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By Maggie Thurber | Special to Ohio Watchdog
Gov. John Kasich
Gov. John Kasich signed the main mid-biennium review budget bill (H.B. 487), Monday, but vetoed several line items including a provision for a biometric pilot program.
In his veto message, Kasich said that he agrees with the program and will fund it with $500,000 from the Health Transformation Fund.
“This item establishes the Biometric Enrollment and Verification System Pilot Project for the purposes of reducing drug diversion and ‘doctor shopping’ in one or more Southeast Ohio counties,” he said. “This pilot project is in line with the governor’s initiative to end Ohio’s opiate epidemic, but the funding source and the timeframe of the pilot project are problematic. Seeing the value in this project — not only in the fight against opiate addiction but also for job creation efforts in Southeast Ohio — the Office of Health Transformation has committed $500,000 from the Health Transformation Fund for the pilot project. Therefore, a statutory change is no longer needed to implement the pilot project since the funds will be transferred in early July, and accordingly this veto is in the public interest.”
