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Thursday, December 3, 2009
Speaker Budish: Keep state budget fix clean
If there was any doubt, House Speaker Armond Budish, D-Beachwood, on Thursday, Dec. 3, made clear in a letter to Senate President Bill Harris, R-Ashland, that Budish doesn’t want major policy changes added to the plan to fill an $851 million budget hole.
Harris’ spokeswoman Maggie Ostrowski, said, however, that Harris is not likely to be swayed by the Speaker’s letter.
Harris and Senate Republicans are advocating a plan that also includes prison sentencing reform and reforming how Ohio awards billions of dollars in construction projects. Those proposals would be tacked on to House Bill 318, the budget fix passed by the House that delays for two years the fifth and final 4.2 percent state income tax cut.
“…construction reform, sentencing reform and other similar major initiatives cannot be passed as part of HB 318 in the next week or two. No construction reform bill has been introduced in either the House or the Senate; no hearings have been held and the public has had no opportunity for input,” Budish wrote.
He promised to work with Harris on the issues during the coming months but urged passage of the budget fix without them.
“…I am growing increasingly concerned that the Senate will not adopt House Bill 318 prior to Dec. 31, 2009 and that will result in catastrophic cuts to education, which will severely hurt Ohio families and children from kindergarten through college,” Budish wrote.
In an e-mail response, Ostrowski wrote:
“The Speaker is wrong. There is a viable proposal on the table that addresses the immediate shortfall and which starts to address the even bigger revenue problems that we all know are coming in fiscal years 2012-2013 when the federal stimulus and other one-time money is no longer available.
“Sen. Harris feels strongly that if he is expected to provide votes for the delay in implementing the income tax cut as advocated by Gov. Strickland and Speaker Budish, it must also include some credible steps toward achieving long-term cost savings for the state to help avoid a major tax increase in the future. (ie construction reform and sentencing reform).”
The Senate Finance Committee is scheduled to meet Monday to hear advocates of construction reform, including Ohio State University President E. Gordon Gee.
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Ohio website brags about Michigan cities
A slick new online magazine designed to promote Ohio features Grand Haven, Saugatuck, East Grand Rapids and other cities you won’t find on an Ohio map. The featured places are actually in the much-hated state up north.
The bi-weekly magazine is a product of the Ohio Business Development Coalition, which is funded by a grant from the state Department of Development.
The magazine and website tell “the story of the new economy in Ohio. It’s a narrative of creative people and businesses and what they are doing to create jobs for today and tomorrow. It’s the story of a state on the move.”
The online magazine editors go on to say that the site “will present original stories, video and photography to tell that story, from Cleveland to Cincinnati, Marietta to Maumee and parts in between.”
And apparently in parts found in Michigan.
A state Department of Development spokesman said the business development coalition is working to fix the error.
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Please, let us kill off the bedbugs
Ohio is still waiting for word from federal authorities on whether the insecticide Propoxur may be used to control bedbugs.
State Sen. Eric Kearney, D-Cincinnati, will introduce a resolution that urges the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to grant the emergency exemption that would allow Propoxur’s use.
“I have spoken with tenants, landlords and representatives from the pest industry about the challenges of finding a suitable chemical to kill bedbugs. Allowing for the use of Propoxur by licensed applicators will help alleviate the problem,” Kearney said.
Kearney’s district includes Cincinnati, which is facing a city-wide epidemic of bedbug infestations.
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State budget fix delayed until Monday
The latest budget fix hit a snag this week when some lawmakers objected to major reforms to how billions of dollars of public construction contracts are awarded.
Some Senate Republicans want the construction reforms folded into the budget correction bill, along with other a laundry list of other proposals. But the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus and others are concerned that the reforms are too big and too important to adopt without thorough consideration.
Contractors and labor unions want to preserve the current contracting system but university officials want more freedom in how they may award multi-million dollar deals.
Ohio State University President E. Gordon Gee, Ohio Board of Regents Chancellor Eric Fingerhut, Inter-University Council of Ohio President Bruce Johnson and others will testify before the Senate Finance Committee on Monday, Dec. 7, in an effort to convince lawmakers that contracting reform would save millions of taxpayers dollars and allow projects to be completed more quickly.
The state faces an $851 million budget hole created after a ruling by the Ohio Supreme Court essentially put a halt to plans to put video slot machines at racetracks to generate new revenue for the state. Without a budget fix, cuts would have to be made to K-12 education.
Gov. Ted Strickland proposed and the House passed a plan to delay the last phase of a 21 percent across the board income tax rate cut. But Senate Republicans cast that plan as a tax hike and are reluctant to vote for it.
The construction overhaul proposal is based on a report from a panel commissioned by Strickland that said the changes could save money and get contracts completed sooner. The changes would allow the hiring of construction managers earlier in the process and expand their roles and change how risks involved in projects are shared, among other things.
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Cordray: don’t fall for the old jury duty scam
An old scam is once again rearing its ugly head as con artists use it to dupe people into turning over personal information, the Ohio Supreme Court and Attorney General Richard Cordray warned.
Cordray and the court said the con plays out this way: a scammer calls someone and claims to work for the court system. The scammer says a warrant is out for the person’s arrest for failing to report for jury duty. And the con artists say they need the person’s social security number, date of birth and even a credit card number in order to clear up the matter.
The con plays out as follows: a scammer calls a potential victim, claiming to work for the court system. The caller tells the victim a warrant has been issued for his or her arrest for failing to report for jury duty. In order to clear up the alleged issue, the victim is told he or she must provide their social security number, date of birth and in some instances a credit card number.
Cordray says don’t fall for it.
“The best rule of thumb is to never give out your personal information over the phone regardless of who is calling. Unless you initiate the call, you really don’t have verification of who is on the other end,” he said.
