How much credence should state and local legislators give to the picture of a state or city painted by business climate rankings? That’s the question University of Iowa economist Peter Fisher answers in Grading Places, published in June 2005 by the Economic Policy Institute. Fisher’s critique of five major business ranking indices reveals the biases that underlie them, disputes their methodology, and concludes they do not work as yardsticks of economic potential.

The five indexes critiqued at length are the Small Business Survival Index, the State Business Tax Climate Index, the Metro Area and State Competitiveness Report, the Fiscal Policy Report Card on America’s Governors, and the Economic Freedom Index. The indices vary widely in their outcomes, but have one thing in common: They claim that lower taxes and fewer government regulations are better, and draw policy recommendations from those conclusions. Fisher shows they do not do a very good job of measuring what it is they claim to measure, and they do not, for the most part, set out to measure the right things to begin with. 

Full Report

The worry behind the governor’s feat
By Michael Douglas

The Akron Beacon Journal

State Sen. Marc Dann neatly framed the mystery surrounding Bob Taft and his failure to report golf rounds as gifts on his financial-disclosure statements. The Youngstown Democrat explained to reporters last week that the governor “lives in a bubble,” with schedulers and other minders ushering him through practically every step.

They missed such details? Even with Taft lecturing others about the need to comply with every letter of ethics requirements?

Dann and his colleagues won’t relent in attempting to apply the classic scandal hold to Republicans: The misdeeds, from Thomas Noe, the coin con man, to the governor’s evidently forgettable golf game, suggest either willful pay-to-play or merely miserable management. Corrupt or bungling? Neither option flatters.

Actually, it could be worse — for the rest of us. The Statehouse buzzed last week, even talk of resignation on tongues, ludicrous as the notion seemed. All but missed in the frenzy was passage of the two-year, $51.2 billion state budget, including, most notably, a sweeping overhaul of the way Ohio taxes businesses. The extent of the tax changes can hardly be exaggerated. (All the details have yet to be fully pondered.) Recall the early 1970s, the state first adopting an income tax? This effort represents the most dramatic change since then.

During the next five years, the state will eliminate the corporate franchise tax (on profits or net value). Gone, too, will be the tangible personal property tax, on business inventory and equipment, inviting cheers of good riddance, outmoded and punishing as it is.

In their place? A commercial activity tax, a levy on gross receipts.

Bruce Johnson, the lieutenant governor and director of the state Department of Development, pitches the new tax as “one of the most fair and innovative in the nation.” Add unique, Ohio fashioning its own version of a tax applied by a mere handful of states. Might Ohioans be concerned that all of this has been championed by a governor and team that botched the mandated reporting of his golf dates?

As a concept, the commercial activity tax has a certain appeal. It features the key elements of a sound tax, a broad base and a low rate, 0.26 percent on virtually all business transactions. In that way, the thinking goes, the state raises sufficient revenue without too many businesses complaining about an onerous take and clamoring for relief in the form of various breaks, exemptions and loopholes.

Those who are most enthusiastic gush that the bulk of businesses will hardly notice the bite. They insist the microscopic rate will draw firms to set up shop in Ohio, or at least remain and expand here, all of it triggering the long-needed economic rebirth.

The governor talks about the tax reflecting the “benefit principle,” that businesses should pay taxes based on the services they receive from state and local governments (roads, water, sewer and the like), no matter how profitable they are. Reasonable as that may sound, it represents a stark departure, the state operating for years (at least in theory) on the notion that businesses should pay taxes based mostly on the money they make.

Grocers and other high-volume, low-margin firms have cried foul. Critics have warned about the pyramiding effect, the tax levied at each step of a business process, the accumulated impact packing more punch than the low rate would suggest. As the measure wound through the legislature, lobbyists took their whacks, and the troubling thing has been how successful they have proved. A tax that supposedly eschews the relevance of profits has already been nicked here and there by special interests concerned about the impact on their bottom line.

Petroleum marketers won a temporary exemption. That prompted state Rep. Dale Miller, a Cleveland Democrat, to wonder aloud about the threat of creeping inconsistency, even to ask: Why not treat grocery stores the same way? Bill Harris, the Senate president, explained that the petroleum crowd made a more persuasive case about the disproportionate effect, even waving the threat of job losses.

