Ohio Revised Code Search

...The owner referred to in section 153.01 of the Revised Code shall make separate estimates of all additional force or materials employed or supplied as provided by section 153.17 of the Revised Code, and payment shall be provided for by the director of budget and management. The amount so paid shall be charged against the contractor and be deducted from his next or any subsequent estimate. The amount or any part there...

...All contracts under sections 153.01 to 153.60, inclusive, of the Revised Code, shall contain provision in regard to the time when the whole or any specified portion of work contemplated therein shall be completed and that for each day it shall be delayed beyond the time so named the contractor shall forfeit to the state a sum to be fixed in the contract, which shall be deducted from any payment due or to become due t...

...The attorney general shall have charge of and direct the proceedings necessary to enforce contracts authorized by sections 153.01 to 153.19, inclusive, of the Revised Code.

...When the board of county commissioners has determined to erect a courthouse or other county building, or to make an addition to, or to make an improvement of any existing county owned building, the board may appoint four suitable and competent freehold electors of the county, who shall, together with the board, constitute a building commission and serve until the courthouse or other county building, or the addition t...

...The persons appointed under section 153.21 of the Revised Code after August 22, 1951, shall receive a reasonable compensation for the time actually employed, to be fixed by the court of common pleas and on its approval paid from the county treasury. Their compensation in the aggregate shall not exceed eight thousand dollars.

...The necessary expenses for stationery, postage, correspondence, and travel out of the county required in the discharge of the duties of the building commission shall be paid from the county treasury on the order of the board of county commissioners and the warrant of the county auditor.

...Except as otherwise provided in section 3.061 of the Revised Code, before entering upon the discharge of their duties, the persons appointed to the building commission shall each take an oath of office and give bond for the faithful and honest discharge of official duties in the same amount as required of members of the board of county commissioners, with sureties approved by the judge of the court of common pleas....

...In case of the death, resignation, or removal of any member of the building commission, the vacancy shall be filled by appointment by the judge of the court of common pleas as provided in section 153.21 of the Revised Code.

...After adopting plans, specifications, and estimates, the building commission shall invite bids and award contracts in accordance with sections 307.86 to 307.92, inclusive, of the Revised Code, for the building and for furnishing, heating, lighting, and ventilating it, and for the sewerage thereof. Until the building is completed and accepted by the commission, the commission may determine all questions connected ther...

...The building commission may employ architects, superintendents, and other necessary employees during the construction of a courthouse or other county building and fix their compensation and bond.

...When approved by the building commission, the plans, drawings, representations, bills of material, specifications of work, and estimates of cost thereof shall be filed by the county auditor in his office and shall not be altered, unless such alteration is first drawn, specified, and estimated as required by law for the original plans and approved by the commission. No such change shall be made until the price to be p...

...Resolutions for the adoption or alteration of plans or specifications, or for the award of contracts, hiring of architects, superintendent, or other employees and the fixing of their compensation, the approval of bonds or bid guaranties, and the allowance of estimates shall be in writing and shall require for their adoption the votes of five members of the building commission, taken by yeas and nays recorded on the j...

...Full and accurate records of all proceedings of the building commission shall be kept by the county auditor upon the journal of the board of county commissioners. He shall carefully preserve in his office all plans, drawings, representations, bills of material, specifications of work, and estimates of costs in detail and in the aggregate pertaining to the building.

...(A) Except as provided in division (D) of this section, when it becomes necessary for the board of county commissioners of a county to erect or cause to be erected a public building, or a substructure for a bridge, or an addition to or alteration thereof, before entering into any contract therefor or repair thereof or for the supply of any materials therefor, they shall cause to be made by a registered architect or r...

...Nothing contained in Chapter 153. of the Revised Code shall prevent a board of county commissioners from constructing a public building in stages and letting contracts from time to time for various portions of the work, so long as the total cost of construction of a project, which may include more than one building, is reasonably estimated by the board to exceed fifteen million dollars.

...When it becomes necessary to erect a bridge, the board of county commissioners shall determine the length and width of the superstructure, and whether it shall be single or double track, and it shall advertise for bids for performing the labor and furnishing the materials necessary to the erection thereof in accordance with sections 307.86 to 307.92 of the Revised Code.

...The board of county commissioners may also invite, receive, and consider bids on any other plan at the option of bidders, and shall require that any such plan together with specifications shall be filed in the office of the county auditor for a period of fifteen days prior to the date for receiving bids. Such plans and specifications shall show the number of spans, the length of each, the nature, quality, and size of...

...In its advertisement, the board of county commissioners shall invite bidders to make bids for furnishing all the materials and performing all the work, or for such parts thereof as bidders deem proper, and include such other matter as is required in section 307.87 of the Revised Code.

...The plans and specifications upon which the contracts are awarded, shall be kept on file in the office of the board of county commissioners and made a part of the contract with the successful bidder. When it is necessary to alter, repair, or make an addition to a bridge, the board of county commissioners in making contracts therefor, shall conform to sections 153.01 to 153.60, inclusive, of the Revised Code, in relat...

...(A) If the plans, drawings, representations, bills of material, and specifications of work, and estimates of the cost thereof in detail and in the aggregate, required in sections 153.31 to 153.35, inclusive, of the Revised Code, relate to the building of a courthouse or jail, or an addition to or alteration, repair, or improvement thereof, they shall be submitted to the board of county commissioners. If the estimated...

...If the plans, drawings, representations, bills of material, and specifications of work and estimates of the cost thereof relate to the building, addition to, or alteration of a county home, they shall be submitted to the board of county commissioners. If approved by a majority of the board, a copy thereof shall be deposited in the office of the board of county commissioners and kept for the inspection and use of part...

...If the plans, drawings, representations, bills of material, specifications of work, and estimates relate to the building of a bridge, they shall be submitted to the board of county commissioners and the county engineer. If approved by a majority of them, a copy thereof shall be deposited in the office of county engineer and kept for the inspection of parties interested.

...If the plans, drawings, representations, bills of material, specifications of work, and estimates relate to the building of a children's home, they shall be submitted to the board of county commissioners and three citizens of the county, to be appointed by a resident judge of the court of common pleas, or a judge residing in the same subdivision of the judicial district. If approved by a majority of them, a copy ther...

...Before work is done or material furnished, all contracts that exceed twenty thousand dollars in amount shall be submitted by the board of county commissioners to the prosecuting attorney of the county. If found to be in accordance with sections 153.01 to 153.60, inclusive, of the Revised Code, and a certificate to that effect is indorsed thereon by the prosecuting attorney, such contracts shall have full effect, othe...

...If a contractor fails or refuses to proceed with the work specified in his contract in accordance with the plans, descriptions, and specifications attached to and made part thereof, the board of county commissioners may annul such contract, and shall proceed to make another contract for the completion thereof, in accordance with sections 153.01 to 153.60, inclusive, of the Revised Code.

...The county treasurer shall pay the warrants drawn for materials and labor furnished on county contracts pursuant to estimates prepared under section 153.14 of the Revised Code, place them on file, and keep a register of the names of the persons to whom they are paid.

...(A) As used in sections 153.50 to 153.52 of the Revised Code: (1) "Construction manager at risk" has the same meaning as in section 9.33 of the Revised Code. (2) "Design-assist services" means monitoring and assisting in the completion of the plans and specifications. (3) "Design-assist firm" means a person capable of providing design-assist services. (4) "Design-build firm" has the same meaning as in sectio...

...(A) A public authority may accept a subcontract awarded by a construction manager at risk, a design-build firm, or a general contracting firm, or may reject any such subcontract if the public authority determines that the bidder is not responsible. (B) A public authority may authorize a construction manager at risk or design-build firm to utilize a design-assist firm on any public improvement project without ...

...(A) Each construction manager at risk and design-build firm shall establish criteria by which it will prequalify prospective bidders on subcontracts awarded for work to be performed under the construction management or design-build contract. The criteria established by a construction manager at risk or design-build firm shall be subject to the approval of the public authority involved in the project and shall b...

...The Ohio facilities construction commission, pursuant to Chapter 119. of the Revised Code, shall adopt rules to do all of the following: (A) Prescribe the procedures and criteria for determining the best value selection of a construction manager at risk or design-build firm; (B) Set forth standards to be followed by construction managers at risk and design-build firms when establishing prequalification crite...

...(A) If separate and distinct bids are required pursuant to section 153.50 of the Revised Code, no contract for the entire job, or for a greater portion thereof than is embraced in one such branch or class of work may be awarded, unless the separate bids do not cover all the work and materials required or the bids for the whole or for two or more kinds of work or materials are lower than the separate bids in the...

...A contract for general contracting or for doing the work belonging to each separate branch or class of work specified in division (B) of section 153.50 of the Revised Code, or for the furnishing of materials therefor, shall be awarded by the public authority referred to in section 153.50 of the Revised Code, in its discretion, to the lowest responsive and responsible separate bidder therefor, in accordance with...

...(A) As used in this section, "rate of inflation" has the same meaning as in section 107.032 of the Revised Code. (B) Five years after September 29, 2011, and every five years thereafter, the executive director of the Ohio facilities construction commission shall evaluate the monetary threshold specified in section 153.01 of the Revised Code and adopt rules adjusting that amount based on the average rate of in...

...(A) Except with respect to a contract described in section 9.334 or 153.693 of the Revised Code, each person bidding for a contract with the state or any political subdivision, district, institution, or other agency thereof, excluding therefrom the department of transportation, for any public improvement shall file with the bid, a bid guaranty in the form of either: (1) A bond in accordance with division (B) of th...

...(A) For purposes of calculating the amount of a public improvement project to determine whether it is subject to section 153.01 of the Revised Code, no officer, board, or other authority of the state or any institution supported by the state shall subdivide a public improvement project into component parts or separate projects in order to avoid the threshold of that section, unless the component parts or separa...

...(A) Any person to whom any money is due for labor or work performed or materials furnished in a public improvement as provided in section 153.54 of the Revised Code, at any time after performing the labor or work or furnishing the materials, but not later than ninety days after the completion of the contract by the principal contractor or design-build firm and the acceptance of the public improvement for which ...

...(A) The bond provided for in division (C)(1) of section 153.54 of the Revised Code shall be in substantially the following form, and recovery of any claimant thereunder shall be subject to sections 153.01 to 153.60 of the Revised Code, to the same extent as if the provisions of those sections were fully incorporated in the bond form: "KNOW ALL PERSONS BY THESE PRESENTS, that we, the undersigned _____________________...

...The bond provided for in division (B) of section 153.54 of the Revised Code shall be in substantially the following form, and recovery of any claimant thereunder shall be subject to sections 153.01 to 153.60 of the Revised Code, to the same extent as if the provisions of such sections were fully incorporated in the bond form: "KNOW ALL PERSONS BY THESE PRESENTS, that we, the undersigned _________________ as principa...

...No officers shall violate sections 153.01 to 153.57, inclusive, of the Revised Code.

...As used in sections 153.581 and 153.591 of the Revised Code: (A) "Public works contract" means any contract awarded by a contracting authority for the construction, engineering, alteration, or repair of any public building, public highway, or other public work. (B) "Contracting authority" means the state, any township, county, municipal corporation, school board, or other governmental entity empowered to awa...

...Every contract for or on behalf of the state, or any township, county, or municipal corporation of the state, for the construction, alteration, or repair of any public building or public work in the state shall contain provisions by which the contractor agrees to both of the following: (A) That, in the hiring of employees for the performance of work under the contract or any subcontract, no contractor, subcontracto...

...Any provision of a hiring hall contract or agreement which obligates a contractor to hire, if available, only employees referred to the contractor by a labor organization shall be void as against public policy and unenforceable with respect to employment under any public works contract unless at the date of execution of the hiring hall contract or agreement, or within thirty days thereafter, the labor organizati...

...The contract referred to in section 153.59 of the Revised Code shall provide as a forfeiture for any breach of the provisions against discrimination: (A) That there shall be deducted from the amount payable to the contractor by the state or by any township, county, or municipal corporation thereof, under this contract, a forfeiture of twenty-five dollars for each person who is discriminated against or intimidated in...

...Any county or counties and any municipal corporation or municipal corporations may enter into an agreement providing for the joint construction, acquisition, or improvement of any public work, public building, or other permanent improvement benefiting the parties thereto and providing for the joint management, occupancy, maintenance, and repair thereof. Any such agreement shall be approved by resolution or ordinance ...

...All contracts for the erection, construction, repair, or alteration of any building, highway, or other work or improvement of any nature by an officer, board, or other authority of the state, a county, township, municipal corporation, school district, or any political subdivision, or any public institution belonging thereto, are subject to all applicable federal, state, and local statutes, ordinances, and regulations...

...(A) Any money which is due from the public owner referred to in section 153.12 of the Revised Code under a contract entered into under this chapter or entered into under other applicable sections of the Revised Code for the construction, reconstruction, improvement, enlargement, alteration, repair, painting, or decoration of a public improvement shall, on the day it is due, be paid to the contractor or deposited in a...

...(A) As used in this section: (1) "Public improvement" means any construction, reconstruction, improvement, enlargement, alteration, or repair of a building, highway, drainage system, water system, road, street, alley, sewer, ditch, sewage disposal plant, water works, and all other structures or works of any nature by a public authority. (2) "Public authority" includes the following: (a) The state, or a county,...

