COLUMBUS Senate expected to pass state budget

If approved, a committee would have to iron out differences with the House.
By JEFF ORTEGA
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
COLUMBUS -- The Republican-dominated Ohio Senate is poised to pass a two-year, $49.2 billion state budget with possibly up to six Democratic votes, legislative leaders said.
The Senate Finance Committee approved the budget bill 12-1 Tuesday with all four Democratic committee members in agreement. Legislative leaders have scheduled a vote Thursday before the full Senate.
"We clearly feel that this is certainly a significant enough improvement that it is worthy of support," said state Sen. Eric Fingerhut, a Cleveland Democrat and the ranking minority member of the committee.
"We've been participating with the majority," said Senate Minority Leader Gregory L. DiDonato, D-Dennison.
DiDonato said between four and six Democrats could be prepared to vote with a majority of Republicans to pass the Senate's version of the budget. Republicans, who outnumber Democrats 22 to 11 in the upper chamber, wouldn't say how many GOP members would go along with the proposed budget, but they have made it clear they wanted Democratic votes.
"There'll be plenty," Senate President Doug White, R-Manchester, said of prospective Republican votes.
Additions
The finance committee approved several additions to the proposed state spending plan that must be in place by July 1, including:
*An additional $29 million over the next two-year budget period to fully fund the PASSPORT program that helps senior citizens stay in their homes longer.
*Changes that will allow 50,000 low-income Ohioans in a state program that provides health care for their children.
*Expansion of food stamp eligibility to adults 18 to 49 in counties with unemployment rates of 10 percent or higher.
*Eligibility of more low-income families for state-subsidized child care.
*Increase in the minimum corporate franchise tax from $50 to $1,000 for corporations with gross receipts of more than $5 million annually or those having more than 300 employees.
"I think that we've managed in some of the actions we're taking to make some improvements to the bill," said state Sen. Ron Amstutz, a Wooster Republican and a member of the finance committee.
Opposition
Other senators were not as charitable. State Sen. Jay Hottinger, a Newark Republican, was the lone finance committee member to vote against the proposal.
Hottinger, who is also the third-ranking GOP leader, said he feared that the proposed temporary sales tax would become permanent and that budget pressures could lead to a future attempt to raise the income tax.
State Sen. Kevin J. Coughlin, R-Cuyahoga Falls, said he probably would be a "no" vote on the Senate floor.
"It's the spending," Coughlin said. "I just think it's irresponsible."
Among the Democrats, state Sen. Robert F. Hagan of Youngstown said he also would likely be a "no" vote.
"I think the bill we have right now is an onerous tax on the middle class," Hagan said.
Hagan was speaking of a proposed 1-percent sales tax increase in the bill. Under the Senate proposal, the state sales tax would be increased 1-cent July 1 and would last both budget years.
Democratic leaders had tried to negotiate inserting Hagan's proposed prescription drug discount legislation into the budget bill, but that failed.
White, the Senate president, however, did promise to hold Senate hearings on Hagan's bill that would have the state negotiate reduced prescription drug prices for the uninsured or underinsured. The bill is pending in a Senate committee.
Video slots
The House-passed version of the budget would end the proposed sales tax after the first budget year if voters would approve a November ballot issue authorizing video slot machines at Ohio's seven horse-racing tracks.
But the Senate removed the video-slots provision from the budget bill.
Senate Republicans have instead introduced a proposed constitutional amendment, possibly for the November ballot, that would authorize the video slots at the race tracks.
Orest Holubec, a spokesman for Republican Gov. Bob Taft, said the governor wasn't opposed to the new provisions in the budget bill and that he wouldn't veto them as long as they don't affect the budget's structural balance.
The House passed its $48.7 billion version of the two-year budget in April.
If the Senate adopts its proposed plan, the process could move to a conference committee of lawmakers from both chambers that would iron out differences between the versions..
Without additional revenue, state leaders said the next state budget could be several billion dollars out of balance.
The current two-year, $44 billion state budget runs through June 30.