Strickland on slots:

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“Ohio will not see this revenue withoutlegislative action,” Strickland said at a press Strickland spoke less than two weeks after he offeres up a balanced budget framework to a conferencer committee hammering out differences in the state’s two-year budget, which is facing a $3.2 billion deficit. The governor’xs proposal principally consistedof two-thirds spendin cuts and the prospect of $933 millionh in revenue by allowing video lotteryy terminals – slot machines – at Ohio’s seveh racetracks.
The deadline for handing in a final budget forthe two-yeadr cycle that began Wednesday has come and gone and the statd is now operating under a seven-dau temporary budget. Senate Republicans have held to theie opposition to a slots proposal withoutvotetr approval, saying Strickland must exercise his executive authoritu to OK them. Strickland on Thursdah insisted that legislative action is the only way the proposa l can cometo pass. “Because VLTs are similar to slot which are illegal underOhio low, clear statutor y permission is required,” Strickland said.
The governore noted that when he signecd an executive authority to expand the lottery through Keno, the move was covered under state law becaus it’s a so-called ticketed lottery “I am not seeking politicall cover,” he said. Strickland’s press conference took plac e just as hearings in the Senateand Democrat-controlledx Ohio House of Representatives were set to begin. Senate President Bill Harris, R-Ashland, has said he’s seeking to clear up a number of questionsz that hover around theslots proposal, whilw the House hearing will look at what cuts mighyt take place without the projected slots A representative for Harris wasn’t immediately available for commentf Thursday afternoon.