The Governor, House and Senate leaders continue to meet to discuss how to address the estimated $3.2 billion shortfall. Until decisions are made, the Conference Committee will not begin the public portion of the process, which they expect will begin the middle of next week. If so, that will allow less than a week for the Conference Committee to meet the June 30th deadline.
It has been reported that the Administration has shared with House leadership a potential $2 billion cut scenario, which includes reductions or eliminations to TANF Title XX, child care, kinship care, PASSPORT and PACE programs for seniors, Medicaid optional services, Medicaid provider rates, MR/DD Services, the children’s Buy-in Program, as well as others. The Administration did not share these scenarios with the Senate, and is not making this information public at this time.
Ohio leaders continue to deny the possibility of a tax hike to address the budget deficit. They prefer to pursue budget cuts and reductions due to the economic implications of increasing taxes during the current recession. However, several legislators are beginning to promote revenue enhancement ideas within their caucus, such as a temporary sales tax increase, an increase in cigarette tax or expanded gaming, as possible ways to generate revenue.
Yesterday, Pennsylvania’s Governor Rendell announced a proposal to increase his state’s personal income tax by a half percent to address its $3.2 billion deficit.
Conference Committee on HB 1 Scheduled to Meet Tonight at 7:00 PM
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.”