...As used in sections 153.65 to 153.73 of the Revised Code: (A)(1) "Public authority" means the state, a state institution of higher education as defined in section 3345.011 of the Revised Code, a county, township, municipal corporation, school district, or other political subdivision, or any public agency, authority, board, commission, instrumentality, or special purpose district of the state or of a political...

...(A) Each public authority planning to contract for professional design services or design-build services shall encourage professional design firms and design-build firms to submit a statement of qualifications and update the statements at regular intervals. (B) Notwithstanding any contrary requirements in sections 153.65 to 153.70 of the Revised Code, for every design-build contract, each public authority pla...

...Each public authority planning to contract for professional design services or design-build services shall publicly announce all contracts available from it for such services. The announcements shall: (A) Be made in a uniform and consistent manner and shall be made sufficiently in advance of the time that responses must be received from qualified professional design firms or design-build firms for the firms t...

...Any public authority planning to contract for professional design services may institute prequalification requirements for professional design firms seeking to provide services to the public authority and may require that each prequalified firm maintain a current statement of qualifications on file with the public authority. The prequalification requirements shall be based on factors such as those set out in division...

...For every professional design services contract, each public authority planning to contract for professional design services shall evaluate the statements of qualifications submitted by professional design firms specifically regarding the project, and may hold discussions with individual firms to explore further the firms' statements of qualifications, the scope and nature of the services the firms would provid...

...No public authority planning to contract for professional design services under section 153.69 of the Revised Code shall require any form of fee estimate, fee proposal, or other estimate or measure of compensation prior to selecting and ranking professional design firms, except in instances when firms are selected and ranked by a state agency from a list of prequalified firms created under section 153.68 of the Revis...

...For every design-build contract, the public authority planning to contract for design-build services shall first obtain the services of a criteria architect or engineer by doing either of the following: (A) Contracting for the services consistent with sections 153.65 to 153.70 of the Revised Code; (B) Obtaining the services through an architect or engineer who is an employee of the public authority.

...(A) For every design-build contract, the public authority planning to contract for design-build services, in consultation with the criteria architect or engineer, shall evaluate the statements of qualifications submitted by design-build firms specifically regarding the project, including the design-build firm's proposed architect or engineer of record. Following this evaluation, the public authority shall: (1...

...If a professional design firm selected as the criteria architect or engineer creates the preliminary criteria and design criteria for a project and provides professional design services to a public authority to assist that public authority in evaluating the design-build requirements provided to the public authority by a design-build firm pursuant to section 153.692 of the Revised Code, that professional design ...

...(A) Except for any person providing professional design services of a research or training nature, any person rendering professional design services to a public authority or to a design-build firm, including a criteria architect or engineer and person performing architect or engineer of record services, shall have and maintain, or be covered by, during the period the services are rendered, a professional liability in...

...(A) Any public authority planning to contract for professional design services or design-build services may adopt, amend, or rescind rules, in accordance with Chapter 119. of the Revised Code, to implement sections 153.66 to 153.70 of the Revised Code. (B) Sections 153.66 to 153.70 of the Revised Code do not apply to any of the following: (1) Any project with an estimated professional design fee of twenty-five ...

...A design-build firm contracted for design-build services by a public authority may do either of the following: (A) Perform design, construction, demolition, alteration, repair, or reconstruction work pursuant to such contract; (B) Perform professional design services when contracted by a public authority for design-build services even if the design-build firm is not a professional design firm.

...(A) A contract for the construction, demolition, alteration, repair, or reconstruction of a public improvement entered into on or after April 16, 1993, shall be deemed to include the provisions contained in division (B) of this section. (B)(1) In regard to any bond filed by the contractor for the work contracted, the contracting authority, in its sole discretion, may reduce the bond required by twenty-five pe...

...(A)(1)(a) If a professional design firm provides work, services, studies, planning, surveys, or preparatory work in connection with a public improvement, a public authority may require, via a provision in a public improvement contract or subcontract, that the professional design firm indemnify the public authority and its officers and employees for liabilities the public authority, officer, or employee incurs for the...

...(A) Whoever violates section 153.58 of the Revised Code shall be fined not more than one thousand dollars. (B) A person who purchases or provides steel products in violation of division (A) of section 153.011 of the Revised Code shall pay a civil penalty equal to one and one-half times the purchase price of the steel products purchased or provided in violation of that section.

...As used in this chapter: (A) "Persona" means an individual's name, voice, signature, photograph, image, likeness, or distinctive appearance, if any of these aspects have commercial value. (B) "Commercial purpose" means the use of or reference to an aspect of an individual's persona in any of the following manners: (1) On or in connection with a place, product, merchandise, goods, services, or other commercial acti...

...(A) Except as otherwise provided in this section, a person shall not use any aspect of an individual's persona for a commercial purpose: (1) During the individual's lifetime; (2) For a period of sixty years after the date of the individual's death; or (3) For a period of ten years after the date of death of a deceased member of the Ohio national guard or the armed forces of the United S...

...Except as otherwise provided in section 2741.09 of the Revised Code, this chapter applies only to the following: (A) The right of publicity in the persona of an individual whose domicile or residence is in this state on or after the effective date of this section; (B) The right of publicity in the persona of an individual who died on or after January 1, 1998, and whose domicile or residence was in this state on the...

...The right of publicity in an individual's persona is freely transferable and descendible, in whole or in part, by any of the following means: (A) Contract; (B) License; (C) Gift; (D) Trust; (E) Will; (F) Operation of the laws of intestate succession applicable to the state administering the majority of the real and personal property of an individual who died intestate, regardless of whether that state recognize...

...(A) Except as otherwise expressly provided in an agreement transferring an aspect of an individual's right of publicity, only the following persons may grant consent to use an individual's persona for a commercial purpose: (1) A person or persons, including the individual whose right of publicity is at issue, who collectively own more than fifty per cent of the individual's right of publicity, subject to the terms o...

...(A) The following persons may bring a civil action to enforce the rights set forth in this chapter: (1) A person or persons, including an individual whose right of publicity is at issue, who collectively own all of an individual's right of publicity, subject to any licenses regarding that right of publicity; (2) A person, including a licensee of an individual's right of publicity, who is expressly authorized in wri...

...(A)(1) A person who violates section 2741.02 of the Revised Code is liable in a civil action to the person injured by the violation for the following: (a) Actual damages, including any profits derived from and attributable to the unauthorized use of an individual's persona for a commercial purpose as determined under division (A)(2) of this section; (b) At the election of the plaintiff and in lieu of actual damages...

...The remedies provided for in this chapter are in addition to any other remedies provided for by state or federal statute or common law.

...(A) This chapter does not apply to any of the following: (1)(a) A literary work, dramatic work, fictional work, historical work, audiovisual work, or musical work regardless of the media in which the work appears or is transmitted, other than an advertisement or commercial announcement not exempt under division (A)(1)(d) of this section; (b) Material that has political or newsworthy value; (c) Original works of fi...

...Whoever violates division (A)(3) of section 2741.02 of the Revised Code is guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree. A criminal penalty imposed under this section is cumulative to a civil remedy under Chapter 2741. of the Revised Code.

...(A) As used in this section: (1) "Goods or services" does not include the creation, dissemination, exhibition, or advertisement, or a similar promotion, of a dramatic, literary, musical, political, journalistic, or artistic work. (2) "Governmental unit" means the government of the United States, the state, a political subdivision of the state, or any department, agency, board, commission, or other instrumentality...

...Not later than sixty days after a party is served with a complaint, cross-claim, counterclaim, third-party claim, or other pleading that asserts a cause of action to which this chapter applies, the party may file a motion for expedited relief to dismiss the civil action or claim. The court may extend the sixty-day period to file the motion for expedited relief for good cause shown.

...(A)(1) Except as otherwise provided in this section, if a motion for expedited relief is filed under section 2747.02 of the Revised Code, the court shall stay all other proceedings in the action between the moving party and responding party, including discovery and any other pending hearing or motion. (2) Upon request by the moving party, the court may stay a hearing or motion involving another party in the action,...

...(A)(1) The court shall conduct a hearing not later than sixty days after the filing of a motion for expedited relief, unless the court orders a later hearing to allow for limited discovery under section 2747.03 of the Revised Code or delays the hearing for other good cause. (2) If the court orders a later hearing to allow for limited discovery, the court shall conduct the hearing not later than sixty days after the...

...(A) If the court grants a motion for expedited relief under section 2747.04 of the Revised Code, the court shall award reasonable attorney's fees, court costs, and other reasonable litigation expenses to the moving party. The court shall not fail to award, or reduce an award of, attorney's fees, court costs, and other reasonable litigation expenses under this division on the grounds that the representation of the mov...

...(A) Sections 2747.01 to 2747.06 of the Revised Code apply to a civil action filed or any claim asserted in a civil action on or after the effective date of this section. (B) A court shall broadly construe and apply sections 2747.01 to 2747.06 of the Revised Code to protect the exercise of the right of freedom of speech and of the press, the right to assemble and petition, and the right of association, guaranteed by...

...(A) No person shall knowingly engage in conduct designed to urge or incite another to commit any offense of violence, when either of the following apply: (1) The conduct takes place under circumstances that create a clear and present danger that any offense of violence will be committed; (2) The conduct proximately results in the commission of any offense of violence. (B) Whoever violates this section is guilty of...

...(A) No person shall participate with four or more others in a course of disorderly conduct in violation of section 2917.11 of the Revised Code: (1) With purpose to commit or facilitate the commission of a felony; (2) With purpose to commit or facilitate the commission of any offense of violence; (3) When the offender or any participant to the knowledge of the offender has on or about the offender's or participant'...

...(A) No person shall participate with four or more others in a course of disorderly conduct in violation of section 2917.11 of the Revised Code: (1) With purpose to commit or facilitate the commission of a misdemeanor, other than disorderly conduct; (2) With purpose to intimidate a public official or employee into taking or refraining from official action, or with purpose to hinder, impede, or obstruct a function of...

...For the purposes of prosecuting violations of sections 2917.02 and 2917.03 of the Revised Code, the state is not required to allege or prove that the offender expressly agreed with four or more others to commit any act that constitutes a violation of either section prior to or while committing those acts.

...(A) Where five or more persons are participating in a course of disorderly conduct in violation of section 2917.11 of the Revised Code, and there are other persons in the vicinity whose presence creates the likelihood of physical harm to persons or property or of serious public inconvenience, annoyance, or alarm, a law enforcement officer or other public official may order the participants and such other persons to d...

...A law enforcement officer or fireman, engaged in suppressing riot or in protecting persons or property during riot: (A) Is justified in using force, other than deadly force, when and to the extent he has probable cause to believe such force is necessary to disperse or apprehend rioters; (B) Is justified in using force, including deadly force, when and to the extent he has probable cause to believe such force is nec...

...(A) No person shall recklessly cause inconvenience, annoyance, or alarm to another by doing any of the following: (1) Engaging in fighting, in threatening harm to persons or property, or in violent or turbulent behavior; (2) Making unreasonable noise or an offensively coarse utterance, gesture, or display or communicating unwarranted and grossly abusive language to any person; (3) Insulting, taunting, or challengi...

...(A) No person, with purpose to prevent or disrupt a lawful meeting, procession, or gathering, shall do either of the following: (1) Do any act which obstructs or interferes with the due conduct of such meeting, procession, or gathering; (2) Make any utterance, gesture, or display which outrages the sensibilities of the group. (B) Whoever violates this section is guilty of disturbing a lawful meeting. Except as ...

...(A) No person shall knowingly do any of the following: (1) Hamper the lawful operations of any law enforcement officer, firefighter, rescuer, medical person, emergency medical services person, or other authorized person, engaged in the person's duties at the scene of a fire, accident, disaster, riot, or emergency of any kind; (2) Hamper the lawful activities of any emergency facility person who is engaged in the pe...

...(A) No person, without privilege to do so, shall recklessly obstruct any highway, street, sidewalk, or any other public passage in such a manner as to render the highway, street, sidewalk, or passage impassable without unreasonable inconvenience or hazard if both of the following apply: (1) The obstruction prevents an emergency vehicle from accessing a highway or street, prevents an emergency service responder fro...

...(A) No person shall knowingly make or cause to be made a telecommunication, or knowingly permit a telecommunication to be made from a telecommunications device under the person's control, to another, if the caller does any of the following: (1) Makes the telecommunication with purpose to harass, intimidate, or abuse any person at the premises to which the telecommunication is made, whether or not actual communicatio...

...(A) As used in this section: (1) "Disseminate" means to post, distribute, or publish on a computer device, computer network, web site, or other electronic device or medium of communication. (2) "Image" means a photograph, film, videotape, digital recording, or other depiction or portrayal of a person. (3) "Interactive computer service" has the meaning defined in the "Telecommunications Act of 1996," 47 U.S.C. 2...

...(A) No person shall cause the evacuation of any public place, or otherwise cause serious public inconvenience or alarm, by doing any of the following: (1) Initiating or circulating a report or warning of an alleged or impending fire, explosion, crime, or other catastrophe, knowing that such report or warning is false; (2) Threatening to commit any offense of violence; (3) Committing any offense, with reckles...