Equally persuasive, apparently, were financial institutions and insurance companies, plus foreign trade zones and those promoting a development at the Rickenbacker Airport in Columbus. They all won exemptions. The point isn’t that these episodes of tax relief will soon cost the state a gusher of money. They won’t. Rather, the erosion has already begun — before the tax has become law.

The governor has the option of using his line-item veto to strike the exemptions from the final budget. If he does, that will do little to ease worries about the special pleading to come once the many complexities and other wrinkles surface. Any tax code is vulnerable to such forays. Look at the holes in the corporate franchise tax. In this case, the concerns are compounded. Noble as the commercial activity tax may appear on paper, it has become widely despised in places such as the state of Washington.

Taft and company insist they have learned from others. Let’s hope so (knowing the governor’s tenure will expire before the tax takes full effect). There is reason to doubt, beyond the golfing goofs. Policy Matters Ohio measured the demise of the corporate franchise tax and the tangible personal property tax against the likely revenue raised by the commercial activity tax. The Cleveland think tank found the state short roughly $600 million a year.

Isn’t one key principle of a sound tax system its capacity to cover the cost of state needs and priorities?

Springfield News-Sun

by Claire Bushey

An Ohio think tank released a report Thursday showing Clark County has the state’s fourth highest foreclosure rate, quantifying the continuation of a problem that has bedeviled city officials and nonprofits for almost a decade.

Policy Matters Ohio, a Cleveland-based research institute, released data that showed 894 foreclosures were filed in Clark County in 2004, or one foreclosure for every 159 people.

“We’ve been high for several years,” said Kerri Brammer, lending manager for Neighborhood Housing Partnership. “It’s our concern that it’s going to continue to get worse before it gets better.”

The report listed Montgomery, Cuyahoga and Highland counties as having the state’s three highest foreclosure rates. In Montgomery, which contains Dayton, one foreclosure was filed for every 137 people.

The foreclosure problem is spread across the state, said Zach Schiller, research director for Policy Matters Ohio. Ohio’s foreclosure filings have tripled since 1994.

Clark County recorded 135 foreclosures in 1996.

The report blamed high foreclosure rates on the weak economy and predatory lending. Ohioans have suffered underemployment and job losses. At the same time, subprime lenders have extended loans to people who can’t afford them, Schiller said.

Appraisal fraud and consumers’ lack of money management skills also contribute to the high rate, Brammer said.

“It’s a combination of stuff, and that’s why we’re so much pushing (financial) education,” she said.

Nancy Flinchbaugh, Springfield’s fair housing and mediation coordinator, participated in Partnership for Success, a program established to provide the Springfield Funders Forum with recommendations for combatting various problems, including foreclosures. The forum includes city and county governments, the Turner Foundation, the Springfield Foundation and United Way.

The program’s recommendations include early intervention when a homeowner falls behind on the mortgage, increased counseling for those considering buying a home, and more financial education in school. The program’s findings will be presented June 29.

Schiller said Policy Matters Ohio supports licensing real estate appraisers and including mortgage lending in the Consumer Sales Protection Act.

“This would prohibit unfair, deceptive and unconscionable acts between mortgage lenders and their customers and give consumers the right to bring private suits for lending fraud,” stated a similar report the institute released in 2004.

Predatory lending exists, but consumers also live beyond their means, Flinchbaugh said.

Meanwhile, there’s a reluctance to stop the problem because extending credit to people who can’t manage it fuels the economy.

“I don’t think there’s any simple solution,” she said.

The Toledo Blade

Lucas and Wood counties have the dubious distinction of ranking among the highest in the state for foreclosures last year.

A report released yesterday shows Lucas County with 2,766 such actions on housing in 2004, or one for every 163 people, enough to rank sixth highest among Ohio’s 88 counties.

Wood ranked lower by that measure, but its increase in foreclosures from the year before was 30 percent, or the third greatest increase among the state’s counties.

Statewide, there were 59,007 new foreclosure filings last year, up 3.4 percent from the year before, said Policy Matters Ohio, a Cleveland non-profit research group. That’s one for every 194 people.

“The growth has leveled off,” said Zach Schiller, research director for Policy Matters. “We’re not seeing the kind of disastrous increases that we saw in the 1990s and the early part of this decade.”

But, he said, the number of foreclosures filed last year “is still bad news. We have one foreclosure for slightly more than every 100 people in the state of Ohio.

“Year after year, you can see the devastation in neighborhoods.”

Foreclosure occurs when a homeowner fails to make payments on his or her mortgage and the lender seeks to seize the property to recover its money. It typically isn’t used until the delinquency is months old.

