Gov. John Kasich signed legislation to that effect Thursday, alongside a case holding the pipe in front of dozens of students from Columbus School for Girls.

“Now they told me that they have finally figured out how old this is, 10 A.D., so over 2,000 years old. That’s perfect isn’t it?” Kasich asked.

The prehistoric effigy pipe was linked to the ancient Adena culture. It was found in 1901 in a burial mound near Chillicothe.

In 2009, fourth-graders at the Columbus School for Girls proposed the Adena pipe be made the state’s official artifact.

During the years, other CSG classes joined the push for the bill as they studied Ohio’s political system. Students told lawmakers they learned the legislative process requires patience and persistence, and that sometimes people speak at hearings for longer than their allotted time.

Gov. John Kasich said Thursday about 210,000 businesses and public employers could see a payout in June or July, should the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation board approve the idea. Checks could range from $5 to more than $3 million.

Officials say money for the one-time rebate stems from solid investments by the agency, which provides workers’ compensation insurance for Ohio employers and covers approximately two-thirds of the state’s workforce.

The rebate is separate from a court dispute over employer payments.

The state is appealing a judge’s March decision awarding $860 million in repayments from the fund to employers the judge said were charged excessive premiums for nearly a decade.

The House on Wednesday agreed 87-7 to Senate changes made to the bill. Kasich’s signature is likely.

These so-called health navigators will help educate consumers and small businesses about the online marketplaces created by President Barack Obama’s health care law.

Through these exchanges, consumers will be able to buy individual private policies and apply for government subsidies to help pay their premiums. Open enrollment starts Oct. 1.

Ohio’s bill would require navigators to pass criminal background checks, and it specifies they can’t sell, solicit or negotiate health insurance.

Governor John Kasich, Business leaders and even Democrats want Medicaid expansion in the Ohio Budget. But Republican Ohio Senate President Keith Faber said that’s unlikely.

“You need two chambers to move a bill and the house has indicated they simply don’t have the votes to get Medicaid expansion done in the budget. Therefore I do not believe Medicaid expansion is on the table as it relates to this legislation in the budget,” Faber said.

Faber said a group of Senators are working on Medicaid reforms, and he said it could possibly be considered as a stand-alone bill outside the budget.

Wendy Patton with Policy Matters Ohio is disappointed.

“It makes sense as part of the budget process because it complements other moving parts within the budget,” Patton said.

Patton said putting Medicaid in the budget would allow the state to do more with its Medicaid dollars. She said her coalition of Medicaid expansion supporters will continue to push for it in the budget.

Governor Kasich tells reporters he’ll fight for it too.

“With Medicaid? We have to all move together and I don’t think it’s not all over yet. That’s not the sign I’m getting. Are you getting that sign? I think there’s a way to go but we are not going to give it up,” the governor said.

The poll from Quinnipiac University gives Kasich a nine-point lead over Cuyahoga County Executive Ed Fitzgerald and a seven-point lead over Richard Cordray.

The survey also says 52 percent of Ohio voters approve of Kasich’s job performance, compared to 34 percent disapproval.

The poll follows last month’s survey by Quinnipiac that gave Kasich his first positive approval rating as governor.

House lawmakers jettisoned the idea from their version of the two-year, state spending blueprint, which they released Tuesday.

Kasich frames his support for expanding Medicaid a way to recapture Ohio taxpayers’ federal money and help the state’s most vulnerable get health care.

Rejecting expansion means the state would forgo $13 billion from the federal government over the next seven years to cover those newly eligible for Medicaid.

Many GOP lawmakers are averse to Democratic President Barack Obama’s law and resistant to expanding government programs.

House Speaker William Batchelder said there was a lack of clarity from Washington around the regulations under the law.

In the meantime, the House preserved a portion of the statewide income-tax cut proposed by Gov.Kasich in its version of the state operating budget, marking a partial victory for the Republican governor.

House budget changes released today included a 7-percent income tax reduction during two years. That compares to a 20-percent reduction during three years that had been proposed by Kasich. The governor accompanied his cut with a 50 percent tax cut for small businesses.

Kasich wants to reduce Ohio’s income tax, which he views as economically burdensome.

The governor’s $63.2 billion, two-year budget paid for the cut with a tax increase on oil and gas extraction. The House has pulled that proposal, along with Kasich’s proposed expansion of the sales tax to professional services.

Gov. John Kasich is now actively talking up some of the controversial elements of his spending plan as many leaders in his own party continue to line up against it

Gov. John Kasich doesn’t often do one-on-one interviews on any subject, but he sat down to talk about the budget, which he admits is not going over well with lawmakers, including his Republican colleagues, many of whom don’t like the proposal to pay for a state income tax cut in part with revenue from an expansion of the state sales tax onto some 80 services that are not taxed now.

Tax reform is always something – don’t tax me, tax the guy who’s hiding behind the tree. And so, this is just the usual, this is just the usual kind of hubbub around the issue of tax reform.

Reporter: “But specifically the broadening of the state sales tax. That’s gotten some concerns there.”
Kasich: “Sure.”
Reporter: “You know, you just said it yourself – that Ohio’s taxes are too high, we need to lower them to be competitive. But when you broaden a tax and impose it on services that didn’t have a tax before – isn’t that a tax increase?”
Kasich: “No, because it’s a net $1.4 billion tax cut. And here’s the thing. About 75% of our economy now are services. Do you know you pay taxes on dry cleaning? Did you know that? And that’s a service, okay. What the legislature has seen fit to do is whenever they’re short money they go and tax a service that doesn’t have any lobbyists, and that’s how they plug their holes.

