Democrats want to restore $400 million to state budget
House plan would give cash to schools, local governments
By Jim Siegel
The Columbus Dispatch Tuesday April 17, 2012 8:32 AM
Backed by leaders of police and firefighters unions, House Democrats unveiled a plan yesterday to restore about $400 million in cuts to schools and local governments through surplus tax revenue, the state’s rainy-day fund and Gov. John Kasich’s plan to increase severance taxes on shale drillers.
Under the plan, which Democrats say they will offer as an amendment to Kasich’s broad mid-biennium review, all surplus tax revenue, currently at $265 million, plus $120 million from the rainy-day fund and $15 million in initial “fracking” tax revenue would go into a new Kids and Communities First fund.
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/04/17/democrats-want-to-restore-400m.html
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/04/17/democrats-want-to-restore-400m.html
House Dems propose $400 million jump in funding to schools and local governments
Published: Monday, April 16, 2012, 10:52 AM Updated: Monday, April 16, 2012, 6:01 PM
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Ohio House Democrats want to funnel tax dollars back to schools and local governments handed a whopping cut in Republican Gov. John Kasich's state budget passed last year.
House Minority Leader Armond Budish, a Beachood Democrat, and five Democratic members of the House Finance Committee appeared at a Statehouse news conference Monday morning calling for $400 million in additional funding for schools and local governments hit by cuts in the state's operating budget.
"The Kids and Communities First Fund will keep teachers in the classroom and police and firefighters on the streets in communities across Ohio," Budish said. http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2012/04/house_dems_propose_beefing_up.html
GOP lawmakers ask Ohio supreme court to rescind rules on provisional ballots
Columbus Government Examiner
COLUMBUS, Ohio (CGE) - The battle and confusion over who can and cannot vote in Ohio was ratcheted up another notch Monday, when two Republican legislators asked the Supreme Court of Ohio to rescind a directive issued in 2010 for votes related to a consent decree that changed Ohio election laws on casting and counting a provisional ballot.
Clarity or more confusion?
It appears that in response to a ruling yesterday by the 6th circuit Court of Appeals, which again ruled against Secretary of State Jon Husted, ordering that provisional ballots in the undecided 2010 Hamilton Country Juvenile Court judge’s race be counted, Ohio Senate President Tom Niehaus (R-New Richmond) and House Speaker Pro Tempore Lou Blessing (R-Cincinnati) jointly filed a complaint in the Ohio Supreme Court Monday regarding the administration of Ohio election laws. http://www.examiner.com/government-in-columbus/gop-lawmakers-ask-ohio-supreme-court-to-rescind-rules-on-provisional-ballots
Surplus choices
Published: April 17, 2012 - 09:50 PM
Akron Beacon Journal
What should the state do with additional revenue flowing into its coffers, roughly $265 million above budget forecasts? John Kasich shared an idea during his year-end review in December, after a heartfelt reference to the severely disabled son of John Martin, the director of the Department of Developmental Disabilities.
“This is what we’re talking about,” the governor said. “This is what we’re trying to get more resources to, so that mothers and fathers and these people who are in a tough position can be helped.” He acknowledged that there’s “never enough” money, but he insisted state officials would “do the best we can,” adding that if the state gets more jobs, and gains more revenue, “we can do better.”
Why not route the surplus money to the poor and vulnerable? Or to schools hit hard in the state budget, the Barberton schools voting this week to slash 28 teaching jobs, joining a long line of districts either having made or preparing for such reductions? How about restoring a measure of funds to cities and other local governments also whacked in the state spending plan?
Published: 4/13/2012 - Updated: 3 days ago
Republicans oust DeWine as chairman
BY TOM TROY
BLADE POLITICAL WRITER
BLADE POLITICAL WRITER
COLUMBUS — The Ohio Republican Party on Friday dumped the chairman who oversaw one of the party's most successful elections ever in 2010 and re-elected the former longtime chairman who presided over one of its biggest debacles, the 2006 election year.
The party's 66- member state central committee, including its four members from the Toledo area, gave a unanimous voice vote to Robert Bennett of Cleveland to finish Kevin DeWine's term, which expires in January. There were no other nominations.
