Budget panel to allow lease of turnpike

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

An Ohio budget panel cleared the Ohio Turnpike for lease and made a host of other changes Monday, as it sought to meet a Thursday deadline for approving the nearly $56 billion, two-year spending blueprint.

A six-member legislative committee convened Monday to hammer out the final budget bill, which was expected to face a Senate vote as early as today and a House vote Wednesday or Thursday.

The committee approved other changes, including: permitting municipalities, school districts and other government entities to use state-developed health-insurance pools to save money; eliminating the use of multiple prime contractors on public construction jobs; ordering a state government reorganization plan by June 2013; and bolstering the state’s unemployment compensation fund with dollars originally set aside for anti-smoking programs.