The House Finance Committee on Wednesday approved a two-year, $44.9 billion budget for the state. The measure was headed to the full House. Some of the budget provisions:

        • Shorten the Ohio State Fair from 17 days to 15.

        • Create a loan guarantee fund for charter schools to help in acquiring school buildings.

        • Add $4.5 million a year to the Halfway House budget in the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

        • Create a task force to study how to exempt new cars up to 5 years old from the state's E-check program. The program now exempts cars up to 2 years old.

        • Designate $150,000 a year from an existing immunization fund for vaccinations for pneumococcal diseases such as meningitis for children ages 2 to 5.

        • Direct the Ohio Department of Agriculture to create a task force to study the threat of bioterrorism to Ohio.

        • Restore $50,000 in annual funding to the Greater Cleveland Media Development Corp. and the Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Film Commission.

        • Restore $300,000 in annual funding for the Ohio Historical Society's operating fund for historic sites.

        • Allow county boards of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disability to merge existing resources into a $100 million annual revenue stream in order to receive $150 million annually in matching Medicaid dollars.

        • Require the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to respond within 90 days to a permit application governed by the state's laws regarding air pollution control; solid, infectious and hazardous waste; Voluntary Action Program for brownfield cleanup; and water pollution control. If the EPA fails to respond within 90 days, the permit is automatically approved.

        • Restore $75,000 to the Health Department's arthritis care program.

        • Restore $375,000 for the Center for Violence Prevention.

        • Eliminate a proposed 5 percent tax on professional wrestling events.

        • Eliminate the Ohio Women's Policy and Research Commission.

        Source: House Finance Committee

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