Budget Message
Article II, Section 16 of the Ohio Constitution authorizes the Governor to veto any item or items in any bill making an appropriation of money. I have boxed and initialed text in Amended Substitute House Bill 1 that I have disapproved. All remaining text in the bill is approved. The reasons for my vetoes are set out below.
Introduction
In February, I introduced a balanced budget in one of the most economically challenging times in our nation’s history. As the budget was considered by the Ohio House, Senate and subsequent Conference Committee, the state and nation’s financial situation deteriorated.
A collapse of international financial markets, combined with the ongoing contraction in the housing market and a decline in the automotive industry, led to a sharp decrease in tax revenues and an additional $3.2 billion budget gap.
General Revenue Fund tax receipts declined by $2.3 billion in fiscal year 2009, or 12% as compared to the previous fiscal year – the worst decline in state revenue in at least 50 years. General revenue taxes available to the State of Ohio will be lower in this biennium than they were seven years earlier, impacting our ability to maintain the services and operations of state government that Ohioans have come to expect.