As Introduced

136th General Assembly

Regular Session H. C. R. No. 32

2025-2026

Representative Dovilla

A c o n c u r r e n t R E S O L U T I O N

To urge the United States Congress to implement a zero-based budgeting process.

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF OHIO (THE SENATE CONCURRING):

WHEREAS, The federal government currently employs traditional budgeting practices to determine annual expenditures, meaning federal agencies start with the prior years' budgets and then add in growth measures and new spending proposals; and

WHEREAS, Zero-based budgeting, however, starts from zero and requires each agency to build its budget from the ground up so that the resulting budget reflects the amount of funding deemed necessary to achieve the most cost-effective performance of each federal agency; and

WHEREAS, As a result, each agency must freshly evaluate each dollar proposed to be appropriated and determine whether the proposed appropriation meets the agency's objectives and mission; and

WHEREAS, Additionally, as part of this evaluation process, each agency also may be required to rank programs and activities to enable policymakers to determine the agency's highest priorities; and

WHEREAS, Applying a zero-based budgeting approach to the budget periodically will enable lawmakers to reexamine and reset the scale and scope of federal programming without introducing significant inefficiencies to the Congressional budgeting process; and

WHEREAS, Legislation, S. 181, has been introduced in the 119th Congress to require federal agencies to submit zero-based budgets; and

WHEREAS, This legislation, with seven co-sponsors in the U.S. Senate, represents a promising start in the legislative discussion regarding congressional oversight of agency expenditures; and

WHEREAS, If passed, legislation requiring zero-based budgeting will improve fiscal responsibility and combat fraud and waste in federal spending; now therefore be it

RESOLVED, That we, the members of the House of Representatives of the 136th General Assembly of Ohio, urge the United States Congress to take prompt action to reduce spending by implementing zero-based budgeting; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the Clerk of the House of Representatives transmit duly authenticated copies of this resolution to each member of the United States Congressional delegation from Ohio and the news media of Ohio.