After weeks of deliberation, the Senate Finance Committee accepted the newest version of the state budget, on Monday. Highlights included:

• Senate Republicans decided to swap the 7 percent income tax cut that House Republicans had inserted for Gov. Kasich’s original small business tax exclusions;
• Gov. Kasich’s Medicaid expansion was not included but Republican leaders said standalone legislation could be introduced soon;
• Republicans punted on changes to the school funding formula and plan to introduced their recommendations as an amendment to the bill next week; [Read more…]