Filings increase last year, Mr. Mr. Schiller said, because of the state’s continuing weak economy, predatory lending, and the growth of sub-prime lending.

Another key indicator may be bankruptcy filings, which have soared in northwest Ohio the past few years.

The increase in foreclosures exceeded the state average last year for six area counties: Hancock, Henry, Lucas, Sandusky, Van Wert, and Wood. However, number of filings dropped in 10 other northwest Ohio counties.

The Policy Matters study examined the filings only by Ohio county, looking at figures from 1994, 2003, and 2004, as well as calculating the population per filing last year.

It collects information from court records.

For the past decade, the growth in filings placed five northwest Ohio counties among the top 10 in the state.

Williams ranked No. 1 foreclosures climbing more than 1,600 percent, from 8 to 139. Its rate last year, however, dropped 9 percent from the previous year. No. 2 was Fulton County, up 978 percent to 97, but its filings dropped 28 percent last year from the year before.

Others area counties among the tops in growth for the decade were Seneca, No. 4, up 838 percent; Van Wert, No. 6, up 672 percent; and Paulding, No. 10, up 593 percent.

Lucas County had nearly a 200 percent increase since 1994, ranking it No. 69 among 88 counties. Wood’s was up 273 percent, placing it No. 57.

For growth in new filings last year from 2003, only Wood and Henry ranked high. Henry County, home to Napoleon, was fifth highest because of a 27 percent increase, with 100 new cases last year.

Because Henry is a relatively small county, one year’s growth should be kept in perspective, said Mr. Schiller, of Policy Matters.

Statewide, filings have more than tripled in a decade. In 53 of 88 counties, the number of foreclosures has at least quadrupled in the 10 years, and 50 of the 88 had a jump in filings last year from the year before.

Ohio’s 10 largest counties, including Lucas, have just over half of the state’s population but account for nearly two thirds of the foreclosures.

______________________________________________________________

Highest foreclosure rates by county
The figures are the number of people per foreclosure filing in 2004.

• Montgomery, 137
• Cuyahoga, 139
• Highland, 153
• Clark, 160
• Brown, 160
• Lucas, 163
• Summit, 163
• Marion, 168
• Ashtabula, 169
• Clinton, 175

SOURCE: POLICY MATTERS OHIO

Hamilton Journal News

by Cathy Mong and Shaheen Samavati Cox News Service

With 1,952 foreclosure filings in 2004, Butler County ranked 11th among the 88 counties in the state in filings per capita. That equates to one foreclosure filing for every 177.5 people in the county.

From 2003 to last year, the number of foreclosure filings in Butler County increased five percent. For the decade between 1994 and 2004, the number of county filings grew more than 300 percent.

Neighboring Warren County ranked 46 in per capita foreclosure filings last year with a reported 778 filings, or a 243.3 per capita rate. Filings there were up 8 percent since 2003 and 468 percent since 1994.

The two counties were among 50 in the state that saw filing increases compared to 2003.

Butler County was fifth in per capita filing rates among Ohio s top 10 most populated counties.

For the second year in a row, Montgomery County leads the state in the number of foreclosures per person.

According to Policy Matters Ohio, a Cleveland-based research organization, 4,002 foreclosures were filed in 2004 among the county s 550,063 residents that’s one filing per 137.4 people.

Cuyahoga County was second, with one filing per 138.6 people. The county with the lowest rate is Athens in southeast Ohio, with one filing per 526.6 people.

The report notes the number of foreclosures has risen dramatically over the last decade everywhere in Ohio, with 81 of the state s 88 counties reporting the number of filings at least doubling in that period. In 53 counties, the number of filings at least quadrupled.

Reasons cited for the continued high numbers of filings include the state’s weak economy, predatory lending and the growth of non-conforming loans, known as subprime lending.

Subprime loans carry higher rates, fees and other costs than prime, or A rated, loans. In addition, subprime loans have default and foreclosure rates five to 10 times higher
than those for A rated loans.

Filings in Montgomery County are at about the same level as last year, but overall have almost quadrupled since 1994.

It is starting to level off, but at a high level, said Zach Schiller, research director of Policy Matters Ohio.

There’s no question this is a problem that’s been going on in Montgomery County and is continuing, he said.

Denise Lee, spokeswoman for the Ohio Commerce Department, said the department is pleased to see a leveling off.

