DaytonDailyNews.com

COLUMBUS — "Jobs, jobs, jobs" was the theme in the Ohio Senate as members overwhelmingly approved a $1.3 billion capital improvements budget and a $1.57 billion bipartisan economic stimulus plan.

Senate President Bill Harris, R-Ashland, said after the votes on Wednesday, May 28, that he hoped the House would accept changes the Senate made in the bills.

However, House Speaker Jon Husted, R-Kettering, said it is likely a House-Senate conference committee would be needed to iron out minor differences in the capital budget and that he has not decided whether to accept the Senate version of the stimulus plan.

Senators approved the capital budget 32-0, including two provisions that Gov. Ted Strickland has vowed to line-item veto — delaying the closing of Twin Valley Behavioral Healthcare in Dayton for six months and earmarking $6.3 million for a mental health crisis center in Dayton.

They approved the economic stimulus plan 30-2 after adding an amendment that Strickland also vowed to veto. It says that money in the stimulus plan's biomedical development program "shall not be used, directly or indirectly, to pay costs, or otherwise support any activities, involving human cloning."

Separately, the Senate voted to put a bond issue on the November ballot to raise $400 million for the Clean Ohio program, part of the stimulus plan. The bond issue would provide $200 million to preserve farmland and green space and $200 million to clean up polluted brownfields.

Closing Twin Valley by June 30, as well as another mental hospital in Cambridge, is part of Strickland's plan to close a potential $733 million hole in the two-year operating budget. The $6.3 million would come from $8 million in the capital budget for crisis care centers across the state.

Husted said after the Senate vote that he's "willing to look at other funding options" for the $6.3 million but that it is the minimum needed for Dayton as it tries to continue serving the community's mental health needs without Twin Valley.

Keith Dailey, Strickland's spokesman, said that "the governor and his administration continue to reach out to the Dayton community" and are willing to "continue talking with the legislature to find an agreeable solution." Husted said that he had not seen one from the administration yet.

Overall, the capital budget includes $16.3 million for Dayton-area projects with the potential of creating 1,400 jobs. The budget includes millions more for projects at area universities.

Backers of both bills said they're needed for job creation at a time when Ohio is struggling economically.

Sen. Bill Seitz, R-Cincinnati, invoked the memory of former four-term Republican Gov. James A. Rhodes, who made "jobs and progress" his theme. Rhodes died at 91 in 2001.

"One of my heroes is Jim Rhodes," said Seitz. "To me, this is exactly what Jim Rhodes would do."

The stimulus plan is aimed at creating thousand of jobs, building roads and bridges and keeping talented young people in Ohio.

Dailey said the way the anti-cloning provision is worded would "severely restrict the ability of the state to research cancer, diabetes and other illnesses through stem cell research."

Strickland also is concerned about a provision in the stimulus plan that calls for taking $200 million from the state's $1.1 billion "rainy day fund" to pay for public works projects but has not made a "firm decision" on whether to veto that item, Dailey said.

Contact this reporter at (614) 224-1608 or whershey@DaytonDailyNews.com.

Dayton-area projects

Vote for this story!