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No. 15 June 10, 2005 PLEASE CIRCULATE THIS BULLETIN TO YOUR COUNCIL, DEPARTMENT HEADS & STAFF Budget Conference Committee Begins on Positive Note. The House- Senate Conference Committee on the state budget (HB 66) began meeting this week to iron out the differences between the two Houses and to reach an agreement on the budget among the House, Senate and Governor. Meetings of the conference committee, in consultation with the Governor, are expected to continue over the next two to three weeks. The deadline for passing the state budget is June 30. In opening testimony before the conference committee on Thursday, Office of Budget and Management Director (OBM) Tom Johnson testified that, due to revised estimates of state revenue and revised caseload estimates for Medicaid, the state would have $480 million in additional revenues in the first year (FY 2006) of the biennium and $330 million in the second (FY 2007). In outlining the administration’s recommendations for this additional revenue, Director Johnson said the Governor would like to see local government funds for all local governments returned to the freeze level. “Specifically, the Governor recommends using a portion of available revenue to return local governments to the same level of funding they received in FY 2005,” Johnson told the conferees. In a press release issued earlier in the day, House Speaker Jon Husted and Senate President Bill Harris said that additional revenues from the revised estimates should be used to address Local Government Funds cuts. They also hoped to use those funds to reduce the kilowatt hour tax, add dollars to the higher education budget and replenish Ohio’s “Rainy Day Fund.” This is welcome news to Ohio's cities. The Senate had already eliminated the cuts to villages and to townships. The OML would like to take this opportunity to express our appreciation to legislative leaders and the administration for recognizing the need to restore cuts to our members as well as to other local governments. Now would be a really good time to contact your local legislators to encourage them to support these efforts to return all local governments to freeze level funding for this budget. Letting Governor Taft know that you appreciate the administration’s support for this restoration of funds would also be very helpful. Also communicating with the members of the Conference Committee and leadership on this issue is very important. The members of the Conference Committee for the House are: Representatives Charles Calvert, Tom Raga and Dale Miller. Representing the Senate are: Senators John Carey, Ron Amstutz and Tom Roberts. Once again, the House Speaker is Representative Jon Husted and the Senate President is Senator Bill Harris. LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE FOR THE WEEK OF JUNE 13, 2005 TUESDAY, JUNE 14 Senate State & Local Government & Veterans Affairs, (Chr. Coughlin, 466-4823), Finance Hearing Rm., 10 a.m. HB 101 PUBLIC MEETING NOTICE (Wolpert) To create the Local Government Public Notice Task Force to study local government public notice requirements and to issue a report. (2nd Hearing-Proponent, opponent & interested party) SB 82 RESIDENCY REQUIREMENTS (Grendell) To generally prohibit political subdivisions from imposing residency requirements on certain employees. (9th Hearing-Proponent, opponent & interested party-Possible vote)
House State Government, (Chr. Buehrer, 644-5091), Rm. 114, 1:30 p.m. SB 7 WORKERS' COMPENSATION (Cates) To make various changes to the Workers' Compensation Law. (2nd Hearing-Proponent, opponent & interested party)
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15 Senate State & Local Government & Veterans Affairs, (Chr. Coughlin, 466-4823), Finance Hearing Rm., 10 a.m. HB 76 VILLAGE SOLICITORS (Trakas) To permit the electors of a statutory village to vote on a question to authorize the mayor to appoint the village solicitor with the advice and consent of the village's legislative authority. (1st Hearing-Sponsor)
THURSDAY, JUNE 16 House Financial Institutions, Real Estate & Securities, (Chr. Widener, 466-1470), Rm. 017, 8:30 a.m. HB 272 PUBLIC EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT SYSTEM (Schneider) Regarding the Public Employees Retirement System. (1st Hearing-Sponsor) House Judiciary, (Chr. Willamowski, 466-9624), Hayes Rm. (formerly 114), 9:30 a.m. HB 226 COURT COSTS (Hoops) To authorize the legislative authority of a municipal corporation to establish a schedule of fees to be taxed as costs in a civil, criminal, or traffic proceeding in a municipal court for services performed by officers or employees of the municipal corporation's police department or marshal's office. (3rd Hearing-Proponent, opponent & interested party-Possible vote) House Local & Municipal Government & Urban Revitalization, (Chr. Wolpert, 466-9690), Rm. 018, 11 a.m. HB 187 CIVIL SERVICE REVIEW (Buehrer) To implement recommendations of the Civil Service Review Commission. (5th Hearing-Opponent) NOTE: THE SCHEDULE FOR THE CONFERENCE COMMITTEE FOR HB 66, THE BIENNIAL BUDGET BILL, WAS NOT AVAILABLE WHEN WE WENT TO PRESS. THE SCHEDULE WILL BE POSTED ON OUR WEBSITE WWW.OMUNILEAGUE.ORG WHEN IT BECOMES AVAILABLE. |
