COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio representatives from both
political parties criticized Republican Gov. John Kasich on Wednesday
for saddling them with a midterm budget bill heavily loaded with
disparate proposals they called unsuited to a non-budget year.
Rep.
Terry Boose, a Norwalk Republican, said Kasich’s practice of
introducing voluminous off-year budgets in a state accustomed to a
two-year cycle has effectively allowed him to take control of the
state’s legislative branch.
The 1,620-page document Kasich
introduced earlier this year was the second of its kind since he took
office in 2011, mirroring the annual federal budgets he oversaw as U.S.
House finance chairman in the 1990s. The House split the legislation
into 14 separate bills, nine of which cleared the House Wednesday.
House
Democrats were particularly upset over a last-minute amendment to the
largest of the bills that changed campaign finance law. The bill lifts a
disclosure requirement applied to independent political expenditures
and relaxes political-giving restrictions on state contractors.
Rep.
Dan Ramos, a Lorain Democrat, said the Kasich midterm budget bills are
packed with such Christmas tree-like ornaments. He called the bill "a
moral document" that strays far from the purpose of a traditional budget
correction bill.
"We don’t have to have a second budget, ladies
and gentlemen," Ramos said. "We’re not working with a governor; we’re
working for a governor."
House Finance Chairman Ron Amstutz, a
Wooster Republican, said his committee had actually trimmed, not
lengthened, Kasich’s original proposals through the committee process.
He said the main bill, containing most of the appropriations, contained
policy changes that would have an important impact on the state.
"(This
bill) is a list of things that, when you go through them, are focused
on helping our communities lift more of our struggling Ohioans to a
better place, to help them lift themselves to a better place," he said.
A spokesman for Kasich said that the administration is going to "keep pushing for the reforms
necessary to help lift Ohioans."
"If
there are legislators who think that the state is fixed and there’s
nothing more to do, then they should stay at home, sit on their couches
and not show up for work.
We disagree," said spokesman Rob Nichols.
Among
its provisions, the legislation includes more money to family and
children services and bolsters efforts to combat drug abuse.
Other bills before the House addressed taxes, workers’ compensation, higher education, workforce training
and other issues.
An
amendment to one bill that would have allowed chiropractors to return
young athletes to play after they suffer concussions was removed on the
floor Wednesday. Another last-minute amendment had been removed Tuesday
that would have stripped 10 percent of local government funding from
counties that violate a state law on distributing absentee ballots. The
proposal faced a flood of criticism — including from Kasich, Secretary
of State Jon Husted and Kasich’s presumptive Democratic rival in the
November election, Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald.
The
campaign finance change questioned by Democrats eliminated a rule
governing disclosure of campaign spending by labor organizations,
nonprofits and corporations — a regulation added under Husted’s
predecessor, Jennifer Brunner.
Brunner added the rule following
the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the Citizens United case in 2010
that lifted restrictions on independent spending by corporations and
labor unions. House Republicans said the playing field has since been
leveled and the rule is no longer necessary.
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