XENIA — Gov. Mike DeWine says he expects to sign the state’s two-year budget bill next week as reports began surfacing Friday evening that the Ohio General Assembly passed the document that lays out how to spend nearly $190 billion over the next two fiscal years.
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The budget bill has to be passed by lawmakers and signed by the governor by 11:59 p.m. tonight because midnight ushers in July 1 and the start of the new fiscal year.
Because lawmakers will not be able to meet the deadline, they will use legislation -- a deadline extension bill -- to give DeWine more time to study the document before signing it into law.
“I expect sometime before midnight tonight, I’ll get a bill from the legislature to extend the time,” DeWine told News Center 7′s John Bedell on Friday afternoon in Xenia.
“But I think they’re talking about three days. I’m not really sure yet until we see the bill. But I will sign that bill before midnight. And we will extend the time. And that’ll give us a chance to process the paperwork and for me to go through the bill and then to sign it.”
The Columbus Dispatch reported Friday evening that the budget deal includes significant individual and business income tax cuts, universal vouchers for students in K through grade 12, parental consent for minors who create social media accounts and an estimated $1.5 billion in new spending for public schools.
Our news partner, 10tv.com (WBNS) reported that lawmakers did vote to extend the constitutionally binding June 30 deadline until July 3 in order to send the budget to DeWine for final approval. It’s not clear when that might happen, so the extension will take the form of an interim budget that will fund the state at the same levels as the last two fiscal years.
Despite a Republican supermajority in both chambers, House and Senate versions had nearly 900 differences between them, 10tv.com reported, including measures on how to fund education, public assistance programs and tax cuts as well as far-reaching policy issues overhauling how both K-12 education and public colleges and universities operate in the state.
As governor, DeWine will be able to go through the budget document and line-item veto provisions he doesn’t agree with or feels will be bad for Ohioans. State lawmakers have the ability to override his veto power, so the budget process is far from being completed.
We’ll let you know when DeWine signs the budget bill and what’s in the final version.
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