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Office of Budget and Management Director Pari Sabety and Tax Commissioner Rich Levin testified before the Senate Finance committee Thursday regarding the recent announcement that the state’s tax receipts for the month of April were almost $600 million short of estimates.  The Senators tried to ascertain how it was possible that receipts were so far below estimates. 

Commissioner Levin explained that since the Ohio Income Tax was established in 1971, the total dollars received by the state has increased every year except 1986, when revenues decreased by less than 4%.  Commissioner Levin and Director Sabety went on to explain that they had projected historic shortfalls, and had predicted a decrease of 9.4% from last year, almost three times greater than the worst year on record, 1986.  However, even these very pessimistic projections didn’t come close to the actual receipts, which fell by over 15%.

The Ohio House majority caucus was to unveil their version of Governor Strickland’s education plan today, however, they announced this morning that it will be rescheduled for some time tomorrow. The Caucus wants to spend sufficient time reviewing it for accuracy before presenting it.

It is anticipated the plan will address funding disparities in the original proposal by limiting funding increases for individual school districts to 1.9% a year. Strickland’s current proposal capped increases to 15% in FY 10 and 16% in FY 11.  In addition, the House version is expected to phase-in over six years the governor’s proposed reduction in school districts’ required local share of school funding from 23 to 20 mills. 

The House was expected to introduce their changes to the Governor’s budget proposal (HB 1) this week, but has delayed the introduction of the sub bill until next week.  In the meantime, the Senate Education Committee, and the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee have already begun hearings on the budget due to the continuous delays of the budget process in the House.  The Senate wants to have enough time to hold budget deliberations in their Chamber.  There must also be sufficient time for a Conference Committee to work through differences between the House and Senate versions of the budget. By law the budget must be enacted by July 1, 2009.

The Conference Committee on House Bill 2, the Transportation Budget Bill, met Monday after nearly a week of canceled and rescheduled hearings.  Throughout the course of the afternoon and evening Monday, the Committee considered the differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill, and approving amendments upon which both chambers could compromise.  There were very few items which didn’t receive unanimous approval from the committee.  However, House Republicans were not able to gather enough votes to help pass an emergency clause for COBRA provisions as part of the bill until Tuesday afternoon, so the committee reconvened briefly Wednesday to add the emergency provision.  The final document included $7.6 billion in funding for the Ohio Department of Transportation and Department of Public Safety and an additional $2.2 billion in appropriations for federal stimulus funds received by the state, bringing the total budget to $9.8 billion.

One of the most contentious differences between the Senate and House versions was whether to leave the Department of Public Safety in HB 2, or to remove it, and consider it as part of the main operating budget later this year.  The compromise left the Department’s funding in the bill, but removed some of the fee increases in the House version of the budget.  Among other amendments agreed upon were:

·        Allowing for a 1% evaporation credit reimbursement to gasoline retailers.  The current credit is 5%, and the House version proposed removing the credit altogether.  The Senate left the 5% intact.

·        Accepting the Senate’s amendment to remove changing seat-belt violations from a secondary to a primary offense

·        Accepting the Senate’s amendment to remove the speed camera pilot program

·        Accepting the Senate’s amendment to allow trucks to drive 65 mph on Interstate highways.

This committee marked the first time in 14 years that a conference committee has had an equal number of Democrats and Republicans, which necessitated compromise and bipartisanship on behalf of the members.  Before the committee adjourned, the members of the committee took turns discussing their thoughts on the final product.  They each expressed their belief that while no one got everything they wanted in the bill, the outcome was a transportation budget which will put Ohioans to work quickly, and improve the overall safety and infrastructure of the State of Ohio.

Today the Strickland Administration released its list of priority projects which will receive funds from the federal stimulus program.  The full list of projects can be found here  These 149 projects will either be fully or partially funded using funds granted to the state by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.  The administration chose these projects based on the likelihood of getting Ohioans back to work quickly, and the expected effect on local economies.  The administration believes that these projects will create or retain over 20,000 jobs in Ohio.  Combined with federal funds granted through Ohio’s Rural Transit Program, ODOT and the Ohio Rail Development Commission (ODRC) will begin projects in 87 of Ohio’s 88 counties.  The breakdown of spending by ODOT district can be found here.  ODOT, ODRC, and Department of Development collaborated to choose projects which address critical infrastructure needs of each region and also promote lasting economic growth. 

In addition to $242.9 million for bridge projects, and $360.6 million for pavement projects, ODOT will invest $34.5 million into five maritime projects, including major enhancement projects at the Port of Toledo and the City of Lorain’s waterfront development along Lake Erie, and along the Ohio River at the South Point Intermodal Facility in Lawrence County, and the Wellsville Intermodal Facility in Columbiana County.  The remaining funds will be directed towards railroad and intermodal transportation connections throughout the state.  This investment will supplement the $2.1 billion in projects that ODOT has scheduled to invest in infrastructure projects between now and the end of FY 2010. 

Transportation Budget Conference Committee hearings begin today. The Conferees are Sen. Patton (R), Sen. Buehrer (R), Sen. Turner (D), Rep. Uvagi (D), Rep. Sykes (D), and Rep. McGregor (R).