Category archive for ‘News Reports’ rss

  • News: Floor Vote on Capital bill expected Thursday

    The state capital budget is on the fast-track to passage, at least in the House. Speaker Batchelder indicates a floor vote is possible next Thursday in a newly-scheduled 1 p.m. session. Meanwhile, hearings on the MBR, scheduled for today, have been cancelled and will be rescheduled next week.

    Meanwhile, the MBR, which Governor Kasich unveiled at a press conference yesterday, still remains to be introduced, and a hearing with testimony from OBM Director Keen set for this morning has been cancelled. Hearings are expected to begin in the House Finance committee next week.

    3/15/12 • (0)

  • News: MBR to be heard by multiple committees; no details on tax plan

    Speaker Batchelder indicates that some of the language of the Governor’s policy-filled Mid-Biennium Review budget bill is not ready yet, despite the scheduling of hearings beginning this morning. This isn’t the first time the Kasich administration has asked legislators to hear a bill without language to review.

    3/15/12 • (1)

  • News Reports: Details of Kasich education plan emerge

    Not set for official introduction until tomorrow, a number of details have come to light about what to expect from Governor Kasich’s education legislation. We have a copy of the amendments related to reforming Cleveland schools and a first look at other reforms included in the bill.

    3/13/12 • (0)

  • Budget Preview: FIVE budget bills to be introduced?

    Budget watchers better invest in cloning technology, because the Kasich administration is set to introduce not one, not two but five new budget bills, all to be heard simultaneously, next week.

    3/10/12 • (0)

  • Budget Preview: education policy

    In another preview of the Governor’s upcoming budget bill, we learned yesterday the package will include key reforms sought by Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, many of which resemble provisions in SB5. Do we also detect hints that Kasich has big plans for changing education in all of Ohio’s urban areas? He’s going to need Democratic support to give him cover, but will it be a bigger fight than Legislators want to take up in an election year?

    3/06/12 • (0)

  • Budget Preview: energy policy

    Governor Kasich has promised to include a number of policy initiatives in his upcoming budget legislation. Included among them are a number of revisions to Ohio’s energy policy. Budget Watch has obtained a document outlining the major pillars of the Governor’s energy policy plan.

    3/06/12 • (0)

  • Plain Dealer confirms: Kasich tax hike on frackers will be small

    It turns out we were far too generous assuming Kasich’s proposal to raise taxes on frackers would impose a fair tax rate on the extraction of oil and gas. His plan generates in five years what our estimates from yesterday said the state could raise in just one. Our new analysis shows that his fracking tax plan would raise enough revenue to give the average taxpayer a tax cut of $21 to $32.

    3/04/12 • (1)

  • Analysis: Kasich hints at meaningless income tax cut

    Governor Kasich’s team is floating the idea of raising tax on frackers and spending the money to cut the state’s income tax. Is that possible? We ran the numbers and offer the first glimpse at how much of a tax cut ordinary Ohioans could expect.

    3/03/12 • (3)

  • Mid-Biennium budget will include energy policy changes

    Kasich’s upcoming mid-biennial “review” of the two-year state budget, expected in early March, is largely a mystery to budget watchers. However, today, details began to emerge on some of the bill’s policy measures, including a number of changes on the energy front dealing with oil and gas drilling, the state’s renewable energy portfolio standard, and the use of compressed natural gas.

    2/29/12 • (1)

  • Columbus suburbs raise fees in response to state cuts

    Columbus Dispatch: recent fee increases on residents of Columbus suburbs are a direct result of state budget cuts.

    1/09/12 • (0)