Ohio House approves fix for budget

The bill redirects $1 million to Packard Music Hall and Mosquito Lake.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- A bill reshuffling some of the $51 billion in the current two-year state budget is headed for the Ohio Senate, but one key provision -- an expansion of tax breaks for Ohio's nine foreign trade zones -- is going to need more work.
The House voted 91-1 Wednesday to approve the bill after majority Republicans shot down all 10 amendments offered by Democrats.
The bill adds $685 million dollars for school construction and reappropriates $1.7 billion for state construction projects. It also adds $30 million each for this year and next for college tuition grants, and redirects $1 million in appropriations originally slated for Robins Theater in downtown Warren and splitting it between two other Trumbull County projects.
W.D. Packard Music Hall, also in Warren, is to get $975,000 of the funds the remaining $25,000 is earmarked for a feasibility study of a new lodge at Mosquito Lake State Park.
Rep. Chuck Calvert, a Medina Republican who steered the bill through his House Finance Committee, said Gov. Bob Taft must have it on his desk by April 1 or the state risks losing money for some construction projects.
Added exemption
Calvert's committee added the exemption Monday for Ohio's foreign trade zones, most of them consisting of business surrounding Ohio's air freight operations. Any trade-zone business with more than $100 million in annual sales and which exports more than half its products out of Ohio would not have to pay Ohio's new 0.26 percent tax on gross receipts.
Taft has threatened to veto that provision if the threshold is less than $500 million in annual sales. However, Speaker Jon Husted said he hoped to reach an agreement with Taft and the Senate on a compromise.
"We believe the provisions we have in this bill are better public policy than current law," Husted, a Dayton-area Republican, said after the House session.
Taft said he realizes the tax is hurting some large-volume businesses, but the House threshold is too low.
"We recognize something has to be done to address that, but I believe it should be just as narrow as we possibly can make it in terms of the exemption," Taft said.
About amendments
The Democratic amendments would have repealed the commercial activity tax on food, shifted $25 million in federal money to a home weatherization program for low-income families, restored a $2.2 million supplement to Shawnee State and Central State universities and deleted doctors' reporting requirements about women who receive abortions, among other things.
One Republican amendment sponsored by Rep. Bill Seitz of Cincinnati that was adopted allows some nursing homes to be reimbursed for construction costs if they began building before June 30, 2005. Seitz said the state's freeze on nursing home reimbursement rates in the budget that went into effect July 1 crippled construction projects that were under way.
The bill also nullifies a plan by Taft to consolidate dozens of the state's boards and commissions. Backers said it was necessary for the commissions, mostly professional oversight boards, to retain their independence.
It also includes an expansion of eligibility for the school voucher program by including students from poorly performing schools that don't yet carry the worst academic rating. The proposal would allow students from 50 schools in academic watch for three years to apply for the vouchers.
The original version of the voucher program passed last year created up to 14,000 slots for pupils whose buildings have been in academic emergency three years in a row. If the proposed change takes effect, that will likely increase the number of available slots at private schools around Ohio beyond 8,000.
Contributor: Jeff Ortega, Vindicator correspondent.