Holds no public office. She was director of the Ohio Department of Health from early 2019 to June 2020. Campaign affiliation: Democratic.
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Voter guide
Background, stated goals, record, and money
Background comes from official records, and from the campaign's own biography where the bullet says so; goals are summarized from the campaign's own platform and stay attributed; the record lines are official actions with the government source attached; money is shown as filed, with the filing window and the reconciliation in the note under the table, and is not evidence of why any position was taken.
Her running mate is David Pepper, a former Hamilton County commissioner, Cincinnati council member and state Democratic Party chair. Ohioans for Amy Acton and David Pepper
A wider homestead exemption for seniors, and a rebate of up to $1,000 when a property tax bill jumps more than 4%. Ohioans for Amy Acton and David Pepper
A conditional pause on data centers until they pay all their own utility costs, use union labor and meet environmental rules. Ohioans for Amy Acton and David Pepper
As health director she signed the order closing school buildings to students from March 17, 2020, and the stay-at-home order of March 22. On April 20 the governor said schools would stay closed for the rest of the school year. On April 30 she signed the Stay Safe Ohio order, which let businesses reopen in stages. She stepped down on June 11, 2020.
Limit: These orders came with Governor DeWine, who announced most of them. The record does not show her share of each decision.
Amy Acton
Opioid settlement
No verdict
What they say
Her campaign says that as health director she worked with both parties to hold drug companies accountable for the opioid epidemic and shape a historic settlement that funds addiction recovery.
“hold the big drug companies accountable for the opioid epidemic and shape a historic settlement to fund addiction recovery programs”
Ohio's OneOhio plan for sharing opioid settlement money came together while she was director; the attorney general said in March 2020 that local leaders had signed on. The governor's office says it built the plan with the attorney general and local leaders. The first settlement payments reached local governments in July 2022.
The county's general fund budget fell from $271.6 million in 2008 to $239.4 million in 2009 and $211.7 million in 2010, a cut of $59.9 million. Pepper sat on the three-member board for all three, and was its president when the 2010 budget passed in October 2009.
The county auditor lists the county's property tax rate at 20.18 mills for tax year 2006. In his years on the board, 2007 to 2010, it was 20.56, 20.63, 20.48 and 20.48. The rises came with levy increases voters approved: mental health and senior services in 2007, the zoo in 2008. The 2009 fall came when a smaller levy replaced the expiring Drake levy.
By tax year, the rate rose in his first two years, fell in his third and was flat in his last. Taxes are paid a year later, so the fall reached bills in 2010, his last year. "Held the line" depends on which years you count.
City reports show him on council for two two-year terms, the second in 2004 and 2005. The county auditor lists Cincinnati's property tax rate at 10.76 mills for tax year 2001, then 10.63, 10.36, 10.34 and 10.19 for tax years 2002 to 2005. It fell each of those years.