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Ohio Primary Law Legal Research Guide: Agency Decisions & Executive Orders

Covers Ohio cases, statutes, legislative history, regulations, and administrative decisions.

Administrative Decisions

The Administrative Procedure Act, ORC Ch. 119, provides for enforcement of regulations and agency statutes through quasi-judicial actions.  Many agency cases are informally adjudicated, ie, the Ohio Rules of Evidence are not strictly applied and the Ohio Rules of Civil Procedure do not apply.  Agency decisions are required to be entered in the agency's journal, but they are not required to be published (ORC 119.09).  Agency orders may be appealed to a higher agency authority according to the agency enabling statute.  A final agency decision may be appealed to the common pleas court as allowed by the Administrative Procedure Act, the agency enabling statute, general appellate procedure defined in ORC Chapter 2506 or other statute.  For more details on administrative agency adjudications, see the Ohio Administrative Law Handbook (a volume of the Ohio Administrative Code KFO 34.5 .A24).

To access Ohio agency decisions on Lexis Advance, click on Browse Sources, and narrow by Ohio and Administrative Materials.  Or, prefilter by Ohio and Administrative Materials and postfilter by agency.

 Chart of Agency Opinions Accessible via Franklin County Law Library

  Print Lexis Advance Westlaw
 

Internet
 

Attorney General

 

KFO 440.5 .O355 1846 - current

 

1977- 1977- 1846-

Board of Tax Appeals

( on the web via its Weekly Announcements)

Baldwin's Ohio Tax Service
KFO 470.A6 B324 1978-1993

Ohio State Tax Reporter CCH
KFO 470 .A6 C66x 1968-1998

1942- 1985- 1997-
Tax Commissioner Department Reports of the State of Ohio KFO 440 .A511 1914-1964 1990-1994   some, 1997-
Board of Building Standards  including BBS Memos        1991-
Civil Rights Commission   1996-2003 1980- 2000-
Dept. of Commerce, Division of Financial Institutions and Division of Securities      

Fin Inst
 

Securities

Consumer Protection Section (AG) -called the Online Public Inspection (OPIF) file       1984 - present

Ohio Ethics Commission Advisory Opinions

KFO 406 .A8 O54 1974-2005

Oct.1974-

1977- 1974-

Ohio Supreme Court Board of Commissioners on Grievances & Discipline Advisory Opinions (now called the Board of Professional Conduct)

 KFO 76.5 .A2 S96 1986-2002
 
1987- 1987- 1986-
Joint Legislative Ethics Committee Opinions        
Elections Commission Advisory Opinions KFO 420 .O25 1986-1996 1987-   1986-

Environmental Bd of Review

now known as

Environmental Review Appeals Commission

Cases Before the Environmental Board of Review, KFO 354 .A552x, 1974-1986

 

1973- 1973-  
Department of Insurance Bulletins  

1991-

1950-  
Insurance Commission Decisions Department Reports of the State of Ohio, KFO 440 .A511 1914-1964      
Public Utilities Commission (PUCO) Department Reports of the State of Ohio, KFO 440 .A511 1914-1964 1973-

Ohio Public Utilities
Reports

1953-

1999-
Job & Family Services       2019 -
Securities Administrative Decisions   1965- 1983-  

State Employment Relations Board

 

Official Reporter SERB KFO 334 .O35 (1984 - current)

Ohio Public Employee Reporter KFO 332.8 P77 .A496 (1984-2006)

1983-

1984-
also

PER-OH

 
State Personnel Bd of Review       1996- (but only listed by opinion number, and not very searchable)
Workers' Compensation

 

1994-2006

1996-

Public records policy available here.
Unemployment Compensation Review Commission        

Some agency decisions are unpublished and hard to find. For example:

Some of the decisions of the Ohio Unemployment Compensation Review Commission - formerly the Ohio Unemployment Compensation Board of Review are available from The Ohio Supreme Court library.

Executive Orders