Ohio Senate

Ohio has been operating under a temporary budget for a week and a half. But Lt. Gov. Jon Husted isn't too worried about the budget stalemate, which must be resolved by next week.

The Ohio Office of Budget Management is instructing state agency directors to keep a close watch on their spending during the 17-day budget extension.

Ohio lawmakers failed to reach a state budget agreement by the midnight deadline, missing the mark for a spending deal for the new two-year cycle. Because the House and Senate couldn’t reach a compromise, both chambers passed a temporary budget extension to keep the government running. 

It’s looking like the conference committee working on a compromise state budget will stretch into the weekend – with the budget-signing deadline approaching on Sunday night. Among the differences between the Ohio House and Senate versions is an income tax cut and a small business tax break. 

The Senate has passed a $645 million budget for the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, after stripping out sections added by the House on first responders and immigration.

The Senate has made its own sweeping changes to Ohio energy policy through a substitute bill version of HB6 that continues to bailout nuclear power plants but avoids repealing renewable energy and energy efficiency standards.

Ohio’s two-year state budget is headed to a conference committee this week to work out significant differences between the House and Senate versions. There isn’t much time to deal, because the budget must be signed by Sunday night.

The Ohio Senate passed a budget last week that includes a set of high school graduation requirements, which could settle an issue that the state has been struggling with for years.

For the first time in 12 years, a two-year state operating budget has passed the full Ohio Senate without a single "no" vote. That sends the $69 billion spending plan to a conference committee to work out conflicts with the House version of the budget.

In this week's episode of Snollygoster, Ohio's politics podcast from WOSU, hosts Mike Thompson and Steve Brown discuss the fight over the film tax credit. John Daugherty of the Greater Columbus Film Commission, joins the show.

With just over a week to go before the state’s two year budget must be signed into law, the Ohio Senate will vote on its version Thursday. The vote will occur after some last-minute changes to that spending plan, including new high school graduation requirements and moving Ohio's 2020 presidential primary election back one week.

The final version of the Ohio Senate’s budget is expected Wednesday. While there will certainly be some proposals added in, some things are unlikely to change – such as the money going to the local government fund, which has been decimated over the last eight years.