Session Laws
Bills
Bill Analysis
Digest of Enactments
Staff Research Reports - LSC
Debates and Hearings
Fiscal Notes
Committee Testimony and Reports
Governor's Messages
Bulletin of the General Assembly - Bill History
House and Senate Journals
Annotated Ohio Revised Code
Treatises & Law Reviews
News Articles
Judicial Impact Statements
The Ohio Channel contains video recordings of floor debates going back to 1997. Hearings and debates are not officially recorded.
"The courts in the case of a constitutional provision, as well as an act of congress, will refer to the debates for the purpose of determining what the meaning of the enactment is where there is doubt, but the expression of opinion of the individual members of congress, or of the individual members of the constitutional convention, is not conclusive." Dayton & U.R. Co. v. Dayton & Muncie Traction Co. 14 Ohio Dec. 17; 1 Ohio N.P.N.S. 218 (Ohio Com.Pl. 1903) (Case deals with an Ohio statute). A photocopy of the case from the Franklin County Law Library's book collection is available below.
Ohio Session Journals contain procedural accounts of legislative activity, not a transcript of proceedings. Contains voting records, and the text of floor amendments.
"...every statute should speak for itself, and be construed by itself; but if there be doubt as to its construction, resort may be had to extraneous matters, and nothing of this kind is more satisfactory than the journals of the body by which it was enacted." State ex rel. Peters v. McCollister (1841), 11 Ohio 46, 56. A photocopy of the case from the Franklin County Law Library's book collection is available below.
Session laws indicate what changes were made to prior statutes. The session law may contain language indicating legislative intent, such as the intent to refute the holding of a court case. These statements are usually in "uncodified" sections of the bill. For an explanation of uncodified bill sections, see Tools for Understanding a Bill, Chapter Six of A Guidebook for Ohio Legislators, Ohio Legislative Service Commission, current edition.
The official source for pre-2006 session laws is: Laws of Ohio . Uncodified laws and laws vetoed by the governor are included. Post 2006, the official source is the Ohio Secretary of State's Website. See the Session Laws page of this guide.
When a bill is assigned to a committee, the Legislative Service Commission (LSC) prepares an analysis of the bill "as introduced". The LSC updates the analysis as changes are made to the bill. It issues analysis "as reported by ______ committee" and eventually issues a "final analysis". The microfilm, available at most Ohio law school libraries, generally has all available versions of the bill analysis.
The LSC Analysis provides a summary of the bill, and how that bill would change current law. The analysis may identify problems with the bill, such as constitutionality or internal inconsistencies. It may or may not shed light on legislative intent.
"As to the value of Legislative Service Commission analyses, we have observed: '* * * Although this court is not bound by such analyses, we may refer to them when we find them helpful and objective.'" State, Industrial Com. v. American Dynamic Agency, Inc., 70 Ohio St. 2d 41, 44 (Ohio 1982), quoting Meeks v. Papadopulus (1980), 62 Ohio St.2d 187, 191.
Fact sheets prepared by the Legislative Service Commission, which explain changes proposed by legislature, may not be used to give meaning to legislative enactment other than that which is clearly expressed by General Assembly. Cuyahoga Metro. Housing Auth. v. Cleveland 63 Ohio App.3d 353, 578 N.E.2d 871 (Ohio App. 8 Dist.,1989)
A Bulletin is issued for each General Assembly Session. It contains bill history information, similar to the Status Report of Legislation found on each bill's page on the Ohio General Assembly's Status Reports. Bulletins include tables of affected Ohio Revised Code sections and a subject index to legislation.
Prior versions of the bill and amendments made to the bill during the legislative process may shed light on legislative intent. For bill sources, go to: the Bills and Bill Tracking page of this guide.
Cases holding that the legislature's later insertion or deletion of language in later versions of the bill may show legislative intent: Caldwell v. State,(1926), 115 Ohio St. 458 ; Katz v. Department of Liquor Control of Ohio,(1957) 166 Ohio St. 229.
Synopsis of passed legislation, prepared by the Legislative Service Commission and based on the Legislative Service Commission's Final Analysis. The Supreme Court of Ohio has cited several Digest of Enactment entries as evidence of legislative intent, for example: Meeks v. Papadopulus (1980), 62 Ohio St.2d 187;State ex rel. Cincinnati Bell, Inc. v. Industrial Com. (1978), 55 Ohio St. 2d 89, 92
A "Synopsis of Committee Amendment" is prepared by the Legislative Service Commission. This document summarizes amendments made by a committee of the second house to review the legislation. The legislators in the first house (house where the bill orginated) may review the synopsis when the bill returns for a concurrence vote. Floor amendments are not included, as these are contained in the House and Senate Journals.
The Ohio Legislative History database on Westlaw contains Committee Synopses beginning in 2001 through the current session.
The Oho Legislative Bill History database on Lexis Advance is available in the Franklin County Law Library Computer Labs. It contains Committee Synopses from 2006 through current.
May not be easy to come by, but here are some possibilities:
(1) For the last few years, the Ohio General Assembly has been including testimony for bills under "Committee Activity" when you search for a bill at the Search Legislation page.
(2) Committee notebooks are available at the House and Senate clerk's office for the past 2 sessions. Older committee notebooks are at the Ohio History Connection.
(4)The Ohio History Connection has General Assembly Committee Files, which may contain committee reports
(5) Contact the committee chairperson.
The Court of Common Pleas could resort to committee reports and statements made in legislative debate as an aid in construing a statute, and such rule extended to written statements of members of legislative and bar committees. Neff v. Cleveland Trust Co., 21 Ohio Op. 461, 35 Ohio L. Abs. 1, Ohio Com.Pl.,1941. A photocopy of the case from the Franklin County Law Library's book collection is available below.
Fiscal notes, also called Local Impact Statements, state the monetary impact of the legislation on state and local government. Found in: Lexis Advance Ohio Legislative Bill History, 2005- , Westlaw Ohio Legislative History or at the LSC's web site, since 1997.
When the governor signs or vetoes a bill, he may comment upon the legislation.
Sources:
Governor's Messages beginning in 2000 through 2010 session are available on Westlaw.
Governor's Messages from 2006 through current are available on Lexis Advance in the Franklin County Law Library Computer Labs.
Find prior versions of the code section via the "History" or "Credits" section underneath the text of the code section. See Finding Prior Versions of a Code Section. Additionally, the Revised Code may have reprints of committee comments, uncodified session law language or other language indicating intent underneath each code section.