Certainly we have a lot of work to do, she said, noting that their mission is to focus on reducing foreclosures.

We do that by educating consumers. People can avoid problems if they go into a transaction cautiously, she said.

A year ago, Policy Matters Ohio found that there was a 57 percent increase in properties put up for sale by county sheriffs statewide from 2001 to 2003.

In that survey of sheriffs, a majority responded that predatory lending is the biggest single factor leading to foreclosures, Schiller said.

Predatory lending covers practices such as deceptive, high-cost loans with excessive interest rates, fees and penalties.

The county s dubious standing comes as no surprise to Montgomery County Sheriff Dave Vore, whose 2004 figures for orders to sell property showed 5,014 because of mortgage arrears, and 398 for nonpayment of property taxes. That’s up from 3,469 foreclosures because of nonpayment of mortgages and 47 for tax arrears in 2003.

Vore said foreclosed property sold at auction brings less than market value and can bring down a neighborhood’s property values.

Butler County Bureau reporter Chris Dumond contributed to this report.

Dayton Daily News

by By Cathy Mong, Shaheen Samavati

DAYTON | For the second year in a row, Montgomery County leads the state in the number of foreclosures per person.

According to Policy Matters Ohio, a Cleveland-based research organization, 4,002 foreclosures were filed in 2004 among the county’s 550,063 residents — that’s one filing per 137.4 people.

Cuyahoga County was second, with one filing per 138.6 people. The county with the lowest rate is Athens in southeast Ohio, with one filing per 526.6 people.

The report notes that the number of foreclosures has risen dramatically over the last decade everywhere in Ohio, with 81 of the state’s 88 counties reporting the number of filings at least doubling in that period. In 53 counties, the number of filings at least quadrupled.

Reasons cited for the continued high numbers of filings include the state’s weak economy, predatory lending and the growth of non-conforming loans, known as subprime lending. Subprime loans carry higher rates, fees and other costs than prime, or “A” rated, loans. In addition, subprime loans have default and foreclosure rates five to 10 times higher than those for “A” rated loans.

Filings in Montgomery County are at about the same level as last year, but overall have almost quadrupled since 1994.

It is starting to level off, but at a high level, said Zach Schiller, research director of Policy Matters Ohio.

“There’s no question this is a problem that’s been going on in Montgomery County and is continuing,” he said.

Denise Lee, spokeswoman for the Ohio Commerce Department, said the department is pleased to see a leveling off. “Certainly we have a lot of work to do,” she said, noting that their mission is to focus on reducing foreclosures.

“We do that by educating consumers. People can avoid problems if they go into a transaction cautiously,” she said.

A year ago, Policy Matters Ohio found that there was a 57 percent increase in properties put up for sale by county sheriffs statewide from 2001 to 2003. In that survey of sheriffs, a majority responded that predatory lending is the biggest single factor leading to foreclosures, Schiller said.

Predatory lending covers practices such as deceptive, high-cost loans with excessive interest rates, fees and penalties.

The county’s dubious standing comes as no surprise to Montgomery County Sheriff Dave Vore, whose 2004 figures for orders to sell property showed 5,014 because of mortgage arrears, and 398 for nonpayment of property taxes. That’s up from 3,469 foreclosures because of nonpayment of mortgages and 47 for tax arrears in 2003.

Vore said foreclosed property sold at auction brings less than market value and can bring down a neighborhood’s property values.

“It’s tragic,” he said. “All you have to do is look around and see abandoned houses, abandoned apartment buildings, creating a blight on the landscape.”

With the rise of foreclosures comes an increase in clients using the Consumer Credit Counseling Service of the Miami Valley.

“The worst thing you can do is hide your head in the sand and pretend there’s nothing you can do” to prevent foreclosure, said Bill Staler, director of the nonprofit, HUD-approved housing counseling agency.

“We urge you to communicate with your mortgage company or lender,” Staler said. “Most mortgage companies don’t want to take your house back. Most good lenders have programs and special services for people who are experiencing difficulty.”

Dan Foley, Montgomery County clerk of courts, has crunched several years worth of data that show an increase of more than 200 percent in the number of foreclosure filings the last five to six years.

“I think the reasons for the increase is job losses and part of it is predatory lending,” he said.

Foley said a map showing locations of foreclosures shows the northwest Dayton area around Salem Avenue as being “hit hard. How can we build communities where their ravaged property values go down? If makes people not feel good about their neighborhood.” He said the telephone help line could be very beneficial.

