About

Authenticated materials 

Ohio law designates the Director of the Legislative Service Commission as the codifier of the state’s laws and administrative rules (R.C. 103.05 and 103.131). In addition, the Uniform Electronic Legal Material Act, R.C. 149.21 to 149.27, designates LSC as official publisher of the Ohio Revised Code and the Ohio Administrative Code. Pursuant to that law, LSC’s electronic publication of the Revised Code and the Administrative Code are official publications (R.C. 149.21 and 149.22).

The designation as official publications, and LSC’s authentication stamp on PDF files generated on the site, do not warrant that the material in LSC’s record is free from error, although LSC takes care to ensure accuracy. Rather, the authentication stamp signifies that software is employed to safeguard that a document downloaded by a user matches the material in LSC’s record and was not altered during download (see R.C. 149.23(A) and (B)).

As a convenience for users, LSC provides access to some prior, superseded versions of Revised Code sections. The authentication stamp on a superseded version should not be interpreted to mean that the version is currently in effect.

Ohio Revised Code

This website publishes the Revised Code without annotations. Sections that are repealed are removed from publication and the repeals are not noted. Sections that are renumbered are published under their new section number without noting the numbering change. This includes instances when a section number is changed by a legislative act itself, and instances when the LSC Director has codified or recodified a statute post-enactment under authority of R.C. 103.131. 

This website does not account for court actions. Actions by a court to enjoin or invalidate a section are not noted.

When multiple acts of the General Assembly amend the same Revised Code section without referencing each other, LSC prepares a composite of the amended section harmonizing the various acts’ amendments if substantively possible. The harmonized versions are presented and noted on this website. This presentation recognizes the principle stated in R.C. 1.52(B) that amendments are to be harmonized if reasonably capable of simultaneous operation.

Ohio Administrative Code

This website publishes the Administrative Code as rules adopted by state agencies, colleges, and universities are filed through Ohio’s electronic rule-filing system. The rules are published without annotations. Rules that have been rescinded are removed from publication and the rescissions are not noted. If a rule has been renumbered, the renumbering is often noted in the supplemental information at the bottom of the rule. This website does not account for court actions. Actions by a court to enjoin or invalidate a rule are not noted.

For additional information about state agency rulemaking, consult the following:

• The Register of Ohio is an electronic gazette published by LSC, to which the public may resort for notice of and information about rulemaking processes. As agencies file rules in proposed form, the Register publishes the rule text, rule summary and fiscal analysis, and public hearing notice.
• Administrative Rulemaking is an LSC Members Brief providing an overview of the rulemaking process.
• The LSC Rule Drafting Manual advises state agencies how to draft and file administrative rules.
• The Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review (JCARR) website provides a variety of information concerning that body’s oversight of state agency rulemaking