Ohio lawmakers have spent weeks poring over hundreds of proposed amendments to Gov. John Kasich’s “Jobs Budget 2.0” as they prepare to introduce on Tuesday what could be a vastly different proposal.
Get ready for Ohio’s Jobs Budget 3.0.
Rep. Ron Amstutz, Chairman of the House Finance and Appropriations Committee, said members introduced about 800 amendments to House Bill 59, which could alter or scrap much of the governor’s sweeping, 4,200-page plan.
But Amstutz, a Wooster Republican, has remained tight-lipped about the bill’s transformation, saying only that “you can’t change one thing and nothing else.”
Finance committee Democrats also are being kept in the dark, according to Rep. Vernon Sykes, the committee’s ranking minority member.
“They don’t share that much with the minority during the budget process,” said Sykes, an Akron Democrat. “We have no idea what their amendments might be or which of ours might be included.
“It will be a surprise to everyone when we see the new bill.”
Kasich’s plan, as it stands, would: revamp the state’s school funding formula; expand Medicaid to cover more Ohians; extract extra revenue from oil and gas drillers; and overhaul income, sales and small-business taxes.
Kasich’s two-year budget is bittersweet for both Republicans and Democrats who itch for certain pieces of the proposal, but bemoan others.
Click here to read more of this story.
About Marion Online News
