Ohio PLF Funds update

From Michelle Francis, Ohio Library Council: 
 
"Budget Update – Yesterday the Ohio Senate began informal hearings on HB 64, the biennial budget bill, and later today the Ohio House will officially pass their version of the bill.

As the Senate began their proceedings yesterday, they indicated that they would start with FY 2015 as a baseline and wouldn’t necessarily start with the House’s version of the budget bill. We need to let Senators know that we need to keep the House language changing the PLF percentage to 1.7% of the total General Revenue Fund (GRF). This will be our primary focus on Legislative Day and our advocacy efforts over the next 8 weeks. This is extremely important and we will need you to make contacts in the Senate – we will have to fight to keep this provision!

PLF Change – The House’s version of HB 64 that will be debated this afternoon on the House floor still includes our provision changing the PLF percentage from 1.66% to 1.7%. Following today’s vote, please contact your state representative and thank them for their support!

TPP Clarification – Earlier this week the Ohio House Finance Committee amended HB 64 to include a hold harmless provision for school districts so that they would not receive cuts in funding due to the phase-out in Tangible Personal Property (TPP) tax reimbursement payments. It is important to clarify that this hold harmless provision only applies to school districts and does not apply to other local governments and libraries impacted by the TPP. Some members of the media were misreporting this provision. The hold harmless provision was part of a compromise under the House’s new school funding formula where some school districts were going to receive a cut in funding.

Legislative Day – We need your advocacy efforts more than ever on Legislative Day and over the next 8 weeks! Attached are updated copies of our talking points to use with Senators, our white paper on funding and examples of workforce development from all across the state. On Tuesday we are going to be asking you to do three things:
- Urge Senators to keep the House language changing the PLF percentage to 1.7% of the total GRF!
- Share workforce development and education examples from your library!
- Share the Return on Investment (ROI) from your local library to the community!"

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