Lawmakers polished off the budget fix tonight, with the expected votes in each chamber. A number of reactions are rolling in.
Senate President Bill M. Harris, R-Ashland. He voted yes. There was not a simple or good option to addressing the shortfall, but we were committed to reaching an [...]
Ohio lawmakers have reached a deal to resolve an impasse over a budget deficit by combining Gov. Ted Strickland's tax cut delay with a pilot project for new construction rules.
The deal was reached late Wednesday. It would avert $850 million in budget cuts to school districts.
From AP and WCPO:
The agreement contains Strickland's plan to delay the final 4.2 percent planned income tax reduction to erase the budget gap. It also establishes a pilot project to test out proposed changes to construction contracting that supporters say will save the state hundreds of millions of dollars.
A [...]
The only central Ohio lawmaker going after earmarks this year is boasting of getting $7.6 million worth in a 2010 defense spending bill approved by the House.
Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy, D-Columbus, says she views earmarks, amounts of money set aside for congressional pet projects, as legitimate ways for [...]
Joe Hallett reports on Rep. Dan Stewart, former SEIU goon and current far-left activist:
State Rep. Dan Stewart, D-Columbus, is thought to have become the first state lawmaker to get married in the Statehouse when he and Catherine Thomsen tied the knot Nov. 28 in the Rotunda.
Stewart, 53, and Thomsen, [...]
WASHINGTON — A House subcommittee approved legislation Wednesday aimed at forcing college football to switch to a playoff system to determine its national champion, over the objections of some lawmakers who said Congress has meatier targets to tackle.
The bill, which faces steep odds, would ban the promotion [...]
Representative Jennifer Garrison, who is running for Ohio Secretary of State in 2010, took a direct shot at her Republican opponent, Sen. Jon Husted, by introducing legislation to restrict state lawmakers’ mileage reimbursements to only trips made between the Ohio Statehouse and their [...]
"You know, [...]
The state lawmaker who sheparded and revamped Gov. Ted Strickland's new evidence-based school-funding system is fed up with school districts complaining about the all-day kindergarten requirement.
Rep. Stephen Dyer, D-Green, said well-off school districts shouldn't be putting off implementation of a new state requirement that districts offer all-day everyday' [...]
From Nashville Post:
The Nashville Convention Center will be the future home of Nashville’s massive medical trade center if Metro lawmakers give it the green light early next year.
The Nashville Medical Trade Center, [...]
Ohio State University President E. Gordon Gee will enter the debate over the state budget fix on Monday when he testifies before the Senate Finance Committee in support of public construction reform being pushed by Senate Republicans.
Lawmakers continue to debate how to fill the $851 million budget hole. [...]
With friends like this, who needs enemies.
THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM: A party both united and divided
The Republican rank and file is largely in sync with GOP lawmakers in their staunch opposition to efforts by President Obama and Democrats to enact major health-care legislation, but a new Washington Post poll also [...]
Senate Democrats will return to Washington Monday to begin a long-awaited floor debate on the health-reform bill they hope to pass before Christmas. But it’s hardly the last battle they’ll be forced to wage on the health-care front.
As tough as the upper-chamber debate promises to be, [...]
Sex offenders are in the legislative crosshairs again.
Rep. Bill Coley, R-West Chester, has introduced a bill that would increase the penalty for sexual imposition committed against children ages 13 to 16. The offense would be a first-degree misdemeanor instead of third-degree.
Coley noted that the penalty for gross [...]
Thomas Friedman fears that our democracy is so broken it will not be able to meet the big challenges of the future. In “Advice From Grandma,” he cites six stubborn realities that are paralyzing America:
Money in politics has become so pervasive that lawmakers have to spend most of their [...]State Rep. Jay Goyal will attend the first state dinner hosted by the Obama administration Tuesday evening, when he helps welcome the Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh.
I am honored to represent Ohio at the White House where I will discuss the issues and concerns facing Ohios working [...]
Two central Ohio lawmakers, a House Democrat and a Senate Republican, say they are moving ahead on proposals that would give individual counties more oversight over casinos, or even outright reject them.
After 58 percent of Franklin County residents voted against state Issue 3, which will allow the building [...]
