ISSUE 36, 124th GENERAL ASSEMBLY NOVEMBER 16, 2001
CONFERENCE COMMITTEE NAMED ON BUDGET BILL3
Following the Senate’s passage of a dramatically different approach to budget balancing and the House’s failure to go along, a Conference Committee will now be convened to try to iron out the differences.
Members of the Conference Committee include the following: Representatives Jon Peterson (R-Delaware), Chair; Charles Calvert (R-Medina), and Ed Jerse (D-Euclid) and Senators Doug White (R-Manchester), Bill Harris (R-Ashland), and Eric Fingerhut (D-Cleveland).
As of press time today, there was no definitive answer on the Conference Committee’s schedule although most believe it will not meet until the week of November 26—after Thanksgiving.
Given all the controversy swirling around Am Sub HB 405, it appears ideology and not necessarily party affiliation will be the deciding factor in the approach ultimately taken to address the state’s $1.5 billion shortfall over the next 19½ months of this biennium.
The Senate passed the bill by a vote of 20-10 while the House rejected it by a vote of 0-86.
The following are among the major changes that the Senate made to Am Sub HB 405:
- Removes all revenue enhancements except for speeding up the payment of the auto lease tax.
- Adds funding for provisions in Am Sub HB 6 (Capital Access Program). (See Legislative Bulletin, pp. 48 and 111.)
- Adds funding for bioterrorism lab tests, deployment costs for the National Guard and other public safety expenses.
- Maintains the House-passed “sales tax holiday” but earmarks it for clothes and shoes only and caps the amount per item at $200. Changes the date to the first Friday and Saturday following the effective date of the bill.
- Authorizes joining a multistate lottery.
- Cuts the Local Government Fund.
- Cuts all non-institutional agency budgets by another 2% over and above the 6% cuts already imposed by the Governor. (Identifies “institutional agencies” as mental retardation/
developmental disabilities, mental health, youth
services, Rehabilitation Services Commission,
rehab and correction, and the Ohio Veterans’
Home.) Also exempts higher education from
further cuts.
- Lowers the House’s proposed cut to certain Department of Education programs from
$43 million to $23 million.
- Increases the funds transferred from the tobacco settlement to $309 million.
(See Legislative Bulletin, pp. 124 and 126.)
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NOVEMBER ELECTION AFFECTS GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Two members of the 124th General Assembly will be leaving their positions in the near future because of their wins on November 6. Senator Rhine McLin (D-Dayton) and Representative Jack Ford (D-Toledo) both were elected mayor of their respective hometowns.
Both McLin and Ford were also term-limited effective at the end of the 124th General Assembly next year and both had served stints as Minority Leader of his/her respective house.
In addition, the victory for former state legislator Jane Campbell as mayor of Cleveland opens up her seat on the Cuyahoga County Commission—a seat that Representative Peter Lawson Jones (D-Cleveland) is hoping to fill.
Senator Linda Furney (D-Toledo), who also faces term limits next year, lost her bid to become Toledo Municipal Court Clerk.
ACTION ON BILLS LISTED PREVIOUSLY
| Am SB 128 | (Local Authorities: No Smoking Designations) – Senate failed to agree to House changes 3-27. Goes to a Conference Committee. Members of the Conference Committee include Senators Wachtmann, Nein and Shoemaker and Representatives Young, Seitz and Latell.
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| Am Sub SB 143 | (Simplified Sales/Use Tax Administration Act) – Senate failed to agree to House changes 0-30. Goes to a Conference Committee. Members of the Conference Committee include Senators Blessing, Spada and DiDonato and Representatives Kilbane, Brinkman and Sykes.
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| SB 175 | (Sexual Predator) – Passed the Senate 29-1. Goes to the House.
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| SB 184 | (Terrorism) – Referred to Senate Criminal Justice Committee.
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| Sub HB 150 | (Newborns’ Hearing Screening) – Referred to Senate Health, Human Services and Aging Committee.
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| Am HB 165 | (Child Abuse Awareness Month) – Passed the Senate 30-0. Goes to the Governor.
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| Am HB 362 | (Eliminate Electric Chair) – Referred to Senate Criminal Justice Committee and recommended for passage. Passed the Senate 26-3. Goes to the Governor.
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| Am Sub HB 394 | (Pledge of Allegiance) – Referred to Senate Education Committee.
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| Am Sub HB 405 | (MR/DD Revisions & Budget Bill3) – Referred to Senate Finance and Financial Institutions Committee. Recommended for passage and passed the Senate 20-10. House failed to agree to Senate changes 0-86. Goes to a Conference Committee, Members are Representatives Peterson, Calvert, and Jerse and Senators White, Harris, and Fingerhut. (See separate article.)
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COMMITTEE HEARINGS
Controlling Board at 1:30 P.M. on Monday, November 19. (North Hearing Room)
Judith Tieman Bird
Director of Public Policy
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