...(A) No person shall do any of the following: (1) Initiate or circulate a report or warning of an alleged or impending fire, explosion, crime, or other catastrophe, knowing that the report or warning is false and likely to cause public inconvenience or alarm; (2) Knowingly cause a false alarm of fire or other emergency to be transmitted to or within any organization, public or private, for dealing with emergencies...

...(A) As used in this section: (1) "Emergency response" means an action taken by a law enforcement agency to preserve the life, health, safety, or property of any person. (2) "Public safety answering point" and "emergency service provider" have the same meanings as in section 128.01 of the Revised Code. (3) "Telecommunications device" and "telecommunications service" have the same meanings as in section 2913.01 o...

...(A) No person, without privilege to do so, shall manufacture, possess, sell, deliver, display, use, threaten to use, attempt to use, conspire to use, or make readily accessible to others a hoax weapon of mass destruction with the intent to deceive or otherwise mislead one or more persons into believing that the hoax weapon of mass destruction will cause terror, bodily harm, or property damage. (B) This section does ...

...(A) As used in this section: (1) "Live entertainment performance" means any live speech; any live musical performance, including a concert; any live dramatic performance; any live variety show; and any other live performance with respect to which the primary intent of the audience can be construed to be viewing the performers. A "live entertainment performance" does not include any form of entertainment with ...

...(A) No person shall evade the payment of the known fares of a public transportation system. (B) No person shall alter any transfer, pass, ticket, or token of a public transportation system with the purpose of evading the payment of fares or of defrauding the system. (C) No person shall do any of the following while in any facility or on any vehicle of a public transportation system: (1) Play sound equipment withou...

...(A) No person shall, with intent to identify a building as a block parent home or building, display the block parent symbol adopted by the former state board of education pursuant to former section 3301.076 of the Revised Code prior to its repeal on July 1, 2007. (B) No person shall, with intent to identify a building as a block parent home or building, display a symbol that falsely gives the appearance of being t...

...As used in this section, "infectious agent" means a microorganism such as a virus, bacterium, or similar agent that causes disease or death in human beings. (A) No person shall knowingly possess, send, receive, or cause to be sent or received an isolate or derivative of an isolate of an infectious agent, except as permitted by division (B) of this section. (B) A person may possess, send, receive, or cause to be sen...

...As used in sections 2921.01 to 2921.45 of the Revised Code: (A) "Public official" means any elected or appointed officer, or employee, or agent of the state or any political subdivision, whether in a temporary or permanent capacity, and includes, but is not limited to, legislators, judges, and law enforcement officers. "Public official" does not include an employee, officer, or governor-appointed member of th...

...(A) No person, with purpose to corrupt a public servant or party official, or improperly to influence a public servant or party official with respect to the discharge of the public servant's or party official's duty, whether before or after the public servant or party official is elected, appointed, qualified, employed, summoned, or sworn, shall promise, offer, or give any valuable thing or valuable benefit. (B) No...

...(A) No person, knowingly and by force, by unlawful threat of harm to any person or property, or by filing, recording, or otherwise using a materially false or fraudulent writing with malicious purpose, in bad faith, or in a wanton or reckless manner, shall attempt to influence, intimidate, or hinder a public servant, a party official, or an attorney or witness involved in a civil action or proceeding in the discharge...

...(A) No person shall knowingly attempt to intimidate or hinder the victim of a crime or delinquent act in the filing or prosecution of criminal charges or a delinquent child action or proceeding, and no person shall knowingly attempt to intimidate a witness to a criminal or delinquent act by reason of the person being a witness to that act. (B) No person, knowingly and by force or by unlawful threat of harm to...

...(A) No person, purposely and by force or by unlawful threat of harm to any person or property, shall retaliate against a public servant, a party official, or an attorney or witness who was involved in a civil or criminal action or proceeding because the public servant, party official, attorney, or witness discharged the duties of the public servant, party official, attorney, or witness. (B) No person, purposely and ...

...(A) No person, in any official proceeding, shall knowingly make a false statement under oath or affirmation, or knowingly swear or affirm the truth of a false statement previously made, when either statement is material. (B) A falsification is material, regardless of its admissibility in evidence, if it can affect the course or outcome of the proceeding. It is no defense to a charge under this section that the offen...

...(A) No person, knowing that an official proceeding or investigation is in progress, or is about to be or likely to be instituted, shall do any of the following: (1) Alter, destroy, conceal, or remove any record, document, or thing, with purpose to impair its value or availability as evidence in such proceeding or investigation; (2) Make, present, or use any record, document, or thing, knowing it to be false and wit...

...on, complaint, or other pleading, or an inventory, account, or report. (11) The statement is made on an account, form, record, stamp, label, or other writing that is required by law. (12) The statement is made in connection with the purchase of a firearm, as defined in section 2923.11 of the Revised Code, and in conjunction with the furnishing to the seller of the firearm of a fictitious or altered driver's or comm...

...(A) No person shall knowingly make or cause another person to make a false report under division (B) of section 2151.421 of the Revised Code alleging that any person has committed an act or omission that resulted in a child being an abused child as defined in section 2151.031 of the Revised Code or a neglected child as defined in section 2151.03 of the Revised Code. (B) Whoever violates this section is guilty of mak...

...(A) As used in this section, "peace officer" has the same meaning as in section 2935.01 of the Revised Code. (B) No person shall knowingly file a complaint against a peace officer that alleges that the peace officer engaged in misconduct in the performance of the officer's duties if the person knows that the allegation is false. (C) Whoever violates division (B) of this section is guilty of making a false allegatio...

...(A) No person shall knowingly demand, accept, or agree to accept anything of value in consideration of abandoning or agreeing to abandon a pending criminal prosecution. (B) It is an affirmative defense to a charge under this section when both of the following apply: (1) The pending prosecution involved is for a violation of section 2913.02 or 2913.11, division (B)(2) of section 2913.21, or section 2913.47 of the Re...

...(A)(1) Except as provided in division (A)(2) of this section, no person, knowing that a felony has been or is being committed, shall knowingly fail to report such information to law enforcement authorities. (2) No person, knowing that a violation of division (B) of section 2913.04 of the Revised Code has been, or is being committed or that the person has received information derived from such a violation, shall kno...

...(A) No person shall negligently fail or refuse to aid a law enforcement officer, when called upon for assistance in preventing or halting the commission of an offense, or in apprehending or detaining an offender, when such aid can be given without a substantial risk of physical harm to the person giving it. (B) Whoever violates this section is guilty of failure to aid a law enforcement officer, a minor misdemeanor.

...(A) No officer or employee of a law enforcement agency or court, or of the office of the clerk of any court, shall disclose during the pendency of any criminal case the home address of any peace officer, parole officer, prosecuting attorney, assistant prosecuting attorney, correctional employee, or youth services employee who is a witness or arresting officer in the case. (B) Division (A) of this section does not pr...

...(A) No judge of a court of record, or mayor presiding over a mayor's court, shall order a peace officer, parole officer, prosecuting attorney, assistant prosecuting attorney, correctional employee, or youth services employee who is a witness in a criminal case, to disclose the peace officer's, parole officer's, prosecuting attorney's, assistant prosecuting attorney's, correctional employee's, or youth services emplo...

...(A) No person who is in a public place shall refuse to disclose the person's name, address, or date of birth, when requested by a law enforcement officer who reasonably suspects either of the following: (1) The person is committing, has committed, or is about to commit a criminal offense. (2) The person witnessed any of the following: (a) An offense of violence that would constitute a felony under the laws of this...

...(A) No person, without privilege to do so and with purpose to prevent, obstruct, or delay the performance by a public official of any authorized act within the public official's official capacity, shall do any act that hampers or impedes a public official in the performance of the public official's lawful duties. (B) Whoever violates this section is guilty of obstructing official business. Except as otherwise provid...

...(A) No person, with purpose to hinder the discovery, apprehension, prosecution, conviction, or punishment of another for crime or to assist another to benefit from the commission of a crime, and no person, with purpose to hinder the discovery, apprehension, prosecution, adjudication as a delinquent child, or disposition of a child for an act that if committed by an adult would be a crime or to assist a child to...

...(A) No person shall knowingly cause, or attempt to cause, physical harm to a police dog or horse in either of the following circumstances: (1) The police dog or horse is assisting a law enforcement officer in the performance of the officer's official duties at the time the physical harm is caused or attempted. (2) The police dog or horse is not assisting a law enforcement officer in the performance of the officer...

...(A) No person, recklessly or by force, shall resist or interfere with a lawful arrest of the person or another. (B) No person, recklessly or by force, shall resist or interfere with a lawful arrest of the person or another person and, during the course of or as a result of the resistance or interference, cause physical harm to a law enforcement officer. (C) No person, recklessly or by force, shall resist or interfe...

...(A) No person shall fail to comply with any lawful order or direction of any police officer invested with authority to direct, control, or regulate traffic. (B) No person shall operate a motor vehicle so as willfully to elude or flee a police officer after receiving a visible or audible signal from a police officer to bring the person's motor vehicle to a stop. (C)(1) Whoever violates this section is guilty of f...

...(A)(1) No person, knowing the person is under detention, other than supervised release detention, or being reckless in that regard, shall purposely break or attempt to break the detention, or purposely fail to return to detention, either following temporary leave granted for a specific purpose or limited period, or at the time required when serving a sentence in intermittent confinement. (2)(a) Division (A)(2...

...(A) No person, with purpose to promote or facilitate an escape or resistance to lawful authority, shall convey into a detention facility, or provide anyone confined therein with any instrument or thing which may be used for such purposes. (B) No person who is confined in a detention facility, and with purpose to promote or facilitate an escape or resistance to lawful authority, shall make, procure, conceal, unlawful...

...(A) No person shall knowingly convey, or attempt to convey, onto the grounds of a detention facility or of an institution, office building, or other place that is under the control of the department of mental health and addiction services, the department of developmental disabilities, the department of youth services, or the department of rehabilitation and correction any of the following items: (1) Any deadly weap...

...The person in charge of a detention facility shall, on the grounds of the detention facility, have the same power as a peace officer, as defined in section 2935.01 of the Revised Code, to arrest a person who violates section 2921.36 of the Revised Code.

...(A) No person who is confined in a detention facility, with intent to harass, annoy, threaten, or alarm another person, shall cause or attempt to cause the other person to come into contact with blood, semen, urine, feces, or another bodily substance by throwing the bodily substance at the other person, by expelling the bodily substance upon the other person, or in any other manner. (B) No person, with intent...

...(A) No public official or party official shall commit any theft offense, as defined in division (K) of section 2913.01 of the Revised Code, when either of the following applies: (1) The offender uses the offender's office in aid of committing the offense or permits or assents to its use in aid of committing the offense; (2) The property or service involved is owned by this state, any other state, the United State...

...(A) No public official shall knowingly do any of the following: (1) Authorize, or employ the authority or influence of the public official's office to secure authorization of any public contract in which the public official, a member of the public official's family, or any of the public official's business associates has an interest; (2) Authorize, or employ the authority or influence of the public official...

...(A) As used in this section: (1) "Chief legal officer" has the same meaning as in section 733.621 of the Revised Code. (2) "Political subdivision" means a county, a municipal corporation, or a township that adopts a limited home rule government under Chapter 504. of the Revised Code. (B) A prosecuting attorney may appoint assistants and employees, except a member of the family of the prosecuting attorney, in accor...

...(A) No public servant shall knowingly solicit or accept, and no person shall knowingly promise or give to a public servant, either of the following: (1) Any compensation, other than as allowed by divisions (G), (H), and (I) of section 102.03 of the Revised Code or other provisions of law, to perform the public servant's official duties, to perform any other act or service in the public servant's public capacity, for...

...(A) No law enforcement officer shall negligently do any of the following: (1) Fail to serve a lawful warrant without delay; (2) Fail to prevent or halt the commission of an offense or to apprehend an offender, when it is in the law enforcement officer's power to do so alone or with available assistance. (B) No law enforcement, ministerial, or judicial officer shall negligently fail to perform a lawful duty in a cr...

...(A) No public servant, under color of the public servant's office, employment, or authority, shall knowingly deprive, or conspire or attempt to deprive any person of a constitutional or statutory right. (B) Whoever violates this section is guilty of interfering with civil rights, a misdemeanor of the first degree.

...(A) As used in this section: (1) "Peace officer" means a sheriff, deputy sheriff, marshal, deputy marshal, member of the organized police department of a municipal corporation, or township constable, who is employed by a political subdivision of this state; a member of a police force employed by a metropolitan housing authority under division (D) of section 3735.31 of the Revised Code; a member of a police for...

...(A) As used in this section: (1) "Lawfully issued" means adopted, issued, or rendered in accordance with the United States constitution, the constitution of a state, and the applicable statutes, rules, regulations, and ordinances of the United States, a state, and the political subdivisions of a state. (2) "State" means a state of the United States, including without limitation, the state legislature, the highest c...

...As used in this chapter: (A) "Employer" or "public employer" means boards of education, school districts, joint vocational districts, governing authorities of community schools established under Chapter 3314. of the Revised Code, a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics school established under Chapter 3326. of the Revised Code, educational institutions, technical colleges, state, municipal, and communit...

