House to weigh revised budget

As thousands of Ohioans converge on the Statehouse today to protest plans to cut taxes and slash health care for the poor, the House of Representatives is set to approve a $51.3 billion state budget.

Majority Republicans say the much-debated blueprint will help revitalize Ohio’s faltering economy; Democrats counter that the two-year tax and spending plan jeopardizes the health, safety and education of many Ohioans.

"We can’t afford to stand still in this state," said Rep. James P. Trakas, R-Independence.

But Rep. Dale Miller, D-Cleveland, told his colleagues on the House Finance Committee over the weekend, "This budget puts all our eggs in the tax basket and it won’t get it done."

After two months of sometimes-contentious hearings, House Republicans are poised to go along with most of Gov. Bob Taft’s spending plan, highlighted by a tax package that includes cutting income taxes and certain business taxes.

Unlike two years ago, it appears Democrat votes won’t be desperately needed to pass the GOPbacked budget.

As lawmakers debate the bill beginning at 11 a.m., a coalition of 370 organizations and an estimated 5,000 people are expected to gather on the Statehouse lawn, hoping to put a face on budget cuts.

The Campaign to Protect Ohio’s Future is urging lawmakers to forgo some tax cuts to maintain health benefits for the state’s neediest.

The Senate begins hearings on the budget today and Taft must sign the plan into law by June 30, the last day of the state’s fiscal year.

One of many special projects built into the budget is $100,000 to support the U.S. Senior Open golf tournament slated for July at the NCR Country Club in Kettering. The country club is in Speaker Jon Husted’s suburban Dayton district.

The last budget included $40,000 for a similar tournament in 2003 at Inverness Club in Toledo, officials said.

"It speaks to bringing dollars into the economy," Husted spokeswoman Karen Tabor said. "We will do that in whatever way possible."

The House budget bill also would exempt several entities or transactions from the new commercial-activity tax on business sales that Taft has proposed to replace revenue being lost from other tax cuts.

The House would exempt, among other things, sales of motor vehicles between dealers for resale; transactions between electricity suppliers; federal and state taxes on alcohol, cigarettes and fuel; and fees collected for hunting and fishing licenses.

The House also would exempt financial holding companies and financial service companies, as well as majorityowned affiliates of those companies, financial institutions and insurance companies.

Taft has vowed to fight exemptions on grounds that they would thwart the purpose of a low-rate tax — 0.26 percent on business receipts of more than $1 million a year — that a broad base of businesses pay.

"They impact the broad and fair nature of the tax," Taft spokesman Mark Rickel said.

The measure also requires the state’s two private prisons, operated by Management Training Corp. of Ogden, Utah, to double the guaranteed savings over standard state operating costs.

The North Coast Correctional Treatment Facility in Grafton and Lake Erie Correctional Institution in Conneaut would have to produce 10 percent savings as opposed to 5 percent in current state law.

It might be moot, however, because the current two-year contract estimated savings at 17 percent, or $7.4 million annually. The state’s $70.7 million contract with the Utah company expires June 30.

Andrea Dean, spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, declined to comment on the added provision.

The House version also eliminates several new or higher fees Taft had proposed — many of them affecting the nursing-home industry — for services provided by nine state agencies.

For example, the House bill eliminates increases in nursing home and adult-care facility application, renewal and inspection fees. Fines for denying access to a long-termcare ombudsman and other actions also were scrapped.

Nursing homes also benefit from House changes to Taft’s new assisted-living program for Medicaid recipients. Currently, 41 states use Medicaid to pay for assisted living.

Under the plan, up to 1,800 people covered by Medicaid and either living in a nursing home or receiving home care through the state’s Passport program would be eligible. Benefits averaging $1,800 a month would cover medicine and therapies but not rent or food.

But after receiving complaints from nursing-home operators who would see state funding diverted to assistedliving facilities, the House limited eligible facilities.

Under the revamped plan, only nursing homes or subsidized housing authorities would qualify to provide assisted living.

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