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This Week's Committee Schedule:
Ohio House Committee Schedule
Ohio Senate Committee Schedule
Transportation Budget
Last Thursday the Ohio House ofRepresentatives passedHB 2,
theTransportation Budget Bill for FY 2010-2011, by a party-line
vote of 53-45.This bill was the first portion of whatpromises to be
a very difficult budgetprocess taking place in the GeneralAssembly.
Informal hearings havealready begun in the Ohio Senate onthis bill,
and will continue next week.Special emphasis has been placed
oncompleting the Transportation Budget
quickly, because several provisionswithin the bill require money
from theFederal Stimulus Package. Requests forfederal funding must
pass both houses ofthe General Assembly and be signed bythe
Governor by March 31. Specifically,the Strickland Administration
hopes tocompete for $8 billion in federalstimulus money which will
be awardedfor passenger rail projects. TheStrickland Administration
believes thatdeveloping a high-speed rail line
connecting Ohio's three major cities willcreate jobs and spur
economicdevelopment.
The House Finance and AppropriationsCommittee held hearings on
the billTuesday and Wednesday, hearingtestimony from interested
parties. Thecommittee debated several amendments,into the early
morning hours onThursday. The amendments includedprovisions
which:
Appropriate $1.1 billion tobe spent on ODOT projects,and nearly
$600 million onDepartment of Developmentprojects.
Limit to four the number ofTransportation InnovationAuthorities
that ODOT maycreate as a pilot project, andrequire the agency to
reportback to the General Assembly.
Require a study of theproposed primary enforcementseat belt law
for 15 months,including the number of personsstopped and where the
stopsoccurred. Chairman Vernon
Sykes (D-Akron) said the studywas offered in response toconcern
about potential lawenforcement racial profiling,and that the State
HighwayPatrol supported theamendment.
Earmark $250,000 in eachfiscal year for
TransportationImprovement Districts thatoperate in nine
counties:Belmont, Butler, Clermont,
Hamilton, Lorain, Medina,Montgomery, Muskingum, andStark.
An additional amendment was alsoadopted in committee, which
wouldextend COBRA benefits from 6 monthsto 12, and remove the
requirement thatan employee must be eligible forunemployment
compensation in order toreceive COBRA benefits. However, thebill
was later amended on the floor of
the House to remove this provision untilfurther information on
federal fundingfor these benefits could be gathered.
Boards and Commissions
Meanwhile, the House Finance andAppropriations Committee's
variousSubcommittees held hearings on thebudgets of many state
Boards andCommissions. The Governor hasproposed consolidating human
resourcesfinance, and procurement operations forthese regulatory
panels. Members ofseveral of these Boards and Commissionstestified
in opposition to the Governor'sproposed consolidation. The plan
wouldmerge staffs for related boards oreliminate their staffs
altogether, and
shifting these day-to-day operations tothe Department of
AdministrativeServices.
Economic Stimulus: SB 1 andSB 2
The Ohio Senate is currently workingon two pieces of legislation
regardingEconomic Stimulus. SB 1 allows for thestate to issue bonds
to fulfill the stimulusgoals set forth in the Governor's
statestimulus package from last year, and was
passed unanimously this week. SB 2 is apiece of legislation
which determineshow money received through theAmerican Recovery and
Re-investmentAct of 2009 should be spent. This bill iscurrently
before the Senate Finance andFinancial Institutions Committee.
Thebill would appropriate over $340 millionfor the Department of
Development toinvest in Weatherization and "greenenergy" projects,
$1 billion for highwayconstruction through ODOT, and over
WEEKLY UPDATE 3.9.09
COLUMBUS: (614) 223-9383 | CLEVELAND: (216) 596-4235March 10,
2009
PUBLIC POLICY BULLETINPUBLIC POLICY BULLETIN
Principled Strategic Innovati
http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/house_committee_schedule.cfmhttp://www.legislature.state.oh.us/senate_committee_schedule.cfmhttp://www.scribd.com/doc/13115549/Transportation-Budget-as-Passed-by-Househttp://www.scribd.com/doc/13115549/Transportation-Budget-as-Passed-by-Househttp://www.scribd.com/doc/13115549/Transportation-Budget-as-Passed-by-Househttp://www.scribd.com/doc/13115549/Transportation-Budget-as-Passed-by-Househttp://www.legislature.state.oh.us/senate_committee_schedule.cfmhttp://www.legislature.state.oh.us/house_committee_schedule.cfm
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PUBLIC POLICY BULLETIN
$500 million for school constructionthrough the School
FacilitiesCommission.
Recovery Ohio
Please visitRecovery Ohio for the latestupdates regarding
federal stimulusprojects and funding available for Ohio.
This website is an interactive portal forentities to submit
expressions of interestin federal stimulus dollars and to
viewgeneral information about the federalstimulus. Stimulus grant
and loan fundswill ultimately be distributed togovernments,
business and otherorganizations, and not directly toindividuals.
This week they haveprovided an update to their FrequentlyAsked
Questions, and information forindividuals who are seeking
benefits.
March 10, 2009
As a reminder, this Advisory is being sentto draw your attention
to issues and is
not to replace legal counseling.
UNITED STATES TREASURY DEPARTMENT
CIRCULAR 230 DISCLOSURE: TO ENSURE
COMPLIANCE WITH REQUIREMENTS
IMPOSED BY THE IRS, WE INFORM YOU THAT,
UNLESS EXPRESSLY STATED OTHERWISE,
ANY U.S. FEDERAL TAX ADVICE CONTAINED
IN THIS COMMUNICATION (INCLUDING ANY
ATTACHMENTS) IS NOT INTENDED OR
WRITTEN TO BE USED, AND CANNOT BE
USED, FOR THE PURPOSE OF (i) AVOIDINGPENALTIES UNDER THE
INTERNAL REVENUE
CODE, OR (ii) PROMOTING, MARKETING OR
RECOMMENDING TO ANOTHER PARTY ANY
TRANSACTION OR MATTER ADDRESSED
HEREIN.
http://www.recovery.ohio.gov/http://www.recovery.ohio.gov/http://www.recovery.ohio.gov/