..."Employee" as defined in division (B) of section 3309.01 of the Revised Code, does not include any of the following: (A) Any person having a license or registration issued pursuant to sections 3319.22 to 3319.31 of the Revised Code and employed in a public school in this state in an educational position, as determined by the department of education and workforce, under programs provided for by federal acts or regu...

...As used in this section, "school board member" means a member of a city, local, exempted village, or joint vocational school district board of education and a "governing board member" means a member of an educational service center governing board. (A) Within thirty days of a school board member's or a governing board member's initially taking office, the board member shall elect whether to become a member of the sc...

...(A) As used in this section, "operator" has the same meaning as in section 3314.02 of the Revised Code. (B) "Employee," as defined in division (B) of section 3309.01 of the Revised Code, does not include either of the following: (1) Any person initially employed on or after July 1, 2016, by a community school operator and for whom the operator withholds and pays employee and employer taxes pursuant to 26 U.S.C. 310...

...(A) As used in this section, "armed forces" includes both: (1) Army, navy, air force, marine corps, space force, coast guard, auxiliary corps as established by congress, army nurse corps, navy nurse corps, red cross nurse serving with the army, navy, air force, or hospital service of the United States, full-time service with the American red cross in a combat zone, and such other service as is designated by congres...

...(A)(1) A member may purchase service credit that shall be considered as the equivalent of Ohio service for each year or portion of a year of service incurred by reason of having been on active duty as a member of the armed forces of the United States, as defined in section 3309.02 of the Revised Code. (2) As used in division (A)(2) of this section, "reserves" means a reserve component of any of the armed forces of t...

...(A) As used in this section: (1) "Service in the uniformed services" means the performance of duty on a voluntary or involuntary basis in a uniformed service under competent authority and includes active duty, active duty for training, initial active duty for training, inactive duty training, full-time national guard duty, and a period for which a person is absent from a position of employment for the purpose of an ...

...A school employees retirement system is hereby established for the employees as defined in section 3309.01 of the Revised Code, which shall include the several funds created and placed under the management of the school employees retirement board for the payment of retirement allowances and other benefits provided in Chapter 3309. of the Revised Code. The board may sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, contract an...

...The school employees retirement system shall consist of the plans described in section 3309.18 to 3309.70 of the Revised Code and the plan or plans established under section 3309.81 of the Revised Code.

...The general administration and management of the school employees retirement system and making effective Chapter 3309. of the Revised Code are hereby vested in the school employees retirement board which may adopt rules in accordance with section 111.15 of the Revised Code and may authorize its administrative officers, or committees composed of members of said board, to act for the board in accordance with such polic...

...The school employees retirement board shall do all of the following: (A) In consultation with the Ohio ethics commission, review any existing policy regarding the travel and payment of travel expenses of members and employees of the school employees retirement board and adopt rules in accordance with section 3309.04 of the Revised Code establishing a new or revised policy regarding travel and payment of travel expen...

...The school employees retirement board shall, in consultation with the Ohio ethics commission, develop an ethics policy to govern board members and employees in the performance of their official duties. The board shall submit this policy to the commission for approval. The commission shall review the policy and, if the commission determines that the policy is adequate, approve the policy. If the commission determines...

...(A) The school employees retirement board shall designate a person who is a licensed state retirement system investment officer to be the chief investment officer for the school employees retirement system. The board shall notify the division of securities of the department of commerce in writing of its designation and of any change in its designation within ten calendar days of the designation or change. (B) The ch...

...The school employees retirement board shall appoint a committee to oversee the selection of an internal auditor. The committee shall select one or more persons for employment as an internal auditor. The board shall employ the person or persons selected by the committee. The committee shall consist of the following board members: one retirant member, one employee member, and one other member. The committee shall annu...

...(A) The school employees retirement board shall consist of the following members: (1) One member, known as the treasurer of state's investment designee, who shall be appointed by the treasurer of state for a term of four years and who shall have the following qualifications: (a) The member is a resident of this state. (b) Within the three years immediately preceding the appointment, the member has not been e...

...Each member of the school employees retirement board shall, not later than ninety days after commencing service as a board member, complete the orientation program component of the retirement board member education program established under section 171.50 of the Revised Code. Each member of the board who has served a year or longer as a board member shall, not less than twice each year, attend one or more pro...

...A person who served as an elected or appointed member of the school employees retirement board for one or more entire fiscal years in fiscal years 2000, 2001, or 2002 is ineligible for re-election or reappointment to the board if the board paid travel-related expenses of the person or reimbursed the person for travel-related expenses that averaged more than ten thousand dollars annually for those fiscal years.

...(A) Elections for employee and retirant members of the school employees retirement board shall be held on the first Monday of March. Terms of office of the employee and retirant members of the board shall be for four years each, commencing on the first day of July following the election and ending on the thirtieth day of June. The initial terms of the first retirant member and the new employee member shall commence o...

...(A) The office of a member of the school employees retirement board who is convicted of or pleads guilty to a felony, a theft offense as defined in section 2913.01 of the Revised Code, or a violation of section 102.02, 102.03, 102.04, 2921.02, 2921.11, 2921.13, 2921.31, 2921.41, 2921.42, 2921.43, or 2921.44 of the Revised Code shall be deemed vacant. A person who has pleaded guilty to or been convicted of an of...

...(A) All elections for employee or retirant members of the school employees retirement board shall be held under the direction of the board in accordance with rules adopted under section 3309.075 of the Revised Code. (B) Any member of the school employees retirement system, other than a disability benefit recipient, shall be eligible to be nominated for election as an employee member of the board who has been ...

...Notwithstanding sections 3309.05, 3309.06, and 3309.07 of the Revised Code, the school employees retirement board is not required to hold an election for a position on the board as an employee member or retirant member if only one candidate has been nominated for the position by petition in accordance with section 3309.07 of the Revised Code. The candidate shall take office as if elected. The term of office shall be ...

...(A) As used in this section: (1) "Campaign committee" means a candidate or a combination of two or more persons authorized by a candidate to receive contributions and in-kind contributions and make expenditures on behalf of the candidate. (2) "Candidate" means an individual who has been nominated pursuant to section 3309.07 of the Revised Code for election to the school employees retirement board or who is se...

...(A) No person shall knowingly fail to file a complete and accurate campaign finance statement or independent expenditure statement in accordance with section 3309.072 of the Revised Code. (B) No person, during the course of a person seeking nomination for, and during any campaign for, election to the school employees retirement board, shall knowingly and with intent to affect the nomination or the outcome of the cam...

...The secretary of state, or any person acting on personal knowledge and subject to the penalties of perjury, may file a complaint with the Ohio elections commission alleging a violation of section 3309.073 of the Revised Code. The complaint shall be made on a form prescribed and provided by the commission. A complaint shall be filed not later than two years after the occurrence of the act or failure to act that...

...(A) The school employees retirement board, after consultation with the secretary of state, shall adopt rules in accordance with section 111.15 of the Revised Code, governing all of the following: (1) The administration of elections of members of the board under section 3309.07 of the Revised Code and elections held under section 3309.06 of the Revised Code to fill vacancies on the board; (2) Nominating petit...

...Each member of the school employees retirement board upon appointment or election shall take an oath of office that he will support the constitution of the United States, the constitution of the state, and that he will diligently and honestly administer the affairs of the said board and that he will not knowingly violate or willfully permit to be violated any law applicable to Chapter 3309. of the Revised Code. Suc...

...A majority of the members of the school employees retirement board constitutes a quorum for the transaction of any business. Any action taken by the board shall be approved by a majority of the members of the board. All meetings of the board shall be open to the public except executive sessions as set forth in division (G) of section 121.22 of the Revised Code, and any portions of any sessions discussing medical reco...

...(A) Notwithstanding division (C) of section 121.22 of the Revised Code, the school employees retirement board may adopt a policy that allows a board member to attend a meeting of the board by means of video conference. The board shall include in the policy, if adopted, both of the following: (1) The number of regular meetings at which each board member shall be present in person, provided that number is not less th...

...(A) No member of the school employees retirement board shall be subject to disciplinary action by an employer for absence from the member's regular employment for service to the board. Members of the board shall serve without compensation from the retirement system, but an employer shall be reimbursed from the expense fund for any compensation paid to an employee member of the board or a retirant member emplo...

...The school employees retirement board shall elect, from its membership, a chairperson, and shall employ an executive director who shall serve as secretary.

...The treasurer of state shall be the custodian of the funds of the school employees retirement system, and all disbursements therefrom shall be paid by the treasurer of state only upon instruments duly authorized by the school employees retirement board and bearing the signatures of the board; provided, that such instruments may bear the names of the board members printed thereon and the signatures of the president an...

...The attorney general shall be the legal adviser of the school employees retirement board.

...The school employees retirement board shall secure the service of such technical and administrative employees as are necessary for the transaction of the business of the school employees retirement system. Effective ninety days after the effective date of this amendment, the board may not employ a state retirement system investment officer, as defined in section 1707.01 of the Revised Code, who does not hold a valid...

...(A) The members of the school employees retirement board shall be the trustees of the funds created by section 3309.60 of the Revised Code. The board shall have full power to invest the funds. The board and other fiduciaries shall discharge their duties with respect to the funds solely in the interest of the participants and beneficiaries; for the exclusive purpose of providing benefits to participants and their bene...

...The school employees retirement system shall make no investments through, purchases from, or otherwise do any business with any individual who is, or any partnership, association, or corporation that is owned or controlled by, a person who within the preceding three years was employed by, a board member of, or an officer of the system, or in which a person who within the preceding three years was employed by, a board...

...(A) Except as provided in division (B) of this section, a fiduciary shall not cause the school employees retirement system to engage in a transaction, if he knows or should know that such transaction constitutes a direct or indirect: (1) Sale or exchange, or leasing, of any property between the system and a party in interest; (2) Lending of money or other extension of credit between the system and a party in intere...

...(A) As used in this section and in section 3309.159 of the Revised Code: (1) "Agent" means a dealer, as defined in section 1707.01 of the Revised Code, who is licensed under sections 1707.01 to 1707.50 of the Revised Code or under comparable laws of another state or of the United States. (2) "Minority business enterprise" has the same meaning as in section 122.71 of the Revised Code. (3) "Ohio-qualified agent" ...

...(A) The school employees retirement system shall disclose the following to the Ohio ethics commission: (1) Anything of value received by the system from an agent and anything of value given on behalf of the system by an agent; (2) The name of any employee of the system with authority over the investment of retirement system funds or any board member of the system who deals with an agent regarding amounts described ...

...(A) The school employees retirement board shall, for the purposes of this section, designate an investment manager as an Ohio-qualified investment manager if the investment manager meets all of the following requirements: (1) The investment manager is subject to taxation under Chapter 5725., 5726., 5733., 5747., or 5751. of the Revised Code. (2) The investment manager meets one of the following requirements: (a) H...

...Bonds purchased from any taxing district of the state shall be in the denomination required by the school employees retirement board in its resolution of purchase, or the board may by its resolution require that all bonds of any series of bonds purchased by it from any taxing district be consolidated and issued as one bond, the principal amount of which shall be equal to the aggregate amount of all the bonds of said ...

...The proper officers of each taxing district issuing the bonds provided for in section 3309.16 of the Revised Code shall, without additional procedure or legislation on their part, comply with this chapter, except that the proper accounting officer of such taxing district and the secretary of its sinking fund shall make and keep a detailed record of any such changes required by the school employees retirement board. T...

...Interest deposited in the guarantee fund created by section 3309.60 of the Revised Code shall be credited annually to the various funds, except the expense fund.

...No trustee and no employee of the school employees retirement board shall have any interest, direct or indirect, in the gains or profits of any investment made by the board nor as such, directly or indirectly, receive any pay or emolument for his services. No trustee or employee of the said board, directly or indirectly, for himself or as an agent or partner of others, shall borrow any of its funds or deposits or use...

...The school employees retirement board shall provide for the maintenance of an individual account with each contributor showing the amount of his contributions and the interest accumulations thereon. It shall collect and keep in convenient form such data as is necessary for the preparation of the required mortality and service tables, and for the compilation of such other information as is required for the actuarial ...

...(A) The school employees retirement board shall have prepared annually by or under the supervision of an actuary an actuarial valuation of the pension assets, liabilities, and funding requirements of the school employees retirement system as established pursuant to this chapter. The actuary shall complete the valuation in accordance with actuarial standards of practice promulgated by the actuarial standards boa...

...The school employees retirement board shall establish a period of not more than thirty years to amortize the school employees retirement system's unfunded actuarial accrued pension liability. The board shall adopt a plan that specifies how it proposes to meet the thirty-year amortization period not later than June 30, 2007. If in any year the period necessary to amortize the unfunded actuarial accrued pension liabili...

...(A) As used in this section: (1) "Compensation" has the same meaning as in section 3309.01 of the Revised Code except that in the case of an electing employee, "compensation" means the amount that would be the electing employee's compensation if the electing employee was a member of the retirement system. ( 2) "Compensation ratio" means the ratio for the most recent full fiscal year for which the information is a...

...(A)(1) As used in this division, "personal history record" means information maintained in any format by the board on an individual who is a member, former member, contributor, former contributor, retirant, or beneficiary that includes the address, electronic mail address, telephone number, social security number, record of contributions, correspondence with the system, and other information the board determines to b...

