From the Statehouse 2006 No. 17
by Jennifer Garrison
May. 27, 2006
FROM THE STATEHOUSE – 2006 No. 17
This past week has been a marathon week in Columbus. Over the next 3 weeks I will detail my votes. Today, I would like to report on two controversial bills that were voted on this week. First the Tobacco Budget bill and the second the Redistricting Resolution.
Substitute Senate Bill 321, is the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement Appropriations Bill. In 1998, 46 states signed a Master Settlement Agreement with the largest tobacco manufacturers to pay for the state health care expenses attributed to smoking. At that time, a formula was created in law to distribute the funds. Every 2 years the State receives a payment for the settlement. This year Ohio received $763 million, of which $648.5 million went for our primary and secondary school construction projects.
In an effort to remove the Tax Expenditure Limitation (TEL) proposed constitutional amendment from the November ballot, an amendment was offered to the Tobacco Budget. This amendment placed into law a 3.5% spending growth cap per year on General Revenue Funds. If the total of our rate of population change and inflation rise by more than 3.5%, the cap would rise to this sum.
Our Secretary of State is the face of this constitutional ballot initiative. Editorial boards all over the state have come out fiercely against the proposed amendment to our constitution. In a compromise effort this TEL was placed in the Tobacco Budget and apparently these organizers of the amendment will remove the TEL from the ballot.
The constitutional ballot amendment was poorly drafted as it pertained to local governments. The TEL language dealing with local governments would have required 50% of all registered voters to vote “yes” to increase spending above the cap in any given year. Usually, 50% of registered voters do not vote, let alone vote the same way. So, regardless of a local community’s growth and a need for increased infrastructure, it would never be able to increase its spending, even when the revenue is present. The TEL in the Tobacco Budget did not include local governments.
I offered an amendment to exempt funding for our schools from the TEL limitation. I believe state government is under- funding our schools and forcing local property owners to pick up more of the funding burden. My amendment did not pass.
However, I voted “yes” for this bill because it had $648.5 million for School Construction projects.
House Bill 312, which passed the House in the past 2 weeks, was amended in the Senate. The original bill required the Board of Elections to certify there are handicapped parking spaces at the polling places. The Senate amendment permits withdrawal of statewide and local issue petitions from a ballot if a majority of the petitioning committee votes to withdraw the petition. I voted “yes”. The bill passed.
Another controversial measure was Substitute House Joint Resolution (HJR) 13 which changes the way Ohio congressional districts and state House and Senate districts are drawn. Redistricting occurs every 10 years and the party in power always draws the districts to their advantage. I truly would like to see an Ohio where both parties are strong and hold each other accountable. If this occurred, there would be fewer shenanigans with the taxpayers’ money.
I voted “no” on this Resolution because of several flaws in the redistricting plan. The system for drawing congressional lines would confer a significant, unfair advantage to one party. I believe any plan would need to have competitiveness as the most important criteria in drawing districts. Competitive districts are critical to better public policy.
Only when all other map-drawing criteria are in place would competitiveness become a factor. This will lead to far too many “ safe” districts where incumbents are protected. Substitute HJR 13 is a very good start for a redistricting plan, but it needs some work. I hope there will be continued hearings on this issue. The next time re-districting occurs is in 2011. If the Resolution passed, the re-districting plan would have been placed on the ballot in November for the voters to decide if our Constitution should be amended. The Resolution failed.
You can reach Jennifer Garrison at her Columbus office at 614-644-8728 or in the district at 740-373-2414 or by e-mail at jennifer@jennifergarrison.com. Her website is Riffe Center | 77 South High Street | Columbus Ohio 43215-6111 | (800) 282-0253 | District93@ohr.state.oh.us
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