“I want to make sure that we have a modern tax system and use it to reduce taxes to help small business and help us to be more competitive.”

But what are the budget’s chances? Fellow Republican House Speaker Bill Batchelder, who leads a supermajority caucus 60 that includes members who were very supportive of Kasich’s first budget, is clear.

As it is, as it is submitted? That would not be possible.

Batchelder says Republicans’ concerns about the budget are no surprise to the governor.

“He’s aware of this, of course. We speak to each other often. There are a number of things there that have to change,” Batchelder says.

“Some of them are not very significant in terms of the quantity but they’re important to the members of the caucus. Others are very expansive and sweeping in their nature and those would include obviously the tax, obviously Obamacare, and we still have confusion over the language involved in school support.”

The tax Batchelder refers to here is the expansion of the state sales tax, but he’s also said he and many other Republicans don’t like the tax on big oil and natural gas drillers.

And when the Speaker references Obamacare, he’s talking about the expansion of Medicaid to people who make up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level – a plan that Kasich has put forward even though he opposes the Affordable Care Act.

But even as Kasich continues to promote the controversial elements of his budget, he remains confident.

“What do I think at the end of the day? I’m hopeful we’re going to get there. But it’s always a bumpy ride. Change is very difficult.

But he won’t talk about the behind-the-scenes conversations he’s having with the Democrats he needs to pass the Medicaid expansion, or the Republicans he hopes to persuade to support that and the other elements of his budget.

“I would love to talk to you about all the negotiations, but I’m not going to.”

The budget needs to be in place by the end of June. It’s still in a House committee, but the Speaker says he’s urging his colleagues in the Senate to start hearings of their own to make sure that deadline isn’t missed.

Statehouse correspondent Bill Cohen reports on what lawmakers heard in the House Finance Committee, and how the panel will have a big say in what the final tax reform package looks like. Click the play button above to hear his full report.

The agency also says it will refund the $1 million in start-up funds it received from the State of Ohio in 2011.

The Jobs Ohio Beverage System (JOBS) will also refund any grant dollars it received since July 2011.

JobsOhio spokeswoman Laura Jones said the records were delivered Tuesday ahead of a noon deadline.

The agency complied despite continuing to maintain that Republican Auditor Dave Yost doesn’t have legal authority to audit the private side of the fledgling agency’s books.

Yost says Ohio law gives him the right to review private financial records with ties to public funds.

JobsOhio was created by Ohio Gov. John Kasich to “move at the speed of business.” It received $1 million in taxpayer dollars as start-up money and has gone to market with a $1.5 billion bond sale backed by rights to Ohio’s liquor business.

The Ohio Democratic Party’s annual statewide dinner began just hours after a possible contender declined to run in the 2014 governor’s race.

As Democrats from across the state gathered in Columbus for their annual Legacy Dinner, they were still absorbing the news that Youngstown area Congressman Tim Ryan will not be running for governor next year.

“I think he could have won,” said Dem. State Rep. Bob Hagan. “I think it’s going to be a tough campaign – we needed someone that can shout and can scream and get people up on their feet and I think he can do that. On the other hand, I’m disappointed because, in a selfish way, I was going to run for Congress myself in his seat.”

Dave Betras is the Mahoning County Democratic Party chair, and had been a big Ryan backer.

Betras: “I’m glad he’s staying where he is, and he’s young – he’s 39 years old. So you’ll see him on the statewide ticket someday.”

Reporter: “Do you think this race is locked up for Ed FitzGerald now, or…”

Betras: “I publicly am supporting Ed FitzGerald, and I’m going to do everything I can to make sure Ed FitzGerald wins.”

Cuyahoga County executive Ed FitzGerald is so far the only Democrat to form an exploratory committee.

Sandra Wise of Fremont says she’s still holding out hope that former attorney general Richard Cordray might come into the race, even though he’s nominated to head up the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

“I am, I’ve always been a fan of his. Truly. I do not know FitzGerald that well, but I’m sure he’s going to gravitate toward Sandusky County and show us what he’s all about.”

And there’s also northeast Ohio’s Betty Sutton, who lost a bid to keep her seat in Congress in November.

“I am in the final stages of my decision process and I’ll be making an announcement soon,” Sutton says.

Sutton wouldn’t say whether Ryan’s choice not to run plays a role in her decision.

Ryan himself wasn’t at the dinner, though he had been scheduled to speak. That left FitzGerald, the last speaker on the program, as the sole headliner.

After the speech, FitzGerald admitted that Ryan’s decision does make his way toward the Democratic nomination for governor easier.

“I’ve been seriously exploring it, and the more people that decline the race, probably the better for me.”

And the Republicans have been waiting for him. The Ohio GOP launched a website that seeks to connect FitzGerald to the sprawling Cuyahoga County corruption scandal which ensnared more than 50 Democrats.

Matthew Henderson from the Ohio Republican Party.

“We believe Ohioans have a right to know exactly what went on in as it’s so called Public Official 14, Mr. FitzGerald’s shadowy past,” said Matthew Henderson from the Ohio Republican Party.

“And we believe folks should know about that. It’s very early in the game for him to be keeping secrets,” Henderson said.

FitzGerald says his background contradicts what the Republicans are claiming, and so does the US Attorney.

“Look, they are very worried and they are very desperate. But to try to claim that a former prosecutor, former FBI agent is somehow part of some nefarious scheme is pretty lame.”

FitzGerald says he doesn’t yet have a date for a formal announcement, but says “the sooner the better.”

Ohio Democratic Party chair Chris Redfern estimates both major party candidates will spend $55 million, so he’s hoping for a race without a primary – but says he did not ask Ryan to step aside.