Hundreds of local projects — from bike paths to fire stations to music halls and tennis tournaments — are lined up to get a piece of a $700 million pie that state lawmakers are dishing out.

“We are talking about an extraordinary amount of money,” said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Matt Dolan, R-Chagrin Falls. “I’m hoping that these are transformational dollars, and we look at these projects as what will have the greatest impact.”

It’s so much money that it’s colloquially referred to as “the Super Duper Fund.”

Ohio is sitting on $700 million in cash thanks to a federal funding tsunami during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Ohio House and Ohio Senate agreed that each chamber would decide how $350 million would be spent.

The Ohio House on Wednesday gave its initial approval to House Bill 2, which includes $7 million for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, $22 million for the Hamilton County Convention Center District Development, $13.75 million for the Cincinnati Open Tennis Tournament and $12.5 million for upgrades to the Transportation Research Center in East Liberty.

The Ohio Senate this spring will decide how it’ll spend another $350 million from the “super duper” fund. Ohio House Finance Committee Chairman Jay Edwards, R-Nelsonville, said he expects the Senate will match what the House earmarked for big projects.

House Bill 2 is a hybrid between bonded capital projects and cash spending, including:

• $600 million for school building projects

• $400 million for public works infrastructure projects

• $397 million for higher education projects

• $250 million for local jail construction and renovations

• $350 million in local community projects

The House Finance Committee on Wednesday agreed to the massive spending bill after just one hearing and no public testimony.

Typically, the capital budget is hashed out by March 31 and lays out how to spend about $2.5 billion, including about $150 million earmarked for local projects. The regular capital budget bill has yet to be introduced.

Laura Bischoff is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio debates how to spend $700M cash bonanza for local projects