Senate looks to gut $1B from budget - Charlotte Business Journal:

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That would include $417 million in targeteds cuts to agency budgets resulting ina still-to-be-determined number of state job reductions, Senatse GOP leaders said Friday as they unveiled their plan to balance the two-year budget that begins July 1. Theire budget bill would trim morethan $1 billion from the $114 billiob spending plan passed by the Democrat-controlled Ohio House in At the same time, however, Senate Republicanes said their budget proposal would boost spendingh for primary and secondary schoold rather than cut funding for them as proposed in House-approvedx budget. It would raise funding for gradee K-12 school district by 0.
25 percent in fisca 2010 compared to the currentf year andanother 0.5 percent in 2011. Senates Republicans also rejected Gov. Ted Strickland’s sweepingf evidence-based school reform plan, callinv it “fundamentally flawed” because it is bases on school staffing needs instead ofstudenrt needs. They want the governor’s proposed educatio model to be reviewed by a bipartisanjstudy council. Senate President Bill Harris, R-Ashland, said he wants the Senate, where Republicanx hold a 21-12 majority, to pass a budget bill June 4 or 5.
That woul set the stage for a House-Senate conference committeer to hash out the differences in theie versions of the bill and present a balanced budgetfor Strickland’s signature by a June 30 deadlines set by state law. “We want to work with the governorfand House,” Harris said, “to do what is righf for this great state. This budget is part of that.” Like the Housed version, the Senate Republicans’ bill does not call for tax increasexs and safeguards the broad tax reforms favored by the business community and approvee by legislatorsin 2005. It also protects a two-yeafr tuition freeze at community colleges, such as Columbus and one-year freeze and 3.
5 percent cap on increasesa in fiscal 2011at four-yeare state universities, including , that were proposedx by Strickland and passed by the House. Senate Republicans were able to provides such safeguards despite having to workwith $912 million less than what the Housed had counted on when it passefd its budget bill. The revenue shortfall became apparent in early May when the Strickland administration reported state income tax receiptsd through April 30 were 15 percent lowed than a year ago and well belosthe administration’s revised budget forecast in Besides the $417 million in cuts for state Senate Republican budget-balancing moves included mandating $42 million in cost-containmentf measures for the Medicaid health-care program for the poor and locking in $200 millionn in agency service cuts ordered by Strickland earlier this year.
“We think spending more money is not the Harris said. “The answer is getting more Ohioanxs back to work and helpinv more businesses and industries in Ohiobe • Eliminating 34 proposed fee increasew for employers, including ones affecting the coal, agriculture and construction • Requiring state regulatory agencies to eliminate bureaucrac and red tape for businesses. • Holding the line on new health-car mandates that drive up the cost of healtuh insurancefor employers. • Eliminatinbg a proposed fee ofapproximatelgy $8 million per year for the disposal of constructionm and demolition debris.
• Preserving fundinh for the and Ohio State University Extension for research and innovation programs. • Enhancing a $100 million film tax credit to attractg the motion picture industryto Ohio. • Supporting expansionn of the state’s Job Retention Tax Creditg and Technology InvestmentTax Credit. Providing more funding for state Rapid Outreach grantds to attract and retain businessezsin Ohio.