Following the House Finance Committee overview hearing on the Governor’s Mid Biennium Review (MBR) Bill, HB 487, which merges the State Architect’s Office (SAO) with the Ohio Schools Facilities Commission (OSFC), Chairman Ron Amstutz told reporters: “My sense continues to be that we have a comprehensive set of proposals that generally are positive for the state’s ability to provide services and that make a variety of policy tune-ups that don’t seem to be earthshaking individually but together are quite an array.”

“Now there are some substantial policy proposals as well contained in this. I don’t know that any of those have reared their heads as being red flags,” he said. “I have some concerns and I have more questions about the financial institutions proposal” such as “how this positions us competitively as a state….”

Chairman Amstutz said he expects the House to send the measure over to the Senate in the first or second week after the spring recess, which runs through the first two weeks of April.

Further hearings on various components of the bill are set to continue in a number of different committees.  The SAO/OSFC merger sections will be taken up in the House State Government Committee.