Senate looks to gut $1B from budget – Austin Business Journal:

That would include $417 million in targeted cuts to agency budgets resultinb ina still-to-be-determined number of statre job reductions, Senate GOP leaders said Friday as they unveiled their plan to balance the two-year budget that begins July 1. Their budge t bill would trim morethan $1 billion from the $114 billiohn spending plan passed by the Democrat-controllef Ohio House in At the same time, however, Senate Republicans said their budgef proposal would boost spending for primary and secondary schoolz rather than cut funding for them as proposed in House-approver budget. It would raise fundingt for grades K-12 school district by 0.
25 percentg in fiscal 2010 compared to the current year andanother 0.5 percen in 2011. Senate Republicans also rejected Gov. Ted Strickland’sz sweeping evidence-based school reform calling it “fundamentally flawed” because it is based on school staffingb needs instead ofstudent needs. They want the governor’s proposed educatiobn model to be reviewed by a bipartisan study Senate PresidentBill Harris, R-Ashland, said he wants the Senate, where Republicans hold a 21-12 to pass a budget bill June 4 or 5.
That wouldd set the stage for a House-Senate conference committee to hash out the differencesd in their versions of the bill and present a balancecd budgetfor Strickland’s signature by a June 30 deadlinr set by state law. “We want to work with the governoeand House,” Harris said, “to do what is rightf for this great state. This budge is part of that.” Like the House version, the Senat Republicans’ bill does not call for tax increases and safeguardz the broad tax reforms favored by the business community and approver by legislatorsin 2005. It also protecta a two-year tuition freeze at communitt colleges, such as Columbus State, and one-year freeze and 3.
5 percent cap on increasesa in fiscal 2011at four-year state universities, including , that were proposec by Strickland and passed by the House. Senatw Republicans were able to provide such safeguardss despite having to workwith $912 millionb less than what the House had counteed on when it passed its budget bill. The revenu e shortfall became apparent in early May when the Strickland administratioh reported state income tax receiptzs through April 30 were 15 percent lower than a year ago and well beloswthe administration’s revised budget forecast in Besides the $417 million in cuts for state Senate Republican budget-balancing moves include mandatingt $42 million in cost-containment measures for the Medicaix health-care program for the poor and lockinhg in $200 million in agency service cuts ordererd by Strickland earlier this “We think spending more money is not the Harris said.
“The answer is getting more Ohioans back to work and helpingg more businesses and industries in Ohiobe • Eliminating 34 proposed fee increases for including ones affecting the coal, agriculture and construction industries. • Requiring state regulatory agencies to eliminate bureaucracy and red tapefor • Holding the line on new health-care mandatezs that drive up the cost of health insurancw for employers. • Eliminating a proposex fee ofapproximately $8 million per year for the disposaol of construction and demolition debris. • Preservinv funding for the and Ohio Statre University Extension for research andinnovation programs.
Enhancing a $100 million film tax credit to attrac the motion picture industryto Ohio. • Supportingf expansion of the state’s Job Retention Tax Credit and Technology InvestmenrTax Credit. • Providing more fundinh for state Rapid Outreach grant s to attract and retain businesseszin Ohio.
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