COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio House and Senate leaders have begun to negotiate on the state's massive operating budget, with significant differences at the forefront of their process. The Senate has non-negotiables. The House responds that nothing is set in stone.
The room where it happens — six lawmakers are tasked with debating two very different Ohio budgets.
"Clearly, we could pretty quickly identify where there are some larger differences between the two," House Finance Chair Brian Stewart (R-Ashville) said, but added that he didn't think they were "miles apart."
Only one budget will be passed by the end of June.
"It's not unusual at all to have beginning conference meetings with some major differences between the two," Senate Finance Chair Jerry Cirino (R-Kirtland) said, adding that the budgets have very large distinctions.
In February, Gov. Mike DeWine proposed his child care-centric budget, which is no longer being actively considered by the legislature.
RELATED: DeWine tries to protect school funding after GOP proposes cuts
In April, the House passed its conservative budget, mainly keeping funding levels the same for programs. However, the chamber slashed the expected education budget by hundreds of millions and changed Medicaid requirements and funding significantly.
RELATED: Ohio House passes state budget. Here are the highlights.
And in June, the Senate passed its business-focused budget. It also added back in $100 million in school funding, and it cut Medicaid further.
More about the budget:
RELATED: Ohio Senate passes budget, giving Browns $600M grant, tax cut to wealthy, changes school funding
It's now time for common ground. Representing the Senate are Cirino, Finance Vice Chair Brian Chavez (R-Marietta) and Ranking Member Paula Hicks-Hudson (D-Toledo). The House team is comprised of Stewart, Finance Vice Chair Mike Dovilla (R-Berea) and Ranking Member Bride Rose Sweeney (D-Westlake).
But just because Stewart and Cirino are from the same party — doesn’t mean they will agree.
"There are some things that neither side will compromise on," Cirino told me.
One of those Senate non-negotiables is its 2.75% flat income tax, meaning the highest earners in the state, those making more than $100,000 a year, will no longer have to pay 3.5% in income tax, making them equal to the lower tax bracket.
RELATED: Ohio Senate GOP moves to give wealthiest Ohioans tax cut
"It's going to put money in the hands of Ohioans," Cirino said.
State data reveals that this could result in a loss of more than $1.1 billion in the general revenue fund. Stewart isn’t fully on board.
"We would like to see some income tax relief," The House leader said. "I don't know if we have the same view today that we need to get there entirely in this budget."
The billion dollars would be made up by cutting a majority of social services that mainly benefit lower-income families and specific provisions that House members put in to help their communities.
RELATED: Ohio food banks could lose millions in funding under proposed state budget
"How do you feel that they took out a lot of the House's earmarks?" I asked Stewart.
"I think that we prepared our budget based on what our members wanted to see. I certainly don't begrudge the Senate preparing a budget based on what their members want to see," he replied. "But now we've got to get to 50+ votes in the House, and I think that our members have an expectation that a lot of their priorities are going to be considered, and that's what we're going to fight for over the next week."
The Senate also doesn’t want to compromise on its $600 million grant for the Cleveland Browns' new stadium using unclaimed funds.
RELATED: Proposal to fund new Browns stadium made this website very popular
"There are some things that we believe in strongly," Cirino said.
The House's version proposed borrowing $600 million by issuing bonds. Speaker Matt Huffman, noting that he likes the Senate's idea, raised questions about the other chamber's proposal.
"The specifics of that seem to be vague," he said, further referencing what the unclaimed funds could be used for in the future. "I don't think they know all of the details of it yet."
Sweeney, the House Democrats representative, said she is on the defensive.
"I actually have had very productive meetings, not on some of the big topics, [but] of how we can make real changes to some of the harmful provisions the Senate put in," she said.
Last week, she told me that she thinks both the House and the Senate's budgets were bad, but that the Senate's was worse.
At the end of the day, Stewart is confident he can push back against Cirino.
"I don't call anything non-negotiable," Stewart chuckled.
Cirino said that everyone on the committee respects each other, and there are policy differences, but the GOP is still on the same team.
"We're going to work in good faith to resolve those differences," Cirino said.
A final budget is expected to be passed next week.
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