“We know you can’t save every foreclosure, but if there’s a way to call and learn how to repay or access an emergency loan for 30 days, then maybe we could do some good,” Foley said.

To see the state report on foreclosures, go to www.policymattersohio.org and click on “Foreclosure Growth in Ohio: A Brief Update.”

For a look at Montgomery County foreclosure statistics, go to www.clerk.co.montgomery.oh.us and click under “civil.” Open “sheriff foreclosures.”

The Hannah Report

• Gov. Bob Taft awarded more than $1.1 million in grants to five colleges and one career center to provide advanced training for Ohio’s skilled workforce and said this advanced training will help companies to further the skills of existing workers and to prepare those who will need to replace a growing number of retiring employees in the coming years.

• Gov. Bob Taft presented General Dynamics Land Systems’ Joint Systems Manufacturing Center with a $680,000 grant from the Ohio Worker Guarantee Program, enabling the company to recruit and train the highly skilled workforce needed for its expanded manufacturing operation. The $50 million project is expected to retain 494 positions and create 100 jobs.

• Lt. Gov. Bruce Johnson awarded Ottawa County a $439,300 grant for an economic development expansion project that will support a $1.6 million project that is expected to create 21 jobs.

• Policy Matters Ohio said foreclosures were on the rise in Ohio in 2004 noting that foreclosure filings rose three percent for a second year in a row, after years of larger increases. The group said foreclosures have leveled off, but at an extremely high level. Fifty of the state’s 88 counties saw increases in foreclosure filings in 2004.

• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed that pay and fringe benefit costs in the five-state eastern Midwest region, which includes Ohio, have jumped 4.5 percent in a year. This is faster than the national average and keeps area labor costs far ahead of those in the South — a major competitor for factories.

• Ohio’s unemployment rate was 6.1 percent in May — a full percentage point behind the national unemployment rate of 5.1 percent for May, according to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS). ODJFS also reported that Ohio’s May rate remained unchanged from the April rate as Ohio’s nonfarm wage and salary employment rose 4,700 over the month, from 5,427,000 in April to 5,431,700 in May.

Gongwer News Service

The state’s home foreclosure rate increased by 3% in 2004, the second consecutive year with the same increase, according to a report released Thursday by Policy Matters Ohio.

Although the report indicates that the 3% growth rate represents a leveling off of foreclosures, it notes that foreclosure growth has quadrupled over the last ten years.

“While tracing the reasons for the continuing high level of new foreclosures is difficult a Policy Matters Ohio report last year cited Ohio’s weak economy, predatory lending and thegrowth of subprime lending as factors,” the report notes.

In a 2004 survey, PMO said sheriffs indicated that predatory lending was the top contributing factor to foreclosures. “There is little reason to believe that these factors, including the growth of subprime lending, have changed significantly,” the report notes.

The report says the highest per-person foreclosure rate was posted in Montgomery County, with one foreclosure for every 137 people. Also ranking high in the category were Cuyahoga, Highland, Clark and Brown counties.

It indicates that the most significant increase in new filings, by percentage, was recorded in Meigs, Holmes, Wood and Crawford counties.

The Hannah Report

Policy Matters Ohio (PMO), a Cleveland research group, reported Thursday that foreclosures continued to rise in Ohio in 2004. PMO, which analyzed data from the Ohio Supreme Court, which updates previous reports on the subject that provide more history and explanation, said Ohio’s foreclosure filings rose three percent for a second year in a row, after years of larger increases.

According to PMO, growth in foreclosures has leveled off, but at an extremely high level; in 53 Ohio counties, the number of foreclosure filings has at least quadrupled over the past decade. Fifty of the state’s 88 counties saw increases in foreclosure filings in 2004.

The Akron Beacon Journal

By Dennis J. Willard and Doug Oplinger

COLUMBUS – Gov. Bob Taft will have 10 days to peruse, review and possibly apply his line-item veto pen to a new two-year state budget as lawmakers prepare to vote today to pass the $51.2 billion spending plan.

Republican House and Senate members are prepared to enact the broadest overhaul of Ohio tax laws in more than 50 years — changes that over time will shift the cost of paying for some governmental services from the state to localities.

The broad tax changes, touted as a way to kick-start Ohio’s ailing economy and to create jobs, are reminiscent of President Reagan’s trickle-down theories: The government reduces taxes on business and the wealthy with the view that the additional dollars will be reinvested in the state.

