Kasich Administration Legislative Initiatives Expected Next Week

Kasich Administration Legislative Initiatives Expected Next Week Next week will see the introduction of the Kasich Administration’s general Mid-Biennium Budget Review (MBR) bill, along with separate MBR legislation that will be specific to education and energy policy. Hearings on the main MBR will begin in the House Finance and Appropriations Committee. The primary MBR will focus on Fiscal Year 2013 (starting July 1), and will include cuts to state agency budgets and little added spending. Although Fiscal Year 2012 Medicaid spending was under budget by more than $300 million through January, the federal matching funds percentage will go down in October for the first time in several years, aside from the phase-down of the special enhanced matching dollars under the federal stimulus legislation. The state assumed that the higher federal match rate currently in place would last throughout the biennium, so it will have to add state money to replace the lost federal funding. As has been widely reported, Governor Kasich is expected to propose an income tax cut, although it is tied to the availability of increased revenue from taxes on oil and gas production.

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