Senate Overrides Six Budget Vetoes; Medicaid MCO Tax Item Still Undecided

The General Assembly clawed some power over the state’s Medicaid program away from Gov. John Kasich Tuesday as the Senate voted to override six of the governor’s 47 vetoes in the biennial budget bill (HB 49).

Most of the items overridden Tuesday dealt with the Medicaid program, and two concerned the authority of the Controlling Board to authorize expenditures. 

Absent from the Senate’s override votes was a veto of a key budget provision designed to provide counties and transit authorities with more funding in the wake of the replacement of the Medicaid managed care sales tax. That issue, and others, could be considered later this year.

The House voted to override eleven different budget vetoes in July. (See Gongwer Ohio Report, July 6, 2017, Full veto list)

The Controlling Board provisions included the veto (#3) of an item that would limit the amount of money the panel could appropriate to half of one percent of the General Revenue Fund, about $165 million. The Senate voted 23-10 to override that provision.

Another Controlling Board item was a veto (#34) of a budget provision giving the legislature, instead of the board, more control over Medicaid spending if the federal government’s matching rate changes. The Senate overrode the veto on a 23-10 vote.

The legislature also clawed back control over Medicaid optional eligibility groups, with the Senate voting 23-10 to follow the House’s override of a veto (#23) placing that authority solely in the hands of the General Assembly.

Some items the Senate voted to override were not overly controversial within the legislature. One dealing with Medicaid rates for neonatal and newborn services (#26), which the Senate chose to override by a vote of 33-0, passed the House 96-0.

Another override (#31), of a provision added by lawmakers to delay the state’s behavioral health Medicaid redesign, specifically the move of behavioral services into managed care, by six months, cleared the Senate by a vote of 33-0. It passed the House 95-2.