Yes on Issue 2: For a stronger, safer Ohio for all
During the May 6 primary election, Ohioans will be asked to vote on Issue 2, a statewide initiative to reauthorize the State Capital Improvement Program, also known as SCIP. Originally created in 1987, SCIP provides low-interest loans and grants to local governments for infrastructure projects involving roads and bridges, freshwater treatment and distribution systems, wastewater collection and treatment facilities, storm sewer systems, and solid waste disposal facilities. This program will not raise taxes; it simply reauthorizes the state to issue those loans to local governments and municipalities. Since the program’s inception, it has consistently been renewed by voters and received bipartisan support.
The projects funded by this popular program help maintain the most fundamental operations of our state and ensure that basic infrastructure needs are met for counties, cities, villages, townships, and water sanitary districts across the state. This funding is vital for our local governments to maintain the systems our residents rely on each and every day. Passing Issue 2 will not only allow our municipalities to improve the quality of life for Ohioans in their communities, but it will also stimulate economic growth and provide new employment opportunities for Ohio workers. If reauthorized, the program will provide $2.5 billion over the next 10 years, for fiscal years 2027-2036.
Democrats, Republicans, and independents all agree that reauthorizing this funding is good for our local communities and builds a stronger, safer Ohio for all.
Make your plan to vote on or before May 6!
Senator Nickie Antonio
State Senator Nickie J. Antonio (D-Lakewood) is honored to be serving in the Ohio Senate, representing District 23, and in leadership as the Minority Leader. Antonio, who was elected to the Senate in 2018, previously spent eight years in the Ohio House of Representatives, where she served District 13 and was also a member of leadership. Antonio has served as a Lakewood City Councilmember, Executive Director of an outpatient drug and alcohol treatment program for women, Adjunct Professor, and a teacher for children with special needs.
Antonio serves as Highest Ranking Member on the Senate Health, Transportation, and Rules and Reference Committees. Additionally, she is a member of the Ohio House Democratic Women's Caucus, previously as chair, and is the State Director for the National Women Legislators� Lobby.
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She has been a dedicated champion of workers� rights, high-quality education, local governments, equal rights for women and the LGBT community, health care for all, and fighting the opioid crisis.
Antonio is recognized as a leader who reaches across the aisle to get things done. As a result, she championed Ohio�s historic adoption of open records law (S.B. 23/H.B. 61) and step therapy reform law (S.B. 265/H.B. 72). Last General Assembly, Antonio passed legislation to abolish the shackling of pregnant inmates (S.B. 18/H.B. 1) and to require pharmacist education for dispensing life-saving naloxone (S.B. 59/H.B. 341). During her tenure in the Ohio legislature, Antonio introduced the Ohio Fairness Act, which would provide civil rights protections for members of the LGBTQ community. She continues to work to remedy and end Ohio�s use of the death penalty, as well as on an array of other bills focused on improving the lives of all Ohioans. Antonio continues to be an established expert in health policy in the General Assembly.
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The first in her family to graduate from college, she holds both an MPA and a B.S. Ed. from Cleveland State University, and she was named a CSU Distinguished Alumni in 2013. She is also an alumnus and Bohnett Fellow of the Kennedy School Harvard Leadership Program (2011) and has been the recipient of numerous awards as legislator of the year from various organizations during her tenure.
Her daughters, Ariel and Stacey, have made Antonio and her wife, Jean Kosmac, very proud as the girls engage in their adult life journeys.