With slots debate at impasse, legislators plan interim budget
Jun 29, 2009 at 12:01 AM Jun 30, 2009 at 8:26 AM
Unable to come to an agreement on placing electronic slot machines at the state's seven horseracing tracks, Ohio lawmakers will pass an interim state budget. The duration of the interim budget will last until July 7.
Unable to come to an agreement on placing electronic slot machines at the state's seven horseracing tracks, Ohio lawmakers will pass an interim state budget.
The duration of the interim budget will last until July 7.
The Senate plans to insert an amendment this afternoon into the Industrial Commission Budget that would cover state spending obligations for the next week. The plan will be based on 70 percent of fiscal year 2009 actual spending levels.
Sources say Gov. Ted Strickland, House Democrats and Senate Republicans have worked out their differences on the major issues, including education funding, but now they just need to work out the $933 million slots problem.
That's how much Strickland is estimating the state will raise over two years if thousands of slot machines are placed at Ohio's racetracks. He has insisted that a legislative vote is needed to make it happen, but Senate Republicans, citing four statewide votes to reject expanded gambling, have refused to go along.
Strickland spokeswoman Amanda Wurst said that the argument from Senate Republicans "lacks credibility" because the Senate two years ago approved a bill that would have installed instant-racing machines at racetracks that some said were very similar to slots.
Senate Bill 125 passed the Senate in May 2007, but never came up for a House vote. The bill would have allowed wagering on thousands of old horse races, and players could have limited the race to only the last 10-second stretch run.
"That was nearly an identical expansion of gambling at racetracks, and that didn't have any regard for the will of the people either," Wurst said.
Supporters at the time, including Senate President Bill M. Harris, argued the instant-racing machines were not the same as slots. At the time, Harris said the devices' skill factor distinguished them from slot machines.
More recently Harris, R-Ashland, has said Strickland should enable slot machines on his own. Strickland has argued that if Harris won't go along with a vote, he needs to either suggest tax increases or cuts to make up the lost $933 million.
Sources said that Strickland and legislative leaders have reached a number of agreements. Reportedly, Strickland would get at least some of his evidence-based school funding model, while Republicans would get the charter school funding they have fought for. There also are reports that Strickland's proposed cuts for mental health and libraries will be restored to some degree, though libraries are still expected to see significant cuts.
To pay for restoring some proposed cuts, higher education is expected to take a funding hit, potentially putting the 2010 tuition freeze in jeopardy.
Lawmakers also have reportedly worked out a different arrangement for Strickland's plan to borrow $256 million from the state's contribution to the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System for state workers' pensions with a promise to pay it back during the next decade.
Strickland proposed cutting $2.4 billion as part of his plan to eliminate a $3.2 billion shortfall in the 2010-11 budget. That budget is supposed to begin on July 1, the start of the new fiscal year.
House Speaker Armond Budish, D-Beachwood, said in a statement that the interim budget "will only prolong a difficult and painful process for many Ohioans."
"House Democrats and Gov. Strickland have offered difficult, but needed solutions to address the $3.2 billion budget shortfall," he said in a statement. "Since the Senate does not agree with our approach, they have a responsibility to come forward with an alternative plan to balance the budget. So far, they have failed to do so."