The two-year budget tackles the two largest spending items: Medicaid, by reducing overall funding for costly nursing homes; and public education by providing little or no increases to many of Ohio’s 612 school districts.

The growing cost of primary, secondary and higher education will be passed along to homeowners and families, in part because the state will shift more school funding onto local real estate taxes. Public universities will be allowed to raise tuition by 6 percent a year — about twice the rate of inflation.

Details of the budget provisions were sketchy after a six-member conference committee worked throughout the weekend to resolve more than 500 differences between separate House and Senate budget bills passed earlier this year.

There were no plans to release an analysis of the bill until today — when lawmakers in both chambers are expected to vote on the compromise.

Democrats skeptical

Democrats are expected to withhold support, arguing the budget does little to address school funding, equitable taxation and funding for the poor.

“Overall the budget looks out more for the top 5 percent of the income brackets. The middle class will not have the benefit of this budget,” said state Sen. Tom Roberts, D-Dayton.

Two years ago, Taft’s efforts to overhaul Ohio’s tax code were rebuffed, as were his efforts to control nursing home costs.

Mark Rickel, Taft’s spokesman, said the governor’s tax plan is about to pass intact.

“The governor has worked on this historic tax reform and is pleased the state is on course to a new tax code that will attract business and create jobs,” Rickel said.

Sen. Ron Amstutz, R-Wooster, a conference committee member, said the bill lays “the best economic strategy the state could advance.” He added that the reforms shift the tax burden from business investment and apply the tax code in a broader way across the economy.

“It will be the centerpiece of the state’s role in redeveloping the state’s economy. Not the only piece, however, because we have more work to do,” he said.

Expected changes

After the governor signs the bill (required by June 30):

• The personal income tax rate will be cut 21 percent across the board.

• The corporate franchise tax on business will be replaced with a new commercial activity tax.

• Business taxes on inventory, machinery and equipment — the personal tangible property tax — will be phased out.

• The state’s temporary 1 percent sales tax destined to expire July 1 will be replaced with a permanent half-percent increase.

Zach Schiller, a researcher at Ohio Policy Matters, said he is concerned that the restructuring may not adequately fund the budget and cuts taxes that are generated at the local level.

“The biggest issue here is that they cut the income tax substantially in a way that will reduce state revenue,” he said.

Last-minute surprises

The weekend session included some last-minute surprises.

A Republican amendment would stop anyone from running simultaneously in a congressional primary while seeking nomination for governor in next year’s primary.

The measure apparently was aimed at U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland, D-Lisbon, who plans to run for governor next year.

Strickland, however, said Monday that someone was wasting time, because he never intended to run in both primaries.

To do so, “would discredit me,” he said.

Strickland said he first learned of the provision Monday while reading a newspaper. On the same page, he said, was a story about more Ohioans in poverty.

“I wish the legislature was more concerned about the serious things than political strategies,” he said.

Lawmakers also surprised the health-care community that has been tackling Ohio’s high smoking rate that contributes to the state’s poor health record.

The conference committee raided the state’s tobacco settlement fund of $216 million to pay for school construction; managed care for aged, blind and disabled Medicaid recipients; lung cancer; and disease research.

Susan Jagers, vice president of government relations for the American Cancer Society, said her organization was shocked to see the money moved in the final hours of deliberation Sunday.

“Keeping our kids from smoking is obviously a low priority for this General Assembly,” Jagers said.

The Ohio Tobacco Use Prevention and Control Foundation began promoting anti-smoking programs in 2002 with initial startup money, and points to such successes as youth smoking down 45 percent and 375,000 fewer adult smokers in Ohio.

State lawmakers have earmarked $568 million in settlement dollars elsewhere since 2002.

In recent weeks, revised estimates for revenues provided lawmakers with an additional $800 million to spend along with a $500 million budget surplus for the fiscal year ending June 30.

The new money provided lawmakers an opportunity to restore severe cuts in local government funds and to kill a plan to increase the kilowatt-hour tax on electricity.

Lawmakers also included a $750,000 funding bump for Ohio Inspector General Tom Charles to hire an independent firm to investigate the unfolding Bureau of Workers’ Compensation investment scandal.

GOP operative Tom Noe allegedly lost $12 million to $14 million after being given $55.4 million to invest in rare coins. A Pittsburgh firm lost another $215 million it was managing in a $350 million hedge fund.