NEWS

Kasich to wield veto pen against GOP budget

Jessie Balmert
jbalmert@enquirer.com

Gov. John Kasich

COLUMBUS – Gov. John Kasich, who watched as GOP lawmakers scrapped his controversial tax proposals, will have the final say on which Republican changes get axed.

Kasich, who has used vetoes sparingly in past budgets, is expected to wield his veto pen more liberally Tuesday, the deadline to sign the final budget. In 2013, the governor vetoed 22 items, including one that would have prohibited Medicaid expansion and another that removed restrictions on exotic animals. In 2011, he used only seven vetoes.

"If there are benefits of the doubt, we want to respect the Legislature in that," Kasich told reporters in a Friday news conference with legislative leaders. "But there are going to be some vetoes. There will probably be some disagreement on the vetoes."

What he might cut

Some of those vetoes will come from Kasich's concern about the "erosion of executive authority" in the two-year, more than $71 billion budget, he said. GOP lawmakers put limits on the seven-member panel that Kasich used to expand Medicaid access to more Ohioans and tied up access to state money for the program in 2017. The governor is likely to remove those restrictions.

Republican lawmakers also want Kasich to seek their approval before closing a facility for people with developmental disabilities who cannot live at home. Kasich could remove that change from the final version.

Kasich, who plans to launch his presidential campaign July 21, critiqued lawmakers' changes to Medicaid, including health savings accounts, as "a little clunky." But those could be ironed out after the Kasich administration asks the federal government to approve changes to its Medicaid program. Kasich, for instance, wants to require insurance premiums for better-off Medicaid recipients.

In recent months, Kasich fought with fellow Republicans over several of his controversial tax proposals, including taxing more services and raising the rate on oil and gas obtained through fracking. GOP lawmakers removed all those proposals from the final budget.

Kasich told reporters that he wasn't satisfied with all the changes, but did appreciate certain additions, such as a tax break for more than 1 million business owners. Although he pushed for a $1 tax hike on cigarettes, the governor will sign a budget with the 35-cent increase lawmakers suggested.

"We push very, very big ideas here, and sometimes the victory is to push those ideas," Kasich said.

What he might save

Democrats want several anti-abortion measures removed from the budget but know that's not likely. Ohio's abortion clinics have seen their numbers dwindle from 14 to 8, in part due to new abortion restrictions passed in 2013 by the Republican-dominated Legislature and approved by Kasich.

"I'm not going to hold my breath, but I'd like to see it," Rep. Nickie Antonio, D-Lakewood said.

Because of GOP changes, abortion clinics would face a new deadline for obtaining an exception to state law that requires them to partner with a private hospital. That could be a problem for Cincinnati's sole abortion provider, which waited more than a year for its first exception and has applied for another. Another change would require hospitals that partner with abortion clinics to be within 30 miles of the facility. That's not the case for the lone abortion provider in Toledo, which is locked in a legal fight over whether it can stay open.

Democrats also railed against removing union rights for about 15,000 health-care and child-care workers. But those changes, initially proposed by Kasich, will almost certainly remain in the state budget.

"This budget is tired," said Rep. Denise Driehaus, D-Clifton Heights, who was part of the final negotiations. "We're disappointed that we had an opportunity that would really be meaningful and help the majority of the citizens in the state, and this budget fails that test."