House Finance Committee adopts omnibus amendment and favorably reports amended substitute House Bill 96, 19-10

The House Finance Committee on April 8 accepted an omnibus amendment to amended substitute House Bill 96 and favorably reported the bill to the Rules and Reference Committee by a 19-10 roll call vote.

The vote followed morning testimony from school and community witnesses about provisions in the state operating budget and items omitted from the proposal. Angie Hamburg, superintendent of the Westerville City School District, told the committee the district has relied on accumulated cash balances to manage ongoing deficits and warned that a recently proposed amendment to suspend property tax collections for districts with cash balances above 25% would be harmful. “The only band aid we have right now is our cash balance, and like many districts, losing it abruptly would be catastrophic for us,” Hamburg said. Julia Marino of the Junior League of Columbus, testifying about the Foster to College scholarship proposal that was left out of the budget, urged lawmakers to restore support for foster youth to help them access higher education.

Why it matters: amended substitute House Bill 96 is the state operating budget vehicle the committee…