 19th highest maternal mortality rate in the nation with 21.3 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation’s review of data from 2018 to 2020.

Ohio’s infant mortality rate was 6.7 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2020, a decrease from previous years but still well above the Ohio Department of Health’s goal of five or fewer deaths for every 1,000 births.

Black mothers and children were more likely to die than their white counterparts.