Conference Committee on HB 1 (Sykes) is scheduled to meet on Monday, June 29th at 7:00PM in Statehouse Room 313. After delaying and then finally canceling the weekend meetings, the Governor and Senate President Harris both released statements explaining the reason for the breakdown in negotiations.
Late Saturday, Senate President Bill Harris (R-Ashland) issued a statement, saying that the issue that stands in the way of a budget agreement is the governor’s asking the General Assembly to authorize VLTs at racetracks. “I have acknowledged many times that the governor has the authority to expand the lottery. He has done it before and should he decide to exercise his authority again in allowing VLTs at racetracks . the Senate will account for the revenues . However I cannot get past the fact that the voters of Ohio – our constituents have spoken on expanded gambling time and again. Asking the General Assembly to circumvent their will in such a short time frame when there has been no formal public debate and there are so many questions left unanswered is unreasonable.”
Lat Sunday, the Governor issued the following statement, “There are now only two days remaining until the legislature must send me a balanced budget. Senate Republicans refuse to support my balanced budget framework that invests in our schools while avoiding a tax increase on Ohio families and businesses. We have heard the objections, but unfortunately still no solutions. I believe that the Senate Majority understands the gravity of the situation before them. I continue to wait for them to say what taxes they would increase or what services they would further reduce to address the budget gap.”
Senate Proposes Interim Budget Plan
The Ohio Senate announced plans this morning to pass a seven-day budget extension. With negotiations on House Bill 1 in a stalemate over expanding gambling to include slot machines at Ohio’s seven race tracks, lawmakers have determined that a compromise can not be reached by the June 30 deadline. In order to prevent a government shutdown on July 1, the Senate has added an amendment to the Industrial Commission budget (HB 16) which would give the legislature an extra seven days to finalize the biennium budget. The amendment will appropriate funding for government programs and services at 70% of FY 2009 levels.
If enacted, this will be the first time in nearly 20 years that the Ohio Legislature has failed to produce a budget by the June 30 deadline. In 1991, the General Assembly used a 30-day budget extension to determine how to deal with a $100 million revenue shortfall in a $27 billion budget. The issue currently facing the Legislature is a $3.2 billion revenue shortfall out of a total $54 billion budget.