OHIO SENATE Officials mull OIG, video-slots bill

Video-slot proposals could be approved by mid-October, the chairman said.
By JEFF ORTEGA
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
COLUMBUS -- State senators are considering retooling a program that provides grants to those attending Ohio colleges as part of a plan to place video slot machines at horse-racing tracks in the state.
"We're looking at the Ohio Instructional Grant program right now and how we can modify it and use that as a vehicle to get needs-based scholarship grants out to people," state Sen. Kevin Coughlin, R-Cuyahoga Falls, said Wednesday.
Coughlin, chairman of the Senate State and Local Government and Veterans Affairs Committee that's hearing the video-slots bill, delayed a committee vote on the legislation, a proposed constitutional amendment authorizing video slots in the state and a bill governing their operation.
Both pieces of legislation are sponsored by state Sen. Louis W. Blessing Jr., R-Cincinnati.
"I'm finishing up the draft proposal; I want to take it to members on both sides of the aisle," Coughlin said.
Coughlin said the committee may approve video-slot proposals by the time the full Senate convenes again Oct. 14 and 15.
Latest wrinkle
Coughlin said the possible retooling of the Ohio Instructional Grant, in which awards are based on family income, is the latest wrinkle in the legislation that would also fund scholarships to high-achieving students to attend state or private colleges.
"This speaks to the need of affordability [of higher education] and keeping the best minds in Ohio," Coughlin said.
The proposal to revamp the OIG was first aired by the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Ohio earlier this year.
The association advocates capping family income to be eligible for the instructional grant at 133 percent of $50,037, the median income of Ohio families in the 2000 U.S. Census.
That cap now is less than $40,000.
The association also wants to give more of an incentive to entice low-income students to attend college. AICUO proposed that the maximum award for those attending public colleges be 50 percent of public four-year average tuition.
Coughlin said senators are also proposing to fund achievement scholarships to a still-to-be determined percentage of high-achieving graduating seniors.
The top 5 percent of high school graduating classes in Ohio is about 6,000 students.
In the plans
According to plans, any remainder of the state's share of the proceeds from video slot machines would go to building or renovating Ohio primary and secondary schools, Coughlin said.
According to the state, adding $130 million to the Ohio Instructional Grant program in the fiscal year that begins in July would increase the number of students receiving awards by more than 20 percent and increase the award amount.
The state spends about $115 million a year on the OIG.
State Sen. Marc Dann, a Trumbull County Democrat, said he believed the proposed video-slot proposals could be supported by minority Democrats.
"We want to focus on the scholarships," Dann said.
Supporters of the proposed constitutional amendment say, if approved by the Legislature, it would be for the March statewide ballot. Three-fifths of the members of each chamber have to approve to submit a proposed constitutional amendment to Ohio voters.
Coughlin said he's had talks with leaders of the GOP-led House on the issue of Video Lottery Terminals.
Republican Gov. Bob Taft said he remains opposed to video slot machines at Ohio racetracks and that he would campaign against it if it makes it onto the ballot.