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State Representative Jim Buchy
A Road Map for
State Spending
The state operating budget began as a proposal by Governor Kasich,
submitted to the General Assembly back in February. Now that the bill
has passed through the General Assembly and been signed into law by the
Governor, we have a road map for state spending for the next two years.
There are two main things we should note.
First, we saw many compromises between the Governor, the House and the
Senate. By working together on a plan for state spending and tax
reductions, we were able to put forth a piece of legislation that we
can be proud of. Secondly, this is a very different budget than the
original proposal submitted in February. I think we improved upon the
original proposal and I am proud of that as well. Still, changes were
made at the last minute that I believe required further consideration
before implementing.
I was disappointed to see the Governor make changes to the school
funding system that was included in the House’s version of the budget.
If we do not guarantee our school districts, both successful and
struggling, an adequate level of funding, I fear that we will see
consequences in the future.
Another issue I see is that Medicaid expansion, which was put into
action without approval from the legislature, has caused the state
budget to become somewhat inflated. The growth in spending associated
with this expansion makes the budget process substantially more
difficult and made for some tough decisions. Still, creative solutions
were found and Ohioans will receive better healthcare for decades
because of these changes.
Difficult decisions were made throughout this budget process, but we
came together to make a bill that is supported by Ohio’s industry
leaders who see it as a step in the right direction to continuing on a
path to economic prosperity for Ohioans. Ohioans will have more money
in their wallets due to tax cuts included in this bill. When all is
said and done, I hope you will judge our policies on the past three
budgets by asking one question: are more people working now than there
were in 2010?
Please provide your opinion on the issues in the news this month by
completing an online survey at tinyurl.com/buchyjuly2015
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