...(A) Except as provided in division (B) of this section, the following shall be contributors to the school employees retirement system: (1) All employees, as defined in division (B) of section 3309.01 of the Revised Code; (2) The employees of an existing or newly created employer unit as defined in division (A) of section 3309.01 of the Revised Code, supported in whole or in part by the state or any political subdiv...

...Members of a local district pension system maintained under the laws of the state from appropriations or contributions made wholly or in part by any employer and existing on July 14, 1937, are hereby excluded from membership in the school employees retirement system. If a majority of all employees participating in any such local district pension system apply for membership in the school employees retirement system by...

...On receipt of notice under section 3309.55 of the Revised Code of the employment of a new employee, the school employees retirement system shall inform the employee of the requirements of section 3309.251 of the Revised Code.

...(A) Except as provided in division (D) of this section, an individual who becomes a member of the school employees retirement system on or after the date on which the school employees retirement board establishes a plan under section 3309.81 of the Revised Code shall make an election under this section. Not later than one hundred eighty days after the date on which employment begins, the individual shall elect to par...

...(A) A member of the school employees retirement system, who, as of the last day of the month immediately preceding the date on which the system establishes a plan under section 3309.81 of the Revised Code, has less than five years of total service credit is eligible to make an election under this section. Not later than one hundred eighty days after the day the board first establishes one or more plans under section...

...A member of the school employees retirement system who elects to participate in a plan established under section 3309.81 of the Revised Code shall be ineligible for any benefit or payment under sections 3309.18 to 3309.70 of the Revised Code and shall be forever barred from claiming or purchasing service credit with any state retirement system, as defined in section 145.30 of the Revised Code, for service covered by ...

...(A) The membership of any person in the school employees retirement system shall terminate if the person withdraws the person's accumulated contributions, retires on a retirement allowance as provided in sections 3309.36 and 3309.381 of the Revised Code, or dies, unless otherwise provided in Chapter 3309. of the Revised Code. (B) A former member with an account in the employees' savings fund who formerly lost member...

...(A) A member of the school employees retirement system who has at least eighteen months of contributing service credit in the system, the Ohio police and fire pension fund, public employees retirement system, state teachers retirement system, or state highway patrol retirement system, and is a former member of or no longer contributing to the public employees retirement system or state teachers retirement system may ...

...After receiving a request from the public employees retirement system under division (A) of section 145.311 or the state teachers retirement system under division (A) of section 3307.711 of the Revised Code, the school employees retirement system shall do both of the following: (A) Calculate and certify to the requesting retirement system the cost to a former member to restore service credit under section 3309.26 of...

...(A) The school employees retirement board may establish by rule payroll deduction plans for payment of the following: (1) The cost of restoring service credit under section 3309.26 or 3309.261 of the Revised Code or purchasing any service credit members of the school employees retirement system are eligible to purchase under this chapter; (2) Charges for participation in programs established under section 3309.691 ...

...Not later than thirty days after an employee begins employment, the employer shall file with the school employees retirement system a detailed statement of the employee's personal information and such other information as the school employees retirement board requires for the proper operation of the school employees retirement system.

...To the extent to which it is used in determining the liability of any fund created by section 3309.60 of the Revised Code, the school employees retirement board shall verify the statement required by section 3309.28 of the Revised Code by the best evidence it can obtain. If official records are not available as to the length of service, compensation, or other information required, the board may use its discretion as ...

...For service subsequent to June 30, 1955, the retirement board shall credit a year of service credit to any member employed on a full-time basis for nine or more months of service within a year. For contributing and prior service before July 1, 1955 only eight or more months of service on a full-time basis within a year will be necessary for a year of service credit. Effective July 1, 1977, full-time service is define...

...(A) As used in this section, "paying system" and "transferring system" have the same meanings as in section 3309.35 of the Revised Code. (B)(1) Except as provided in division (B)(2) of this section, a member of the school employees retirement system with at least eighteen months of contributing service in the system, the public employees retirement system, or the state teachers retirement system who exempted self fr...

...Service credit purchased under this section shall be included in the member's total service credit. Credit may be purchased for the following: (A) School service in a public or private school, college, or university of this or another state, and for school service in any school or entity operated by or for the United States government. Credit purchased under this section for school service shall be limited to servic...

...As used in this section, "school board member" means a member of a city, local, exempted village, or joint vocational school district board of education and a "governing board member" means a member of an educational service center governing board. (A) A member of the school employees retirement system who does both of the following may purchase credit for service as a school board or governing board member if the m...

...(A) Not later than ninety days after September 16, 1998, a member who, on September 16, 1998, is employed full time pursuant to section 3345.04 of the Revised Code by the university of Akron as a state university law enforcement officer may elect to transfer to the public employees retirement system in accordance with this section. An election shall be made by giving notice to the school employees retirement sy...

...Any employee who becomes a member and establishes one year of contributing service credit shall be granted prior service credit unless the employee is otherwise required to establish additional contributing service credit under the provisions of this chapter. Provided, however, that any employee who became a contributing member prior to September 1, 1938, shall be granted prior service credit as of the date of esta...

...(A) An employer may establish a retirement incentive plan for its employees who are members of the school employees retirement system. The plan shall provide for purchase by the employer of service credit for eligible employees who choose to participate in the plan and for payment by the employer of the entire cost of such service credit. A plan established under this section shall remain in effect until termin...

...(A)(1)(a) A member of the school employees retirement system is eligible for service retirement before August 1, 2017, if the member: (i) Has at least five years of total service credit and has attained sixty years of age; (ii) Has at least thirty years of total service credit at any age; (iii) Has at least twenty-five years of total service credit and has attained fifty-five years of age. (b) A member who ...

...(A) As used in this section and section 3309.344 of the Revised Code: (1) "SERS retirant" means any person who is receiving a retirement allowance from the school employees retirement system under section 3309.36 or 3309.381 or former section 3309.38 of the Revised Code or any benefit paid under a plan established under section 3309.81 of the Revised Code. (2) "Other system retirant" means a member or former ...

...(A) As used in this section: (1) In addition to the meaning in section 3309.01 of the Revised Code, when appropriate "compensation" has the same meaning as in section 3307.01 of the Revised Code. (2) "Earnable salary" has the same meaning as in section 145.01 of the Revised Code. (3) "SERS position" means a position for which a member of the school employees retirement system is making contributions to the s...

...For purposes of this section, "SERS retirant" includes a member who retired under section 3309.343 of the Revised Code. (A) Except as provided in division (B)(3) of this section, an SERS retirant or other system retirant who has made contributions under section 3309.341 or 3309.343 of the Revised Code may file an application with the school employees retirement system for a benefit consisting of a single life annuit...

...(A) This section applies in the case of a person who is or most recently has been employed by an employer in a position that is customarily filled by a vote of members of a board or commission. (B) Except as otherwise provided in this section, a board or commission that proposes to continue the employment as a reemployed retirant or rehire as a reemployed retirant to the same position an individual described in div...

...(A) As used in this section: (1) "State retirement system" means the public employees retirement system, state teachers retirement system, or school employees retirement system. (2) "Total service credit" means all service credit earned in all state retirement systems, except credit for service subject to section 3309.341 of the Revised Code. Total service credit shall not exceed one year of credit for any twelve-m...

...As used in this section, "benefit" means any allowance, pension, or other benefit to which an individual is entitled and that the individual receives pursuant to section 3309.36, 3309.40, 3309.45, or 3309.46 or former section 3309.38 of the Revised Code. The annual amount of each benefit for which eligibility was established prior to February 1, 1983, shall, after the adjustment required by section 3309.374 o...

...As used in this section, "benefit" means any allowance, pension, or other benefit to which an individual is entitled and that he receives pursuant to section 3309.35, 3309.36, 3309.40, 3309.45, or 3309.46 or former section 3309.38 of the Revised Code. Effective the first day of the month following September 9, 1988, the annual amount of benefits shall be increased as follows: (A) The annual amount of each ben...

...(A) A member of the school employees retirement system who retires on service retirement shall be granted a retirement allowance consisting of the lesser of the sum of the following amounts or the limit established by section 415 of the "Internal Revenue Code of 1986," 100 Stat. 2085, 26 U.S.C. 415, as amended: (1) An annuity having a reserve equal to the amount of the employee's accumulated contributions at that t...

...On and after the effective date of this section, the allowances of retirants receiving benefits based on an award from the school employees retirement system made on or after June 30, 1955, and before 1971, shall have the benefit recalculated by the school employees retirement system so that each such person shall receive an annual single lifetime benefit or its actuarial equivalent of not less than eighty-six dollar...

...As used in this section, "benefit" means any allowance, pension, or other benefit to which an individual is entitled and that the individual receives under section 3309.35, 3309.36, 3309.40, 3309.45, or 3309.46 or former section 3309.38 of the Revised Code. Effective July 1, 1981: (A) The annual amount of each benefit for which eligibility was established prior to January 1, 1977, shall, after the adjustment...

...(A) As used in this section: (1) "Retirement allowance" means any of the following as appropriate: (a) An allowance calculated under section 3309.36 of the Revised Code before any reduction for early retirement or election under section 3309.46 of the Revised Code of a plan of payment; (b) An allowance calculated under division (A) of section 3309.45 of the Revised Code; (c) An allowance calculated under ...

...(A) Until December 31, 2017, the school employees retirement board shall annually increase each allowance, pension, or benefit payable under this chapter by three per cent. (B) Effective January 1, 2018, the retirement board may annually increase each allowance, pension, or benefit payable under this chapter by the percentage increase, if any, in the consumer price index, not to exceed two and one -half per cent, as...

...(A) Except as otherwise provided in division (B) of this section, the board of the school employees retirement system shall make available to each retirant or disability benefit recipient receiving a monthly allowance or benefit on or after January 1, 1968, who has attained the age of sixty-five years, and who is not eligible to receive hospital insurance benefits under the federal old age, survivors, and disability ...

...On and after December 31, 1971, all persons who retired and were eligible to receive a pension that was payable prior to July 1, 1968, pursuant to section 3309.36 or 3309.40 or former section 3309.38 of the Revised Code, or in the event of the death of such persons, the person designated by the deceased to receive payments under section 3309.46 of the Revised Code, shall receive an additional monthly payment of...

...Each person receiving benefits under section 3309.45 of the Revised Code who became eligible to receive such benefits under section 3309.44 of the Revised Code by virtue of the death of a member prior to July 1, 1968, shall receive an additional monthly payment of two dollars for each year between the date of such member's death and December 31, 1972, or an additional fifty dollars, whichever is less.

...On and after the effective date of this section, any person who retired or his beneficiary , who was eligible to receive an allowance that was first payable on or after July 1, 1968 and prior to July 1, 1971, and the beneficiary of a member who died before service retirement on or after July 1, 1968 and prior to July 1, 1971, receiving an allowance or benefit pursuant to sections 3309.35, 3309.36, 3309.38, 3309.40, 3...

...(A) On and after the first day of the month following the effective date of this section, each person eligible to receive an allowance, pension, or benefit, pursuant to sections 3309.35, 3309.36, 3309.40, division (A) of section 3309.45, and section 3309.46 and former section 3309.38 of the Revised Code, that was based upon an award made effective before June 30, 1955, shall have the allowance, pension, or benefit pa...

...(A) Effective July 1, 1981, each person eligible to receive an allowance, pension, or benefit pursuant to sections 3309.35, 3309.36, 3309.40, division (A) of section 3309.45, and section 3309.46 and former section 3309.38 of the Revised Code that was based upon an award made effective before July 1, 1974, shall have the person's monthly allowance, pension, or benefit increased by five per cent, except that the ...

...Whenever the limits established by section 415 of the "Internal Revenue Code of 1986," 100 Stat. 2085, 26 U.S.C.A. 415, as amended, are raised, the school employees retirement board shall increase the amount of the pension, benefit, or allowance of any person whose pension, benefit, or allowance payable under section 3309.36, 3309.374, 3309.381, 3309.40, or 3309.401 or former section 3309.38 of the Revised Code...

...The school employees retirement board may establish and maintain a qualified governmental excess benefit arrangement that meets the requirements of division (m) of section 415 of the "Internal Revenue Code of 1986," 100 Stat. 2085, 26 U.S.C.A. 415, as amended, and any regulations adopted thereunder. If established, the arrangement shall be a separate portion of the school employees retirement system and be maintained...

...(A) A recipient of a disability allowance under section 3309.401 of the Revised Code who is subject to division (C)(3) of that section may make application for retirement under this section. Retirement shall be effective on the first day of the first month following the last day for which the disability allowance is paid. (B) The annual allowance payable under this section shall consist of the sum of the amounts det...

...(A) The school employees retirement system shall provide disability coverage to each member who has at least five years of total service credit. Not later than October 16, 1992, the school employees retirement board shall give each person who is a member on July 29, 1992, the opportunity to elect disability coverage either under section 3309.40 of the Revised Code or under section 3309.401 of the Revised Code...

...Not later than September 1, 2000, and each first day of September thereafter, the school employees retirement board shall make and submit a report for the preceding fiscal year of the disability retirement experience of each employer. The report shall specify the total number of disability applications submitted, the status of each application as of the last day of the fiscal year, total applications granted or denie...

