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Lawmakers Likely To Work Through Weekend On State Budget Deal

By Karen Kasler

Published June 27, 2019 at 8:44 PM EDT

Members of the Conference Committee met for the first time on Tuesday. [Karen Kasler] — Members of the Conference Committee met for the first time on Tuesday.

It’s looking like the conference committee working on a compromise state budgetwill go into the weekend – with the deadline to sign the budget on Sunday night. And among the differences between the House and Senate versions is an income tax cut and a small business tax break.

The Senate’s income tax cut is 21 percent larger than the one in the House budget. House Speaker Larry Householder (R-Glenford) said Senators paid for that by spending down a cushion in the House budget and taking surplus funds from state agencies.

But Senate President Larry Obhof (R-Medina) said extra money was accessed elsewhere.

“We actually did a few things that I think drew down more federal dollars – we were able to leverage federal dollars more. But in terms of state GRF, I don’t think the difference was very significant," Obhof said.

The Senate also restored a deduction allowing many small businesses to take the first $250,000 of their incomes tax free – the House had dropped that to $100,000.

Budget conferees expect to work through the weekend to come up with a deal.