As briefly discussed in our April 27, 2012 DevelopOhio blog post, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine has raised concerns about the proposed JobsOhio II legislation regarding public record restrictions of JobsOhio information as it relates to the lack of transparency and what might happen should another agency get involved and handle business records. Specifically, the broadly worded provision in HB 489 that says records created or received by the nonprofit JobsOhio are not public "regardless of who may have custody of the records." DeWine believes that this provision could shield documents from public view that state agencies share with JobsOhio, the Tribune Chronicle reports.
However, Gongwer reported on Friday, April 27 that DeWine and Governor Kasich’s office worked out a solution to make a minor revision to the pending legislation that could prevent major problems with Ohio’s public records law upon passage. DeWine stated that “we have language now that just makes it very clear that’s not going to happen.” Essentially, the proposed amendment would remove language specifying that any documents “received by” JobsOhio are not subject to Ohio’s public records law, Mr. DeWine said. DeWine believes the issue is resolved, and the bill including the revision is now headed to the Senate.
