Strickland, Legislators Reach Budget Deal

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland will sign an executive order to authorize racetrack slots as part of a compromise with legislative leaders to break a budget stalemate, officials said Friday.

The order is the linchpin of a budget compromise with Senate Republicans, who have in turn agreed to include language in the $54 billion, two-year state budget that clarifies state gambling law to protect the state from lawsuits.

David Zanotti, executive director of the anti-gambling Ohio Roundtable, said his group will follow through with threats to sue over the slots move.

"Last time I checked, he was elected governor, not king," Zanotti said. "It'll be interesting if the governor has the courage to take this stand in court and explain to the people of Ohio how in 1973 their vote (in favor of the Ohio Lottery) authorized casino-style gambling in racetracks in this state. I'm anxious to hear his testimony in court."

House Speaker Armond Budish, a Beachwood Democrat, announced Friday afternoon that the compromise had been reached among the Democrat-led House, Republican-led Senate and Strickland.

The three had been locked in an impasse since the governor announced June 19 that he had changed his stance on lottery-run slots and would rely on them to help balance the budget.

Strickland has insisted that some action by the Legislature is required in connection with the slots plan, because Ohio law prohibits "schemes of chance," which include slots and the governor's authority to expand the lottery with a non-ticketed game is legally tenuous.

Senate President Bill Harris argued that Strickland either should use his executive authority to add slots to the Ohio Lottery or take the question to the ballot. Ohio voters have repeatedly rejected efforts to expand gambling.

The logjam made the state miss its June 30 budget deadline for the first time in 18 years. The second of two seven-day interim budgets expires Tuesday.

No matter Strickland's haste in signing the executive order, a third temporary budget will probably be needed to allow enough time to draft changes to the voluminous final budget bill. A budget conference committee is scheduled to resume its public meetings Monday, said Budish spokesman Keary McCarthy.

The governor's executive order will contain his original slots proposal, which allows the Ohio Lottery to operate 2,500 VLTs at each of Ohio's seven horse racing tracks. It will not include a provision that would have allowed track owners to recoup their investments if voters pass a fall ballot issue legalizing casinos.

The cooling of tensions comes as the deadlocked state leaders encounter growing frustration from those left in limbo as a result of the budget impasse, including nursing home operators, county welfare agencies, food banks and school districts.

Columbus City Schools Superintendent Gene Harris, who oversees the state's largest public school district, urged lawmakers in a public plea Thursday to resolve their differences or risk hurting kids.

She said the district has time-sensitive plans in place for improving education that have been put on hold because of the budget uncertainty.

"Continuing (budget) resolutions inhibit planning for the upcoming school year and in many ways close a window of opportunity for our students, causing irreparable disruption to the educational process," she said.

“Under the bipartisan agreement, I will issue a directive instructing Ohio’s Lottery director to expeditiously take all necessary actions to implement video lottery terminals at Ohio racetracks. The General Assembly will acknowledge the Lottery’s authority to implement video lottery terminals and provide for a statutory definition of video lottery terminals and other implementation requirements in House Bill 1, the operating budget bill,” Strickland said.

Senate President Bill Harris said, “The Governor has indicated that he intends to use an executive order to direct the Ohio Lottery Commission to install video lottery terminals at Ohio racetracks. As I have said many times in the past few weeks, I believe he has the authority to do that and that I would be willing to pass legislation to implement it. As such, I have agreed to include language in the conference committee report that will acknowledge his authority to expand the Lottery.

“I look forward to completing our work on a two-year state budget on Monday.”