Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has vetoed a provision that would have provided exemptions to Ohio’s longstanding ethics law.
DeWine, a Republican, signed House Bill 315, a wide-ranging measure that amends township and other local and state government laws.
The provision in question would have, in part, exempted village mayors from a ban on having an unlawful interest in a public contract if the mayor has no role in approving or voting for the agreement or pushing village legislative authority’s members to do so. According to a fiscal analysis of the legislation from the Ohio Legislative Service Commission, it “is unclear as to what impact this prohibition would have on contracts awarded by such villages.”
However, the governor said the veto of the section was “in the public interest.”
He explained: “Under current law, public officials are subjected to ethical restrictions and requirements to ensure transparency and proper use of taxpayer money. This provision would exempt some officials from these requirements. The Ohio Ethics Commission has asked that this provision be vetoed.
“In their letter, they state that this provision’ exempts mayors and all other executive officers of villages from the criminal prohibitions of [the public contract law], a statute enforced by the Commission for almost forty years,’” the governor added. “As further stated, this provision would ‘invite misuse of taxpayer money.’”
In a statement in response to DeWine’s veto, Ohio Ethics Commission Executive Director Paul Nick said, “this unexpected amendment would have significantly weakened the Ethics Law.”
The governor’s “action assures continuation of full observance of propriety for Ohio’s Public Contracts Law, keeping the same rules for all local government throughout Ohio, in longstanding enforcement by the Commission and Prosecuting Attorneys,” Ethics Commission Chairman Merom Brachman said in a statement.
Another provision gives townships the authority to establish township preservation commissions. It also allows townships to post public notices on their websites or social media platforms instead of in the local newspaper.
“Ohio law currently mandates townships to publish public notices in a local newspaper, a practice that has become increasingly challenging and expensive as local newspapers are fewer and fewer in number and their subscribers are fewer and fewer in number as well,” state Rep. Bill Seitz, R-Cincinnati, told the Senate Local Government Committee in prepared sponsor testimony. Seitz co-sponsored the measure with state Rep. Thomas Hall, R-Middletown. “…This adjustment not only acknowledges the changing media landscape but also aligns townships with municipalities that were granted similar authority in last year’s budget bill.”
It also allows law enforcement agencies to mandate anyone requesting video public records to pay the estimated actual cost before processing the request. In a statement, DeWine said HB 315 offers “a workable compromise to balance the modern realities of preparing these public records and the cost it takes to prepare them.”
“Ohio law has long authorized optional user fees associated with the cost of duplicating public records, and the language in House Bill 315 applies that concept in a modern way to law enforcement-provided video records,” DeWine said. “It is good that the language in House Bill 315 does not include a mandatory fee, but instead it is optional at the discretion of the agency. It is also good the user fees are capped and directly related to the cost of production.”
However, the governor vowed to rework the law if it doesn’t work as intended.
“If the language in House Bill 315 related to public records turns out to have unforeseen consequences, I will work with the General Assembly to amend the language to address such legitimate concerns,” DeWine said.
