The following column was submitted by State Representative Dorothy Pelanda.
Over the coming months, you are likely to hear a lot about the state budget. The budget is passed and signed just like any other bill, but it is subject to a unique constitutional requirement: it must be enacted before the spending authority of the previous budget expires. As a practical matter, that requirement imposes a June 30, 2013, deadline for the enactment of this year’s budget.
So how does the budget become law?
Governor Proposes Budget
In every odd-numbered year the Governor presents a budget. By law, the Governor has up to four weeks after the start of the General Assembly to propose it, unless he or she has been recently elected, in which case the deadline is extended to March 15th. This year, Governor Kasich introduced his budget proposal on February 4th. The proposal is essentially a narrative of the Governor’s budget plan, and is commonly referred to as the Blue Book.
Budget is Sent to House
The Governor’s proposal is converted to legislative form and is taken up by the House of Representatives. There, the bill is referred to the House Finance & Appropriations Committee, one of 17 standing committees in the House.
The budget is a comprehensive piece of legislation, so it is broken down into components, each of which may be delegated to one of five standing Subcommittees of the Finance Committee. This allows each component of the bill to receive due consideration, while keeping the bill on track toward enactment.
Once the terms of these components are approved by a majority of each Subcommittee, they are sent back to the Finance Committee as a whole. There the bill is subject to additional consideration, debate and amendments. After it receives majority approval from the Committee, it moves to the floor of the House where it is debated yet again.
Budget Moves to Senate
Upon passage by the House, the budget goes to the Senate, where the same process occurs. While there is no required date for the budget to be introduced in the Senate, our goal is to move it out of the House expeditiously to allow ample time for consideration and debate in the Senate.
It is a virtual certainty that the Senate will amend the bill, so the bill will go back to the House for concurrence of Senate amendments. Due to the nature of the bill, it is very unlikely that the House will concur, so a Conference Committee would be appointed to iron out the differences between the two chambers. The Conference Committee report would then be sent back to the full House and Senate for approval.
Budget Sent Back to Governor
Once approved by the legislature, the budget goes back to the governor’s desk, whence it originated. The Ohio Constitution empowers the Governor to line-item veto specific items in any bill that contains appropriations, and it is common for the Governor to exercise that authority in the budget bill. Regardless of which items the Governor might veto, the Ohio Constitution requires that the budget be balanced.
Beginning this year, House Finance Committee hearings can be viewed online by going to www.OhioChannel.org or www.OhioHouse.gov.
State Representative Dorothy Pelanda represents the 83rd House District in the Ohio House of Representatives, which includes Union and Logan counties, as well as most of Marion County. You can find more information about and contact Pelanda by clicking here.
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