...(A) A recipient of a disability benefit granted under this chapter on or after January 7, 2013, but before the effective date of this amendment, who is enrolled in health care coverage under section 3309.69 of the Revised Code shall apply for social security disability insurance benefit payments under 42 U.S.C. 423 if the recipient meets the requirements of divisions (a)(1)(A), (B), and (C) of that section. (B) A r...

...A member who has elected disability coverage under this section, has not attained age sixty, and is determined by the school employees retirement board under section 3309.39 of the Revised Code to qualify for a disability benefit shall be retired on disability under this section. Upon disability retirement, a member shall receive an annual amount that shall consist of: (A) An annuity having a reserve equal to the a...

...(A) A member with disability coverage under this section who is determined by the school employees retirement board under section 3309.39 of the Revised Code to qualify for a disability benefit shall receive a disability allowance under this section. The allowance shall be an annual amount equal to the greater of the following: (1) Forty-five per cent of the member's final average salary; (2) The member's total s...

...(A) Notwithstanding any contrary provisions in Chapter 124. or 3319. of the Revised Code: (1) A disability benefit recipient whose benefit effective date was before January 7, 2013, shall retain membership status and shall be considered on leave of absence from employment during the first five years following the effective date of a disability benefit. (2) A disability benefit recipient whose benefit effective ...

...(A)(1) Subject to section 3309.67 of the Revised Code and except as provided in division (B) of this section, a member who elects to become exempt from contribution to the school employees retirement system pursuant to section 3309.23 of the Revised Code, or ceases to be an employee for any cause other than death, retirement, receipt of a disability benefit, or current employment in a position in which the member has...

...(A) As used in this section, "other retirement system" means the public employees retirement system or the state teachers retirement system. (B) Except as provided in division (C) of this section, on application, a member of the school employees retirement system who is also a member of one or both of the other retirement systems and has ceased to be an employee under this chapter may be paid, in accordance with sec...

...(A) As used in this section and in section 3309.45 of the Revised Code: (1) "Child" means a biological or legally adopted child of a deceased member. If a court hearing for an interlocutory decree for adoption was held prior to the member's death, "child" includes the child who was the subject of the hearing notwithstanding the fact that the final decree of adoption, adjudging the surviving spouse as the adop...

...Except as provided in division (C)(1) of this section, in lieu of accepting the payment of the accumulated account of a member who dies before service retirement, the beneficiary, as determined in section 3309.44 of the Revised Code, may elect to forfeit the accumulated account and to substitute certain other benefits either under division (A) or (B) of this section. (A)(1) If a deceased member was eligible for a s...

...Upon the death of a member prior to receipt of a disability benefit or service retirement, the surviving spouse or dependents of the deceased member shall have the right to purchase any service credit which the member, had he not died, would have been eligible to purchase under this chapter upon the same terms and conditions which the deceased member could have purchased such service credit had he not died. Any servi...

...(A) The retirement allowance calculated under section 3309.36 or 3309.381 of the Revised Code shall be paid as provided in this section. If the member is eligible to elect a plan of payment under this section, the election shall be made on the application for retirement. A plan of payment elected under this section shall be effective only if it is certified by the actuary engaged by the school employees retirem...

...Each school employees retirement system contributor shall contribute eight per cent of the contributor's compensation to the employees' savings fund, except that the school employees retirement board may raise the contribution rate to a rate not greater than ten per cent of compensation. The contributions by the direction of the school employees retirement board shall be deducted by the employer from the comp...

...Except as otherwise provided in section 124.385 of the Revised Code, any contributor who is granted disability leave pursuant to a program sponsored by his employer, whereby the contributor receives a percentage of his salary while on disability leave, shall not be required to make contributions for time off while on disability leave. Except as otherwise provided in section 124.385 of the Revised Code, each employe...

...For one year after the effective date of this section, a member who resigned due to pregnancy prior to the effective date of this section may purchase service credit for a period following the resignation during which she did not make contributions under section 3309.47 of the Revised Code, if she meets both of the following conditions: (A) She has earned a minimum of one year of service credit subsequent to the dat...

...(A) Except as provided in division (D) of this section, a member of the school employees retirement system who resigned due to pregnancy or adoption of a child may purchase service credit for a period following the resignation during which the member did not make contributions under section 3309.47 of the Revised Code, if the member meets both of the following conditions: (1) The member has earned a minimum of one y...

...(A) As used in this section, "state retirement system" means the public employees retirement system, Ohio police and fire pension fund, state teachers retirement system, school employees retirement system, or state highway patrol retirement system. (B) A state retirement system member who while a member of the school employees retirement system was out of service due to a leave of absence approved by the member's em...

...Any employee who left the service of an employer after attaining age sixty-five or over and such employer had failed or refused to deduct and transmit to the school employees retirement system the employee contributions as required by section 3309.47 of the Revised Code during any year for which membership was compulsory as determined by the school employees retirement board, shall be granted service credit without c...

...Each employer shall pay to the school employees retirement system at such times as required by the school employees retirement board under section 3309.51 of the Revised Code an amount that shall be a certain per cent of the earnable compensation of all employees, and shall be known as the "employer contribution." The rate per cent of such contribution shall be fixed by the actuary on the basis of the actuary's evalu...

...(A) An actuary employed by the school employees retirement board shall annually determine the minimum annual compensation amount for each member that will be needed to fund the cost of providing future health care benefits under section 3309.69 of the Revised Code. The amount determined by the actuary under this division shall be approved by the board and shall be known as the "minimum compensation amount." (B)(1)...

...(A)(1) Upon the death of a retirant or disability benefit recipient, who at the time of death is receiving a service retirement allowance or disability benefit from the school employees retirement system, a lump-sum payment of one thousand dollars shall be paid, following completion of an application on a form approved by the school employees retirement board, in the following order of precedence to: (a) The ...

...(A) Each employer shall pay into the employers' trust fund, monthly or at such times as the school employees retirement board requires, an amount certified by the school employees retirement board, which shall be as required by Chapter 3309. of the Revised Code. Payments by school district boards of education to the employers' trust fund of the school employees retirement system may be made from the amounts alloca...

...Each employer, before employing any employee to whom this chapter may apply, shall give such person a written statement of the person's duties and obligations under such sections as a condition of employment, which statement shall be prepared and supplied to each employer by the school employees retirement board. Any such appointment or reappointment of any employee, or service upon indefinite tenure, shall be cond...

...Each employer shall on the first day of each calendar month, or at such intervals as the school employees retirement board approves, notify the board of removals and withdrawals of employees that have occurred during the month preceding or the period since the period covered by the last notification. Each employer shall keep such records and shall furnish such information and assistance to the school employees retire...

...Each employer shall cause to be deducted, on each payroll of a contributor for each payroll period, the contribution payable by such contributor. Each employer shall send a report that lists such contributions deducted by contributor to the school employees retirement system at such time and in such manner as required by the school employees retirement board.

...Each employer shall transmit monthly or at such times as the school employees retirement board designates the contributions required under this chapter. The school employees retirement system after making a record of all such receipts shall pay them to the treasurer of state for use according to this chapter.

...The school employees retirement system shall impose the following penalties, which may be collected in the same manner as described in division (B) of section 3309.51 of the Revised Code: (A) For a failure to transmit contributions withheld from employees not later than the date specified under rules adopted by the school employees retirement board, one hundred dollars per day for each day the employer fails to tran...

...Employers who obtain funds directly by taxation shall levy annually such additional taxes as are required to provide the additional funds necessary to meet the financial requirements imposed upon them by this chapter and said tax shall be placed before and in preference to all other items except for sinking fund or interest purposes.

...The school employees retirement board shall be the trustee of certain funds hereby created as follows: (A) The "employees' savings fund" is the fund in which shall be accumulated the contributions deducted from the compensation of contributors as provided by section 3309.47 of the Revised Code, together with the interest credited thereon. Such accumulated contributions refunded upon withdrawal or payable to a benefi...

...Wherever in this chapter, reference is made to the employees' savings fund, the employers' trust fund, the annuity and pension reserve fund, the guarantee fund, the survivors' benefit fund, the defined contribution fund, or the expense fund, such reference shall be construed to have been made to each as a separate legal entity. This section does not prevent the deposit or investment of all such moneys intermingled fo...

...The school employees retirement board shall estimate annually the amount required to defray expenses of administration in the ensuing year and may apportion such expenses among the members. The amount so apportioned in any year shall not exceed three dollars per member. If the amount estimated to be required to meet the expenses of the board exceeds the amounts apportioned by the board, the amount of such excess shal...

...If a local district pension system votes to merge with the school employees retirement system, the school employees retirement board shall employ an actuary to value the assets and liabilities which will be taken over by the school employees retirement system hereby created in the event of such merger. The actuary so employed shall be an actuary also approved by the employer in whose district the local district pensi...

...That part of the accrued liability due on account of pensions to pensioners already on the rolls of such local district pension system, referred to in section 3309.63 of the Revised Code, remaining unpaid on September 1, 1937, shall be paid by the employer at the rate of at least four per cent per annum of such accrued liability with interest at four per cent per annum on unpaid balances. Both the payment and interes...

...The increasing contribution determined as provided in sections 3309.63 and 3309.64 of the Revised Code by the actuary shall be paid by the employer instead of the deficiency contribution computed as otherwise provided by this chapter. In the event of merger, the moneys and securities to the credit of the local district pension system, not exceeding an aggregate amount equal to the present value of the payments to be ...

...The right of an individual to a pension, an annuity, or a retirement allowance itself, the right of an individual to any optional benefit, any other right accrued or accruing to any individual under this chapter, the various funds created by section 3309.60 of the Revised Code, and all moneys, investments, and income from moneys and investments are exempt from any state tax, except the tax imposed by section 5747.02 ...

...(A) Except as provided in section 3309.673 of the Revised Code, the granting of a retirement allowance, annuity, pension, or other benefit to any person pursuant to action of the school employees retirement board vests a right in such person, so long as the person remains the recipient of any of the funds established by section 3309.60 of the Revised Code, to receive such retirement allowance, annuity, pension, or be...

...(A) Any person who is receiving an allowance, benefit, or any increase under the provisions of this chapter may, at any time, waive his rights thereto, or to a portion thereof, by filing a written notice of waiver with the school employees retirement board. Except as provided in division (B) of this section, such waiver shall remain in effect until the first day of the month following his death or the filing of his w...

...Any person receiving from the school employees retirement system an allowance, annuity, pension, or benefit may authorize the system to make deductions therefrom for the payment of dues and other membership fees to any retirement association or other organization composed primarily of retired public employees or retired public employees and their spouses if the association or organization adopts a resolution approvin...

...(A) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, any payment that is to be made under a pension, annuity, allowance, or other type of benefit, other than a survivorship benefit, that has been granted to a person under this chapter, any payment of accumulated contributions standing to a person's credit under this chapter, and any payment of any other amounts to be paid to a person under this chapter upon the p...

...(A) As used in this section, "alternate payee," "benefit," "lump sum payment," "participant," and "public retirement program" have the same meanings as in section 3105.80 of the Revised Code. (B) On receipt of an order issued under section 3105.171 or 3105.65 of the Revised Code, the school employees retirement system shall determine whether the order meets the requirements of sections 3105.80 to 3105.90 of the Revi...

...(A) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, any payment of accumulated contributions standing to a person's credit under this chapter and any other amount or amounts to be paid to a person who is a contributor under this chapter upon the person's withdrawal of contributions pursuant to this chapter shall be subject to any forfeiture ordered under division (A) or (B) of section 2929.192 of the Revis...

...Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, a disability benefit granted under this chapter is subject to an order issued under section 2929.193 of the Revised Code. The school employees retirement board shall comply with the order. On receipt of notice under section 2901.43 of the Revised Code that a school employees retirement system member is charged with an offense listed in division (D) of secti...

...All amounts due the school employees retirement system from the state treasury pursuant to this chapter shall be promptly paid upon warrant of the director of budget and management pursuant to a voucher approved by the director.

...(A) The school employees retirement board may establish a program to provide medical, hospital, surgical, prescription, or other health care coverage, benefits, reimbursement, or any combination thereof, to eligible individuals or dependents. Any program established under this section shall be designed and administered by the board. In establishing a program, the board may do any of the following: (1) Enter ...

...The school employees retirement board may establish a program under which members of the retirement system, employers on behalf of members, and persons receiving service, disability, or survivor benefits are permitted to participate in contracts for long-term health care insurance. Participation may include dependents and family members. If a participant in a contract for long-term care insurance leaves employment, t...

...As used in this section, "SERS defined benefit plan" means the plan established under sections 3309.18 to 3309.70 of the Revised Code and "SERS defined contribution plan" means the plan established under section 3309.81 of the Revised Code. The SERS defined benefit plan or a SERS defined contribution plan may include a program under which a member participating in the plan or a member's employer is permitted to make...

...If a person who is a member, former member, contributor, former contributor, retirant, beneficiary, or alternate payee, as defined in section 3105.80 of the Revised Code, is paid any benefit or payment by the school employees retirement system to which the person is not entitled, the benefit shall be repaid to the retirement system by the person. If the person fails to make the repayment, the retirement system shall ...

