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State Budget Bill Passes House; Includes Small APS Increase

Reported from Gongwer News Service:

Ohio's two-year operating budget is headed to the Senate after the bill (HB 49) cleared the House Tuesday. The bill passed 58-37 mostly along party lines, although a group of conservative lawmakers voted in opposition and a handful of Democrats lent their support. Republicans touted the nearly $123 billion biennial spending document as one in which growth was restrained to below the rate of inflation, and in which the House cut spending by $2.5 billion over the biennium compared to the version introduced by Gov. John Kasich. "We needed to identify our spending priorities with the limited resources we had available," Finance Chairman Rep. Ryan Smith (R-Bidwell) said.

Among the changes made last week by the House Finance Committee is a modest increase of $250,000 per year for Adult Protective Services, amounting to an increase of about $2800 per county per year. The Ohio Coalition for Adult Protective Services and many other org