Mr. Bennett, 73, a lawyer, is remembered as the chairman who rebuilt the party during his tenure from 1988 to 2009 and particularly for bringing Republicans back to power in 1994.
http://www.toledoblade.com/Politics/2012/04/13/Bennett-elected-chairman-of-Ohio-GOP-Party.html
http://www.toledoblade.com/Politics/2012/04/13/Bennett-elected-chairman-of-Ohio-GOP-Party.html
House GOP steers clear of Kasich tax-cut plan
By Jim Siegel
The Columbus Dispatch Friday April 13, 2012 8:03 AM
Whether it’s one big 2,700-page bill or 10 smaller bills, House Republicans are not ready to move on Gov. John Kasich’s proposal to increase taxes on shale drilling in Ohio and use that money for an income-tax cut.
House leaders have broken Kasich’s wide-ranging mid-biennium review into 10 pieces, to be heard by six committees over the next few weeks. But none of the bills will include Kasich’s income-tax/severance-tax swap — a provision that House Republicans stripped out of Kasich’s proposal almost as soon as he introduced it in March.
“We have a lot of questions,” said House Speaker William G. Batchelder, R-Medina. “What happens if the Bush tax cuts (expire)? What is the impact of that on the tax portions of the drilling package? We also have questions on pipeline rights of way. There are just an awful lot of questions that obligate us to have thorough hearings before we handle the legislation.”
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/04/13/house-gop-steersclear-of-kasich-tax-cutplan.html
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/04/13/house-gop-steersclear-of-kasich-tax-cutplan.html
Gov. John Kasich's drilling tax proposal will get consideration, but no commitment, at the Statehouse
Published: Thursday, April 12, 2012, 5:55 PM
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Gov. John Kasich's proposed tax hike on drillers appears to have new life.
House Speaker William Batchelder, a Medina Republican, told reporters on a Thursday afternoon conference call that his members are willing to discuss Kasich's proposal to raise the so-called severance tax on Ohio's oil and gas industry and funnel the proceeds into an income tax for Ohioans.
Still, the GOP lawmakers who control the House seem far from embracing the plan.
"We are going to do as much as we can do, and as soon as we can do it, but I think it's fair to say we have more work to do in that area than any other," Batchelder said. http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2012/04/new_life_for_kasichs_drilling.html
Cleveland Teachers Union and Mayor Frank Jackson reach deal on mayor's school plan
Published: Thursday, April 12, 2012, 4:00 PM Updated: Thursday, April 12, 2012, 6:46 PM
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Mayor Frank Jackson and the Cleveland Teachers Union today reached a deal on the final disputed provisions of Jackson's schools plan, clearing a major obstacle for state legislators who will begin their deliberations as early as next week.
The compromise struck by the mayor and union after several weeks of marathon negotiations, will bring major changes to the contract rules governing teacher assignments, seniority, pay, evaluation, layoff and recall that give the district more flexibility as it tries to improve schools.
Without a deal, many state lawmakers had balked at endorsing the mayor's plan and labor unions had threatened to oppose the bill.
04/12/12 at 2:37pm
Cincinnati Enquirer
COLUMBUS — The Ohio House split the governor’s massive budget review plan into nine additional pieces of legislation.
House Speaker William G. Batchelder, R-Medina, announced the new approach today. He said the new bills will be “issue-centric, which will give the Legislature the opportunity to give each bill ample consideration and focus.” He also said stakeholders and the public will be better able to analyze Gov. John R. Kasich’s proposed changes to how the state operates.
The House already had taken out a large chunk of Kasich’s nearly 3,000-page budget plan, House Bill 487, dealing with an income tax reduction and a corresponding increased tax on energy producers drilling in eastern Ohio for natural gas and oil.http://cincinnati.com/blogs/politics/2012/04/12/kasichs-plan-divided-by-ohio-house/
Confusion over Ohio voting prompts call for moratorium on election laws
Columbus Government Examiner
COLUMBUS, Ohio (CGE) - In a nation that thinks other nations should replicate its system of democracy, it is indeed ironic that voting in America has become as confusing as it is today. But a coalition of voting rights advocates in Ohio Thursday said the growing confusion over voting was reason enough to call on state lawmakers to halt any further efforts to tamper with changes to election laws.
