COLUMBUS, Ohio – A massive mid-term review package is on its way to the Ohio Senate, trailing criticism in its wake.
Representatives from both sides of the aisle have criticized Gov. John Kasich for saddling them with a midterm budget bill loaded with proposals they called unsuited for a non-budget year.
One fellow Republican said Kasich’s practice of proposing voluminous off-year budgets was putting the governor in control of Ohio’s legislative branch of government. Rep. Terry Boose’s remarks came Wednesday before the House voted 57-33 to pass the measure.
Democrats railed particularly against a last-minute amendment to one of nine bills derived from Kasich’s 1,600-page package that were up for votes Wednesday. The revision changed campaign finance law to lift a disclosure requirement applied to independent political expenditures and loosen political-giving restrictions on state contractors.
“In what alternate universe do elected officials think that removing safeguards against pay-to-play and corruption in state government is a good thing? Ohio taxpayers deserve to know where this proposal came from,” House Democratic Leader Tracy Maxwell Heard (D-Columbus) said.
The bill includes a proposal that says college athletes are not employees under state law.
Other bills up to for votes addressed education, job training, veterans and workers’ compensation.
One wide-ranging spending measure addressed a variety of issues state agencies and organizations asked for, claiming they would improve their operations. The changes dealt with services ranging from autism intervention training to Clean Ohio Conservation Grants and the Tobacco Use Prevention Fund.
Other bills address other issues, such as providing $3 million for the job training for low-income residents.
A provision intended to help Ohio veterans make the transition to civilian life creates a uniform process for awarding college credit for military training and requires state college and universities to establish policies to support and assist veterans. It also streamlines the process for former service members to earn occupational licenses and strengthens criminal penalties for committing identity-theft crimes against active-duty service members.
Another bill authorizes community colleges to create a tuition guarantee program, where schools establish a tuition cost for incoming freshmen.
Another creates the “College Credit Plus,” replacing the Postsecondary Enrollment Options, which requires participation by public high schools and colleges and establishes a formula to create a cost range per credit hour per pupil based on where the course is taught and the individual instructor.
Other provisions included in the review include:
A bill establishing the Office of Human Resources Innovation within the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services, charged with examining assistance programs that are run by the department’s Workforce Investment Act boards and determining their effectiveness.
Another streamlining various systems of public assistance.
Another aimed at lightening the burden of the workers compensation system on businesses by calculating premiums for most employers on a prospective, rather than retrospective, basis and requires them to pay the premiums on an annual basis, rather than semi-annually.
Another streamlines and simplifies the administration of cigarette, motor fuel and petroleum activity taxes.