The long road to a new two-year state budget is finally over with the end of the fiscal year and the start of a new one. As of the time we’re recording this show, Gov. John Kasich has not yet signed it or announced any vetoes on the $65 million budget, but he’s expressed a lot of support for a program that gets a big change in the budget passed by lawmakers. But this time, they’re prepared for a fight. Statehouse correspondent Andy Chow reports.
With that billion-dollar shortfall in mind, state lawmakers were moving a lot of money around to balance this budget. And there was a lot of concern about the decision to take up to 2% of the funds from the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, the Industrial Commission, the Department of Insurance, the state EPA, the Consumers’ Counsel and the Racing Commission. Senate leaders said that was in line with other spending cuts. But it angered business and municipalities, which said it sets what they call a dangerous precedent, because the BWC funds are used to cover costs for injured workers. But there are other measures with which they disagree. Chris Ferruso of the National Federation of Independent Business/Ohio and Kent Scarrett with the Ohio Municipal League shared their thoughts on that.