Let voters vote this fall
A coalition composed of the League of Women Voters of Ohio (LWV), Common Cause Ohio, Miami Valley Voter Protection Coalition, Northeast Ohio Voting Advocates, Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio, ACLU of Ohio, and the Ohio Women with Disabilities Network, held a media event at which they asked the Ohio General Assembly to do no more harm to new voting laws in advance of the November 6 General Election, at which the race for the White House will be decided.
Mayor, teachers union chief reach agreement on Cleveland School Plan
Columbus Government Examiner
COLUMBUS, Ohio (CGE) - As predicted earlier today by House Speaker William Batchelder (R-Medina), an agreement was indeed reached Thursday afternoon on the Cleveland Schools Plan between Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and Cleveland Teachers Union President David Quolke, along with a bipartisan group of state legislators who are expected to address the refashioned plan as early as next week.
Controversial from the start
The plan, controversial from the outset, was seen as an incarnation of the battle last year between the forces of Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who pushed for and signed into law a bill that shredded the state's nearly 30-year old collective bargaining statute for public sector union workers, and the hundreds of thousands of state union workers, their families and supporters who scrubbed the bill by turning it into a statewide ballot issue, Issue 2, which won by a 2-1 margin, delivering a shellacking to Gov. Kasich Democrats don't want Ohio voters to forget.
The AP reported that the new deal calls for giving the mayor-appointed superintendent a stronger hand to close or reshape failing schools, lengthen the class day and school year, offer merit pay to top teachers and trim seniority rights in assignments and layoffs.
Ohio House leaders to break Gov. Kasich's MBR into 9 bills
Columbus Government Examiner
COLUMBUS, Ohio (CGE) - In a conference call with reporters Thursday afternoon, Speaker of the Ohio House William G. Batchelder (R-Medina) announced that House Bill 487, the mid-biennium review (MBR), will be separated into several pieces of legislation and not passed as one bill.
Joining Speaker Batchelder on the call were Chairman of the House Finance and Appropriations Committee Ron Amstutz (R-Wooster) and Vice-chairman of the House Finance and Appropriations Committee Jeff McClain (R-Upper Sandusky).
Kasich applauded
The Speaker applauded Gov. John Kasich for putting forth "bold and innovative proposals to further improve Ohio’s job climate, enhance and improve the education of Ohio’s students, and reform and revitalize the operation of state government." He said House Republicans are ready to work on them, and expressed his hope that Members of the Minority Caucus, led by Leader Armond Budish of Beechwood, would join them in "further revitalizing our great state."
No rules yet on ‘Internet cafes’
Storefront gambling in Ohio ‘the Wild West,’ DeWine says; legislators’ oversight bills stalled
By David Eggert and Quan Truong
Monday April 9, 2012 7:04 AM
A year after legislation was proposed to give the state oversight of the hundreds of unregulated storefront gambling operations popping up throughout Ohio, it remains bottled up in a committee without a vote.
The inaction is frustrating local governments, some of which feel powerless to stop the influx of sweepstakes parlors known as “Internet cafes.” Top state officials also are wondering when lawmakers will move to rein the parlors in.
“It’s the Wild West out there,” said Attorney General Mike DeWine, whose staff recently counted 280 of the businesses statewide, a number he thinks is low. http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/04/09/no-rules-yet-on-internet-cafes.html
Ohio's oil and gas industry emerging as a big player in the political process
Published: Saturday, April 07, 2012, 6:00 PM Updated: Monday, April 09, 2012, 9:36 AM
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Ohio's black gold rush has struck the Statehouse.
The frenzy of activity surrounding the energy-rich shale deposits changing the face of Eastern Ohio has also begun pumping up Ohio's oil and gas industry into a lobbying heavyweight.
The billion-dollar bets on Ohio shale being made by energy giants such as Chesapeake Energy have brought a fresh crop of lobbyists to Statehouse corridors and a new source of campaign contributions.
While the added lobbying muscle of Ohio's oil and gas industry is still emerging, campaign finance reports show five of the major oil and gas industry PACs poured nearly $600,000 into politician coffers since 2010, including nearly $100,000 since last March to state lawmakers from Chesapeake Energy.
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