Posts by: BudgetWatcher
The Plain Dealer reports that Sherrod Brown took aim at the Kasich administration yesterday, criticizing the size of the state’s incentive proposal to NASA for a new Cleveland-area project that would have employed Ohioans in the management of part of the International Space Station project.
Apparently, Florida was able to put together a package of incentives worth $30 million, while Ohio’s offer was in the ballpark of $2 million. When confronted with the Senator’s criticisms, Kasich snapped:
“Business people look at him like he’s an extremist, just so he understands that,” Kasich said of Brown. “I’m willing to [...]
Full Story... →Immediately after signing the state budget, our Governor seems to have set his sights on Washington, starting the week with a fundraising e-mail entitled: “Let’s Hope D.C. Notices…” which read, in part:
With the signing of a historic budget that fills a nearly $8 billion shortfall and maintains a income tax cut, Governor John Kasich and legislative leaders have set Ohio on the path to job creation and prosperity. This effort has not gone unnoticed in the national media:
• The New York Times said John Kasich “has established himself as a get-things-done governor.” You can read more here.
• Closer to home, Ohio’s [...]
Full Story... →You may have read recently about a bill that would set limits for withdrawals of water from Lake Erie. The Ohio Environmental Council explains well why it’s a bad piece of policy, but in short, HB 231 allows massive, unregulated withdrawals of water by industry from the shallowest of the Great Lakes.
The bill has been so rushed and is so problematic to the integrity of the eight-state agreement known as the Great Lakes Compact (whose primary goal was to preempt against diversions of Great Lakes water to other states and countries), that former GOP governors [...]
Full Story... →Given that the House and Senate are safely controlled by his Republican brethren, it’s unsurprising that Governor Kasich vetoed only seven items in the budget. But it’s curious that a facility in Twinsburg that serves developmentally disabled kids and adults wound up in the Governor’s crosshairs.
Legislators set aside $62,500 in each fiscal year for the Hattie Larlham Home out of state Medicaid program funds; the Home offers work opportunities for people with disabilities, as well as a creative arts program and autism preschool. The reason Kasich gave for the veto was that the earmark treated [...]
Full Story... →Over at Ohio Budget Watch, we have a blockbuster post up this morning exposing a hidden provision in the Kasich administration’s budget language that rips authority from the general assembly and hands it to the executive branch. This proposal allows an unelected Kasich appointee to personally decide whether to outsource any state service without legislative authority, without competitive bidding, without guidelines or statutory expectations for how that service is to be performed, all while exempting the chosen firm (which may be a major campaign contributor) from all state and local taxes.
These are the six pages the administration hopes [...]
Full Story... →Remember last week when we told you about House Bill 17, a Republican proposal to provide tax credits for businesses that hire the unemployed? The lawmaker-controlled Legislative Services Commission estimated that the credit, once fully implemented, could add nearly $1.4 billion to the state’s budget problems. And it’s bad tax policy. Giving a business $2400 to hire someone, limiting them to a pool of people who have been unemployed for at least 60 days, and requiring them to remain on the payroll for two years before a credit can be claimed is a lot of hoops to [...]
Full Story... →The House GOP introduced its list of priority legislation for the 129th general assembly today, and included among them are a number of tax proposals that will ultimately impact – and may be amended into – the upcoming state budget. The elimination of the estate tax is receiving all the attention, given its cost of $120 million over the biennium and substantial hit to local governments (who will likely raise other taxes to make up the difference).
But while reporters were focused on this shiny object, they seem to have missed the much more costly proposals that were also part [...]
Full Story... →Today, as part of its state budget coverage, the Dispatch has an interactive game that allows you to choose among options for raising revenue and cutting costs. I recommend everyone play around with it:
Can you balance the state budget?
In my attempts, I raised what I thought were a reasonable amount of taxes across the board, did some cuts (exempting prisons and mental health hospitals from closure, for instance), and still came up with a $450 million deficit. Anyone who tells you this is going to be an easy process is lying.
There are a few major flaws [...]
Full Story... →As if the unprecedented rejection of Governor Strickland’s legally mandated appointments to the Ohio Casino Control Commission weren’t troubling enough, given the blatant power grab that it represents, it also means Republicans have just shot an even larger hole in the next State Budget.
In November, Strickland’s appointees to the Commission were already hard at work drafting preliminary casino regulations. Ohio law required these rules to be completed by March 2011. Rules set forth how casino licensing and oversight will occur, and without them, no casino operators can obtain licenses, something their investors will want before they sink [...]
Full Story... →The “what John Kasich doesn’t understand about Ohio state government” posts are getting old, but get used to them. On Thursday, he opened his mouth and inserted his foot again, this time on the prospect of implementing a reduction in the state income tax.
Recent Ohio tax reforms included a phased-in reduction in the income tax of 21%. The final 4.2% drop in rates was to have gone into effect in 2009, but Governor Strickland and the Ohio legislature, postponed that reduction as part of a late-year fix in 2009 when the Supreme Court put a stop to its earlier [...]
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- Ohio Republicans AGAIN Try to Pass Unconstitutional Laws. This Time: Welfare Drug Testing http://t.co/JagJTlmc
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- Nina Turner throws teachers under the bus - http://t.co/TSO7N9r9
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- #LGBT @EqualityOhio Celebration of Pres @BarackObama #historic Revelation #MarriageEquality http://t.co/MwrGkEbk
- JobsOhio now accepting secret private donations. What could POSSIBLY go wrong? http://t.co/9nEw7yzW
- Booed Gay Solider Reacts 2 Pres @BarackObama's Historic Announcement in Support of #MarriageEquality http://t.co/6MHw8cOs
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