...(A) As used in this section and section 3309.731 of the Revised Code: (1) "Uniform retirement system" or "uniform system" means the Ohio police and fire pension fund or state highway patrol retirement system. (2) "Military service credit" means service credit purchased or obtained under this chapter or Chapter 742. or 5505. of the Revised Code for service in the armed forces of the United States. (B) A member of t...

...(A) As used in this section, "transferred service credit" means service credit purchased or obtained under section 742.21, 742.214, 742.375, 5505.201, 5505.40, or 5505.41 of the Revised Code prior to the date a member commenced the employment covered by the school employees retirement system for which the member is currently contributing to the system. (B) A member of the school employees retirement system who has c...

...(A) As used in this section and sectoins 3309.75 and 3309.76 of the Revised Code, "military service credit" means credit purchased or obtained under the school employees retirement system or city of Cincinnati retirement system for service in the armed forces of the United States. (B) Service credit and contributions may be transferred between the school employees retirement system and the Cincinnati retirement sys...

...(A) If the conditions described in division (B) of section 3309.74 of the Revised Code are met, a member of the school employees retirement system who is not receiving a pension or benefit from the school employees retirement system is eligible to obtain credit for service as a member of the Cincinnati retirement system under this section. (B) A member of the school employees retirement system who has contributions ...

...(A) If the conditions described in division (B) of section 3309.74 of the Revised Code are met and a person who is a member or former member of the school employees retirement system but not a current contributor and who is not receiving a pension or benefit from the school employees retirement system elects to receive credit under the Cincinnati retirement system for service for which the person contributed to the s...

...The school employees retirement board shall adopt rules to implement each plan established under section 3309.81 of the Revised Code.

...The school employees retirement board may establish one or more plans consisting of benefit options that provide for an individual account for each participating member and under which benefits are based solely on the amounts that have accumulated in the account. The plans may include options under which a member participating in a plan may receive definitely determinable benefits. Each plan established under...

...Each plan established under section 3309.81 of the Revised Code shall qualify as a governmental plan under section 414(d) of the "Internal Revenue Code of 1986," 100 Stat. 2085, 26 U.S.C.A. 414(d), as amended, and meet the requirements of section 401(a) of the "Internal Revenue Code of 1986," 26 U.S.C.A. 401(a), as amended, applicable to governmental plans.

...Each plan established under section 3309.81 of the Revised Code shall meet the requirements necessary to qualify as a retirement system maintained by a state or local government entity under section 3121(b)(7)(F) of the "Internal Revenue Code of 1986," 100 Stat. 2085, 26 U.S.C.A. 3121(b)(7)(F), as amended. Each participant in a plan shall qualify as a member of that system.

...Each plan established under section 3309.81 of the Revised Code shall require the school employees retirement board, or the entity administering the plan pursuant to a contract with the board, to cause an individual account to be maintained for each member participating in the plan. A plan may include deposits to the defined contribution fund created under section 3309.60 of the Revised Code or additional deposits ma...

...(A) Except as provided in division (B) of this section, sections 3309.02, 3309.021, and 3309.022 and sections 3309.18 to 3309.70 of the Revised Code do not apply to a plan established under section 3309.81 of the Revised Code, except that a plan may incorporate provisions of those sections as specified in the plan document. (B) The following sections of Chapter 3309. of the Revised Code apply to a plan established u...

...Each member participating in a plan established under section 3309.81 of the Revised Code shall contribute a per cent of the member's compensation to the school employees retirement system as required in section 3309.47 of the Revised Code. Contributions made under this section shall not exceed the limits established by section 415 of the "Internal Revenue Code of 1986," 100 Stat. 2085, 26 U.S.C.A. 415, as amended.

...For each member participating in a plan established under section 3309.81 of the Revised Code, the employer shall contribute a per cent of the member's compensation to the school employees retirement system as required in section 3309.49 of the Revised Code.

...Except as provided in section 3309.88 of the Revised Code, amounts contributed under sections 3309.85 and 3309.86 of the Revised Code, and any earnings on those amounts, shall be deposited and credited in accordance with the plan established under section 3309.81 of the Revised Code that is selected by the member.

...For each member participating in a plan established under section 3309.81 of the Revised Code, the school employees retirement system shall transfer to the employers' trust fund a portion of the employer contribution required under section 3309.49 of the Revised Code. The portion shall equal the percentage of compensation of members for whom the contributions are being made that is determined by an actuary appo...

...The right of each member participating in a plan established under section 3309.81 of the Revised Code to a retirement, disability, survivor, or death benefit, to health or long-term care insurance, or to a withdrawal of any amounts that have accumulated on the member's behalf shall be governed exclusively by the plan selected by the member.

...If a member participating in a plan established under section 3309.81 of the Revised Code is married at the time benefits under the plan are to commence, before making any payment the school employees retirement system, or the entity administering the plan pursuant to a contract with the school employees retirement board, shall obtain the consent of the member's spouse to the form of payment selected by the member, u...

...Subject to sections 3309.341, 3309.66, 3309.67, 3309.672, and 3309.673 of the Revised Code, the right of a member participating in a plan established under section 3309.81 of the Revised Code to any payment or benefit accruing from contributions made by or on behalf of the member under sections 3309.85 and 3309.86 of the Revised Code shall vest in accordance with this section. A member's right to any payment ...

...Each plan established under section 3309.81 of the Revised Code shall permit a member participating in the plan to do all of the following: (A) Maintain on deposit with the school employees retirement system, or the entity administering the plan pursuant to a contract with the school employees retirement board, any amounts that have accumulated on behalf of the member; (B) If the member has withdrawn the amounts de...

...Contributions under sections 3309.85 and 3309.86 of the Revised Code shall cease on the member's death or termination of employment or for any other reason specified by the plan selected by the member.

...(A) Whoever violates division (A) of section 3309.073 of the Revised Code shall be fined not more than one hundred dollars for each day of the violation. (B) Whoever violates division (B) of section 3309.073 of the Revised Code shall be imprisoned for not more than six months or fined not more than five thousand dollars, or both. (C) Fines imposed by the Ohio elections commission under this section shall be paid in...

...As used in sections 3951.01 to 3951.09, inclusive, of the Revised Code: (A) "Lending institution" means a lending institution, as defined in division (L) of section 175.01 of the Revised Code, that is not organized for the purpose of qualifying to do business as a public insurance adjuster in this state, as determined by the superintendent, and that has been engaged in business as a bona fide lending instituti...

...No person, firm, association, partnership, or corporation shall act within this state as a public insurance adjuster, or receive, directly or indirectly, compensation for services rendered in the adjustment of any claim or claims under the types of insurance policies set forth in section 3951.01 of the Revised Code, unless he, or it, is the holder of a certificate of authority to act as a public insurance adjuster, ...

...(A) Before any certificate of authority shall be issued by the superintendent of insurance there shall be filed in the superintendent's office a written application therefor. Such application shall be in the form or forms and supplements thereto prescribed by the superintendent and shall set forth: (1) The name and address of the applicant, and if the applicant be a firm, association, or partnership, the name and a...

...The superintendent of insurance shall issue certificates of authority to any person, firm, association, partnership, or corporation making application therefor who is trustworthy and competent to act as a public insurance adjuster in such manner as to safeguard the interest of the public and who has complied with the prerequisites herein described. A certificate of authority issued to a firm, association, partnership...

...The superintendent of insurance shall, in order to determine the trustworthiness and competency of any applicant for a certificate of authority to act as a public insurance adjuster, require such applicant or in the case of a firm, association, partnership, or corporation, such of its employees, members, officers, or directors, who are to be individually authorized to act under its certificate of authority, to submit...

...(A) A fee of one hundred dollars shall be paid to the superintendent by the applicant for a public insurance adjuster's certificate of authority before the initial application is granted. If the applicant is a firm, association, partnership, or corporation, the fee shall be paid for each person specified in the application. (B) A firm, association, partnership, or corporation to which a certificate of authority ha...

...The superintendent of insurance may suspend or revoke any certificate of authority issued pursuant to sections 3951.01 to 3951.09, inclusive, of the Revised Code, or refuse to issue a certificate of authority to any applicant if, after due investigation, notice, and hearing, either before him or before any employee of the insurance department designated by him, whose report he may adopt, he determines that such appl...

...No holder of a certificate of authority shall make any misrepresentations of facts or advise any insured or insurer on any question of law or perform any service constituting the practice of law, nor shall any such holder of a certificate of authority in handling a claim, advise any insured or insurer to refrain from retaining counsel to protect his or its interests.

...The superintendent of insurance shall issue a certificate of authority under this chapter in accordance with Chapter 4796. of the Revised Code to an applicant if either of the following applies: (A) The applicant holds a license or certificate in another state. (B) The applicant has satisfactory work experience, a government certification, or a private certification as described in Chapter 4796. of the Revised Co...

...On receipt of a notice pursuant to section 3123.43 of the Revised Code, the superintendent of insurance shall comply with sections 3123.41 to 3123.50 of the Revised Code and any applicable rules adopted under section 3123.63 of the Revised Code with respect to a certificate issued pursuant to this chapter.

...(A) Any person, firm, association, partnership, or corporation required by sections 3951.01 to 3951.09, inclusive, of the Revised Code, to obtain a certificate of authority to act as a public insurance adjuster, who adjusts any insurance losses without previously having obtained the required certificate of authority or who adjusts any insurance loss after his, or its, certificate of authority has been revoked, shall ...

...As used in this chapter: (A) "Assuming insurer" has the same meaning as in section 3901.61 of the Revised Code. (B) "Authorized individual" means an individual authorized by the licensee to access nonpublic information held by the licensee and its information systems. (C) "Ceding insurer" has the same meaning as in section 3901.61 of the Revised Code. (D) "Consumer" means an individual who is a resident of th...

...(A) Each licensee shall develop, implement, and maintain a comprehensive written information security program based on the licensee's risk assessment. The program shall be commensurate with the size and complexity of the licensee, the nature and scope of the licensee's activities including its use of third-party service providers, and the sensitivity of the nonpublic information used by the licensee or in the license...

...(A) If a licensee learns that a cybersecurity event has or may have occurred, the licensee or an outside vendor or service provider designated to act on behalf of the licensee shall conduct a prompt investigation. (B) During the investigation, the licensee or an outside vendor or service provider designated to act on behalf of the licensee shall, at a minimum, do as much of the following as possible: (1) Determin...

...(A) Each licensee shall notify the superintendent of insurance as promptly as possible after a determination that a cybersecurity event involving nonpublic information in the possession of the licensee has occurred, but in no event later than three business days after that determination, when either of the following criteria has been met: (1) Both of the following apply: (a) This state is the licensee's state of ...

...(A) The superintendent of insurance shall have power to examine and investigate into the affairs of any licensee to determine whether the licensee has been or is engaged in any conduct in violation of this chapter. This power is in addition to the powers that the superintendent has under Title XXXIX and Chapters 1739. and 1751. of the Revised Code. (B) Whenever the superintendent has reason to believe that a licens...

...(A)(1) Any documents, materials, or other information in the control or possession of the department of insurance that are furnished pursuant to divisions (H)(1) and (I) of section 3965.02 and divisions (B)(1)(b), (c), (d), (e), (h), (j), and (k) of section 3965.04 of the Revised Code, or that are obtained by, created by, or disclosed to the superintendent of insurance in an investigation or examination pursuant to s...

...(A) A licensee is exempt from the requirements of section 3965.02 of the Revised Code if it meets any of the following criteria: (1) The licensee has fewer than twenty employees. (2) The licensee has less than five million dollars in gross annual revenue. (3) The licensee has less than ten million dollars in assets, measured at the end of the licensee's fiscal year. (B)(1) A licensee subject to and in complia...

...(A) A licensee that satisfies the provisions of this chapter shall be entitled to an affirmative defense to any cause of action sounding in tort that is brought under the laws of this state or in the courts of this state and that alleges that the failure to implement reasonable information security controls resulted in a data breach concerning nonpublic information. (B) The affirmative defenses permitted under this...

...Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the provisions of this chapter and any rules adopted pursuant to this chapter constitute the exclusive state standards and requirements applicable to licensees regarding cybersecurity events, the security of nonpublic information, data security, investigation of cybersecurity events, and notification to the superintendent of cybersecurity events.

...The superintendent of insurance, pursuant to Chapter 119. of the Revised Code, may adopt rules as necessary to carry out the provisions of this chapter.

...The superintendent of insurance shall consider the nature, scale, and complexity of licensees in administering this chapter and adopting rules pursuant to this chapter.

...The chief of the fire department of each municipal corporation, township, or fire district employing three or more full-time paid firemen, unless exempt under this section, shall divide the uniform force into not less than two platoons, and where the uniform force is so divided into two platoons the said chief shall keep a platoon of the uniform force on duty twenty-four consecutive hours, after which the platoon ser...

...As used in sections 4115.03 to 4115.16 of the Revised Code: (A) "Public authority" means any officer, board, or commission of the state, or any political subdivision of the state, authorized to enter into a contract for the construction of a public improvement or to construct the same by the direct employment of labor, or any institution supported in whole or in part by public funds and said sections apply to expend...

...The obligation of a contractor or subcontractor to make payment in accordance with the prevailing wage determinations of the director of commerce, insofar as Chapter 4115. of the Revised Code is concerned, may be discharged by the making of payments in cash, by the making of contributions of a type referred to in division (E)(2) of section 4115.03 of the Revised Code or by the assumption of an enforceable commitment ...

