Big Budget Differences To Work Out With Deadline Looming

The two-year, $69 billion Ohio state budget is headed to a conference committee Tuesday to work out significant differences between the House and Senate versions. And there isn’t much time to make deals, because the budget must be signed by Sunday night.

Both budgets have income tax cuts —  6.6 percent in the House version  and 8 percent in the Senate's. And the House budget would require no taxes for people making under $22,250; the Senate budget would change that floor to $21,750.  

This isn’t exactly what Gov. Mike DeWine intended with his proposed budget in March.

“You can look to our budget that we presented is where we think we should be and that is really no tax changes," he said at the time.

DeWine said that includes the deduction that allows many small businesses to take the first quarter million dollars of their income tax-free. The House dropped that to $100,000 and the Senate restored it to $250,000, saying the change was a tax increase.

All told, the House budget’s tax cut would be $216 million, while the Senate’s would total around $700 million.

But the Senate also would  expand the tobacco products tax on e-cigarettes and vaping products, and would allow those who are 18 by October to continue to buy tobacco products, though all versions of the budget would  raise the buying age to 21.

Both budgets would include Gov. DeWine’s $550 million for wraparound services targeted to low-income districts for counseling, food and after school programs. The House added $125 million to that, directing it specifically to poorer districts. But the Senate moved that extra money into vouchers and aid to fast growing, better-off districts that have had their state funding capped.

House Speaker Larry Householder wasn’t pleased.

“I know there was money that went to some of the wealthier schools, the ‘capped’ schools, and I kind of thought that’s where it went – sort of a ‘rob from the poor, give to the rich’ kind of a thing,” Householder said earlier this month.

There are concerns in Columbus about putting too much into that new wraparound services fund right now, according to Senate Finance Chair Matt Dolan.

“Ultimately if it’s rolled out correctly, it’s going to be a great program," Dolan said. "But it’s a half a billion dollars, it’s brand new and school starts in two months. So the idea of throwing another $125 million at it when there are some realistic questions and hurdles about how to administer it did not make sense to us,” Dolan said.

In an attempt to settle the long-standing issue of graduation requirements, the Senate’s budget includes a set of standards with non-testing options.

The House budget doesn’t. But would dissolve  academic distress commissions, which have managed the state takeovers of the Youngstown, Lorain, and East Cleveland districts. The Senate version scraps that.

Senate Education Chair Peggy Lehner (R-Kettering) said abandoning those commissions is dangerous.

“These are schools that have not done well for some time. If they had the ability to do this on their own, they would have done it,” Lehner said.

DeWine’s budget doubled funding for children services to $60 million over the two years;  the House doubled that and the Senate agreed. And the Senate added $10 million to help parents avoid relinquishing custody to get their kids specialized treatment.

Both budgets put money into the H2Ohio water quality fund —  the House put in $86 million, the Senate $172 million.

Drugs and movies are two other points of contention. The House wanted a single pharmacy benefits manager for Medicaid but the Senate cut that. And the Senate restored the $40 million film tax credit that the House eliminated.

For the last decade, budget votes have been along party lines. But this time, both versions have widespread Democratic support.

As House Minority Leader Emilia Sykes (D-Akron) tells it, it almost seems like it’s a battle between chambers rather than parties.

“The Senate version wasn’t terrible. But it wasn’t as good as what we saw in the House. So we will certainly be working in conference committee to ensure more of those priorities that we saw in the House version of the budget end up being in the final version that the Governor signs,” Sykes said.

Democrats are concerned about the tax cuts in both budgets, Sykes said, and will fight for funding for wraparound services and against academic distress commissions and vouchers. They will also be on the watch for changes that could make Medicaid less accessible.

A few other notes: The House budget would allow only school districts facing fiscal emergency to put financial matters on August special election ballots. And the Senate budget would push Ohio's vote in the 2020 presidential primary one week later in March, and extends a moratorium on new fireworks wholesaler and dealer licenses untill end of 2020.

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