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Paying for Ohio income tax cut with revenue from gas patch looking sketchy
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What you need to know about Ohio Politics and Policy
Greg Lawson, a policy analyst with the conservative Buckeye Institute, said he was concerned that Medicaid may not provide the best care possible to enrollees. In addition, he raised a question about promised funds from the federal (government) remaining, considering the federal debt ceiling debates in Washington. (Plain Dealer)Uhm, isn’t healthcare – any healthcare – better than no healthcare coverage? How does the debt ceiling have anything to do with the settled law that is the Affordable Care Act? (It doesn’t.) The facts continue to line up on the side of Medicaid expansion being a good thing for states. It’s too bad that Gov. John Kasich hasn’t already agreed to participate, but I’ll take his administration’s word that it’s getting serious consideration and hope that they are simply waiting to make the announcement at budget time. Bringing the weak stuff to such an important decision is just playing politics – for the most part, the politics of Obamacare are over. Let’s make it work for Ohio.
“It’s pretty clear that unless they make it a free highway for us, I don’t want to pay tolls for the rest of my lifetime as an extra tax for transportation projects across Ohio,” said Rep. Rex Damschroder (R., Fremont). “Having said that, I have not read what’s in the governor’s proposal, and I’m not going to criticize it until I see what it says.”If Governor Kasich is looking for a way to fill a gap between future construction needs and anticipated revenue, a solution would be to spread those cost across the entire state, rather than burdening only one region’s drivers. You can do that through increased bonding, an increase in the state’s gas tax, or lobbying Congress to authorize a new Transportation bill ending Ohio’s status as a “donor state” when it comes to what we get back in highway funding in exchange for federal gas taxes paid. Ohio can also use innovative financing approaches in which the actual users — drivers on brand new roadways and bridges, for example — finance its construction through tolls. But asking Northern Ohio drivers to carry the burden for projects everywhere else in the state isn’t fair. Rex Damschroder (R-Fremont) is the Chairman of the Ohio House Transportation committee.
You could have a situation where we are not getting the jobs, they [oil and gas developers] are taking the resources, and all their profits and they are heading home.Nearly a year ago, Innovation Ohio warned the policy makers about this prospect. We urged Governor Kasich and lawmakers to introduce “Hire Ohio” incentives that could create financial incentives such as reduced tax rates for companies meeting a goal of hiring a specific percentage of their workforce from Ohio. While there are a variety of policy approaches to achieve this goal, Ohio failed to exercised its considerable leverage when Ohio’s fracking oversight laws were modified earlier this year. The Governor included no Hire Ohio policy in the bill, and when presented with an amendment to require 50 percent of workers to be residents of Ohio, GOP lawmakers set the measure aside. It’s unclear whether Kasich’s recent comments are a precursor to action or if he was merely grandstanding in his ongoing fight with the industry over severance taxes. But if the Governor is seriously concerned about the prospects of Ohio workers, we recommend that he ask the legislature to immediately pass Hire Ohio legislation that creates incentives for companies seeking to extract Ohio’s natural resources to do it with a labor force made up largely of Ohioans.
Today, an Ohio House of Representatives committee meets to consider legislation, HB 613, which sets training and licensing requirements for “navigators” – individuals who help Ohioans find coverage and obtain subsidies from the state’s healthcare exchange, set to launch in 2014. According to Gongwer (subscription required), the legislation, introduced by GOP Rep. Barbara Sears, was drafted in consultation with the Kasich administration:
Testifying before the House Health and Aging Committee on Thursday, Rep. Sears said the Department of Insurance would like to see the regulations passed during the lame duck session, “as it is part of the blueprint as we move forward with what is required by us by the federal government.” She said she has “worked closely” with DOI Director and Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor on drafting the legislation.Despite the administration’s public protests over the new healthcare law, they are actively working on its implementation prior to a January deadline. Only on its second committee hearing, HB 613 is set for a possible vote in today’s Health Committee hearing. Gongwer notes that, if passed, the legislation would “mark the first time the Affordable Care Act would be mentioned in state statute.” Opponents of the healthcare law that passed 2011’s Issue 3 measure have threatened to sue over any state law that has the effect of helping to implement the federal insurance mandate, so it will be interesting to see if HB 613 is challenged in court.
“Farm Bureau voted to oppose an increase in the severance tax solely for the purpose of funding a state income tax reduction. If there is an increase in the severance tax, it should address local government funding, infrastructure needs, local and state economic development and mitigation of negative impacts on local communities and the environment.”[Read more…]