UPDATE: Kasich vetoes 22 budget items but keeps abortion restrictions in place

UPDATE: Kasich vetoes 22 budget items but keeps abortion restrictions in place

Staff report

COLUMBUS

Spider monkey owners, chiropractors, Medicaid expansion blockers, reservoir lawn mowers and gold coin buyers felt the brunt of Gov. John Kasich’s veto pen Sunday, as he used his gubernatorial authority to strike 22 items from the $62 billion biennial budget.

But he left intact most of the major provisions passed by Republican lawmakers, including a reform package that will decrease personal and business tax obligations while increasing the state sales tax rate.

“We’re proud of our tax cuts, because we think this is another installment in Ohio’s comeback,” Kasich said. “It’s going to continue to give us great momentum.”

Kasich, joined by GOP leaders from the Ohio House and Senate, signed the two-year spending plan during a short ceremony in his Statehouse office late Sunday, hours before the start of the new fiscal year.

Kasich also OK’d a school funding formula that backers say amounts to the biggest jump in state aid in at least a decade and a higher education funding model that increases consideration of student graduation rates.

He did not touch several abortion-related amendments, including one requiring a doctor to conduct an external check for a fetal heartbeat before performing the procedure.

But he struck language that would have blocked an extension of Medicaid coverage to individuals earning up to 133 percent of the federal poverty line, as mandated by federal law.

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com.