Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland said Monday that he will reluctantly sign another seven-day temporary state budget as a stalemate continues with Senate Republicans over a video slot machine proposal.
The Republican-controlled Senate is set to take up House Bill 245 on Monday. The legislation covers state operations from Wednesday through July 14. Strickland last week signed a first temporary budget that expires Tuesday.
The interim budget is in place as Strickland and Senate Republicans remain at an impasse on a proposal the governor offered up more than two weeks ago to help plug a $3.2 billion budget hole by installing video lottery terminals at the state’s seven horse racing tracks. Republicans have said the proposal, part of a larger budget framework to balance the two-year budget that began last Wednesday, is short on details. Strickland on Monday reiterated his stance that the stalled talks are little more than “partisan political games.”
The Senate has been holding hearings in an effort to garner more details on the slots proposal, while the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives has initiated hearings on the potential effect of more cuts in the absence of the projected $933 million in slots revenue.
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