...No public authority shall subdivide a public improvement project into component parts or projects, the cost of which is fairly estimated to be less than the threshold levels set forth in division (B) of section 4115.03 of the Revised Code, unless the projects are conceptually separate and unrelated to each other, or encompass independent and unrelated needs of the public authority.

...On January 1, 1996, and the first day of January of every even-numbered year thereafter, the director of commerce shall adjust the threshold levels for which public improvement projects are subject to sections 4115.03 to 4115.16 of the Revised Code as set forth in divisions (B)(3) and (4) of section 4115.03 of the Revised Code. The director shall adjust those amounts according to the average increase or decreas...

...The prevailing rate of wages to be paid for a legal day's work, as prescribed in section 4115.04 of the Revised Code, to laborers, workers, or mechanics upon public works shall not be less at any time during the life of a contract for the public work than the prevailing rate of wages then payable in the same trade or occupation in the locality where such public work is being performed, under collective bargaini...

...In all cases where any public authority fixes a prevailing rate of wages under section 4115.04 of the Revised Code, and the work is done by contract, the contract executed between the public authority and the successful bidder shall contain a provision requiring the successful bidder and all his subcontractors to pay a rate of wages which shall not be less than the rate of wages so fixed. The successful bidder and a...

...All contractors and subcontractors required by sections 4115.03 to 4115.16 of the Revised Code, and the action of any public authority to pay not less than the prevailing rate of wages shall make full payment of such wages in legal tender, without any deduction for food, sleeping accommodations, transportation, use of small tools, or any other thing of any kind or description. This section does not apply where the em...

...(A) Each contracting public authority that enters into a contract other than a contract for printing, binding, and related services, whose contractor and subcontractors are subject to sections 4115.03 to 4115.16 of the Revised Code shall, no later than ten days before the first payment of wages is payable to any employee of any contractor or subcontractor, designate and appoint one of its own employees to serve as th...

...No public official, authorized to contract for or construct with the official's own forces a public improvement, shall fail, before advertising for bids or undertaking such construction with those forces, to have the director of commerce determine the prevailing rates of wages of mechanics and laborers for the class of work called for by the public improvement in the locality where the work is to be performed, as pro...

...No member of a public board, commission, or other public authority authorized to contract for or construct with its own forces a public improvement, shall vote for the award of any contract for the construction of such improvement, or vote for the disbursement of any funds on account of the construction of such public improvement, unless such public authority has first had the director of commerce determine the preva...

...(A) No person, firm, corporation, or public authority that constructs a public improvement with its own forces, the total overall project cost of which is fairly estimated to be more than the amounts set forth in division (B) of section 4115.03 of the Revised Code, adjusted biennially by the director of commerce pursuant to section 4115.034 of the Revised Code, as appropriate, shall violate the wage provisions ...

...There is hereby created the prevailing wage custodial fund, which shall be in the custody of the treasurer of state but shall not be part of the state treasury. The director of commerce shall deposit to the fund all money paid by employers to the director that are held in trust for employees to whom prevailing wages are due and owing. The director shall make disbursements from the fund in accordance with this c...

...Employers who have not established a plan, by a labor agreement or otherwise, for the provision of wages as defined in division (E)(2) of section 4115.03 of the Revised Code shall pay the prevailing rates of wages in full in cash.

...In order to facilitate the administration of sections 4115.03 to 4115.16 of the Revised Code, and to achieve the purposes of those sections, the director of commerce may adopt reasonable rules, not inconsistent with those sections, for contractors and subcontractors engaged in the construction, prosecution, completion, or repair of a public improvement financed in whole or in part by any public authority.

...(A) Upon the director's own motion or within five days of the filing of a properly completed complaint under section 4115.10 or 4115.16 of the Revised Code, the director of commerce, or a representative designated by the director, shall investigate any alleged violation of sections 4115.03 to 4115.16 of the Revised Code. (B) At the conclusion of the investigation, the director or a designated representative s...

...In the event of a specific contract dispute concerning a prevailing wage determination, a proper wage classification, or a novel or unusual situation pertaining to sections 4115.03 to 4115.16 of the Revised Code, the director of commerce may, upon request by a public authority or by a person having a contract with a public authority, cause to be made such investigation and hearing as the director deems necessary and ...

...In any investigation undertaken by the director of commerce pursuant to sections 4115.03 to 4115.16 of the Revised Code, the director, a designated representative, or hearing examiner may administer oaths, take and cause to be taken depositions of witnesses, issue subpoenas, and compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of papers, books, accounts, payrolls, documents, records, and testimony relating to an...

...(A) The director of commerce shall file with the secretary of state a list of contractors, subcontractors, and officers of contractors and subcontractors who have been prosecuted and convicted for violations of or have been found to have intentionally violated sections 4115.03 to 4115.16 of the Revised Code. The director shall not include on the list a contractor, subcontractor, or officer of a contractor or subcontr...

...If it is found that a person, public authority, or prevailing wage coordinator has not complied with sections 4115.03 to 4115.16 of the Revised Code, the director of commerce shall give notice thereof in writing to such person or public authority pursuant to section 4115.15 of the Revised Code. Sufficient time shall be allowed for compliance therewith as the director deems necessary not to exceed thirty days from the...

...Where an investigation by the director of commerce reveals that a contractor or subcontractor has failed to pay the prevailing rate of wages, the contracting public authority or the director may, upon written notice to the contractor or subcontractor and the sureties of the contractor or subcontractor, and after hearing held pursuant to section 4115.13 of the Revised Code, order work halted on the part of the contrac...

...(A) An interested party may file a complaint with the director of commerce alleging a specific violation of sections 4115.03 to 4115.16 of the Revised Code by a specific contractor or subcontractor. The complaint shall be in writing on a form furnished by the director and shall include sufficient evidence to justify the complaint. The director, upon receipt of a properly completed complaint, shall investigate p...

...A person who files a complaint with the director of commerce alleging a violation of sections 4115.03 to 4115.16 of the Revised Code shall file the complaint within two years after the completion of the public improvement upon which the violation is alleged to have occurred or be barred from further administrative action under this chapter.

...As used in sections 4115.31 to 4115.35 of the Revised Code: (A) "Person with a severe disability" means an individual or class of individuals with a physical disability, including visual impairment, or mental disability, according to criteria established by the state committee for the purchase of products and services provided by persons with severe disabilities. (B) "Qualified nonprofit agency for persons with sev...

...(A) Subject to section 4115.36 of the Revised Code, there is hereby created the state committee for the purchase of products and services provided by persons with severe disabilities. The committee shall be composed ex officio of the following persons, or their designees: (1) The directors of administrative services, mental health and addiction services, developmental disabilities, transportation, natural res...

...(A) The state committee for the purchase of products and services provided by persons with severe disabilities shall adopt rules in accordance with Chapter 119. of the Revised Code that do all of the following: (1) Determine which products manufactured and site-specific services provided by persons with severe disabilities and offered for sale to state agencies, political subdivisions, or instrumentalities of the s...

...(A) Except as provided in section 4115.36 of the Revised Code, if any state agency, political subdivision, or instrumentality of the state intends to procure any product or service, it shall determine whether the product or service is on the procurement list published pursuant to section 4115.33 of the Revised Code; and it shall, in accordance with rules of the state committee for the purchase of products and service...

...(A) Qualified nonprofit agencies for persons with severe disabilities and the state committee for the purchase of products and services provided by persons with severe disabilities shall approve, through a mutually developed process, and pursuant to rules the committee adopts in accordance with Chapter 119. of the Revised Code, one or more central nonprofit agencies to carry out the intent of sections 4115.31 to 4115...

...Sections 4115.31 to 4115.35 of the Revised Code have no effect after the director of administrative services abolishes the state committee for the purchase of products and services provided by persons with severe disabilities. Upon abolishment of the committee, sections 125.60 to 125.6012 of the Revised Code shall govern the procurement of products and services provided by persons with work-limiting disabilities from...

...(A) Whoever violates section 4115.08 or 4115.09 of the Revised Code shall be fined not less than twenty-five nor more than five hundred dollars. (B) Whoever violates division (C) of section 4115.071, section 4115.10, or 4115.11 of the Revised Code is guilty of a misdemeanor of the second degree for a first offense; for each subsequent offense such person is guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree.

...No public authority shall do any of the following: (A) Award a contract for a public improvement in violation of section 4116.02 of the Revised Code; (B) Discriminate against any bidder, contractor, or subcontractor for refusing to become a party to any agreement with any labor organization on the public improvement that currently is under bid or on projects related to that improvement; (C) Otherwise violate secti...

...(A) An interested party may file a complaint against a contracting public authority alleging a violation of section 4116.02 or 4116.03 of the Revised Code within two years after the date on which the contract is signed for the public improvement in the court of common pleas of the county in which the public improvement is performed. The performance of the contract forms the basis of the allegation of a violation. Th...

...As used in this chapter: (A) "Person," in addition to those included in division (C) of section 1.59 of the Revised Code, includes employee organizations, public employees, and public employers. (B) "Public employer" means the state or any political subdivision of the state located entirely within the state, including, without limitation, any municipal corporation with a population of at least five thousand accordi...

...(A) There is hereby created the state employment relations board, consisting of three members to be appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the senate. Members shall be knowledgeable about labor relations or personnel practices. No more than two of the three members shall belong to the same political party. A member of the state employment relations board during the member's period of service ...

...(A) Public employees have the right to: (1) Form, join, assist, or participate in, or refrain from forming, joining, assisting, or participating in, except as otherwise provided in Chapter 4117. of the Revised Code, any employee organization of their own choosing; (2) Engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid and protection; (3) Representation by an empl...

...(A) Public employers shall extend to an exclusive representative designated under section 4117.05 of the Revised Code, the right to represent exclusively the employees in the appropriate bargaining unit and the right to unchallenged and exclusive representation for a period of not less than twelve months following the date of certification and thereafter, if the public employer and the employee organization enter int...

...(A) An employee organization becomes the exclusive representative of all the public employees in an appropriate unit for the purposes of collective bargaining by either: (1) Being certified by the state employment relations board when a majority of the voting employees in the unit select the employee organization as their representative in a board-conducted election under section 4117.07 of the Revised Code; (2) Fi...

...(A) The state employment relations board shall decide in each case the unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining. The determination is final and conclusive and not appealable to the court. (B) The board shall determine the appropriateness of each bargaining unit and shall consider among other relevant factors: the desires of the employees; the community of interest; wages, hours, and other wo...

...(A) When a petition is filed, in accordance with rules prescribed by the state employment relations board: (1) By any employee or group of employees, or any individual or employee organization acting in their behalf, alleging that at least thirty per cent of the employees in an appropriate unit wish to be represented for collective bargaining by an exclusive representative, or asserting that the designated excl...

...(A) All matters pertaining to wages, hours, or terms and other conditions of employment and the continuation, modification, or deletion of an existing provision of a collective bargaining agreement are subject to collective bargaining between the public employer and the exclusive representative, except as otherwise specified in this section and division (E) of section 4117.03 of the Revised Code. (B) The condu...

...(A) The parties to any collective bargaining agreement shall reduce the agreement to writing and both execute it. (B) The agreement shall contain a provision that: (1) Provides for a grievance procedure which may culminate with final and binding arbitration of unresolved grievances, and disputed interpretations of agreements, and which is valid and enforceable under its terms when entered into in accordance with th...

...(A) An agreement between a public employer and an exclusive representative entered into pursuant to this chapter governs the wages, hours, and terms and conditions of public employment covered by the agreement. If the agreement provides for a final and binding arbitration of grievances, public employers, employees, and employee organizations are subject solely to that grievance procedure and the state personnel board...

...Notwithstanding sections 4117.08 and 4117.10 of the Revised Code, no agreement entered into under this chapter may contain any provision that in any way limits the effect or operation of Chapter 3314. of the Revised Code or limits the authority of a school district board of education, or the governing board of an educational service center described in division (C)(1)(d) of section 3314.02 of the Revised Code, to ent...

...The state employment relations board shall compile a list of the school districts in the state that have filed with the board agreements entered into with teacher employee organizations under this chapter. The board shall annually update the list to reflect, for each district, for the current fiscal year, the starting salary in the district for teachers with no prior teaching experience who hold bachelors degrees. Th...

...Notwithstanding any provision of section 4117.08 or 4117.10 of the Revised Code to the contrary, no agreement entered into under this chapter on or after September 29, 2005, shall prohibit a school district board of education from utilizing volunteers to assist the district and its schools in performing any of their functions, other than functions for which a license, permit, certificate, or registration issued by th...

...(A) It is an unfair labor practice for a public employer, its agents, or representatives to: (1) Interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees in the exercise of the rights guaranteed in Chapter 4117. of the Revised Code or an employee organization in the selection of its representative for the purposes of collective bargaining or the adjustment of grievances; (2) Initiate, create, dominate, or interfere with...

...(A) Whoever violates section 4117.11 of the Revised Code is guilty of an unfair labor practice remediable by the state employment relations board as specified in this section. (B) When anyone files a charge with the board alleging that an unfair labor practice has been committed, the board or its designated agent shall investigate the charge. If the board has probable cause for believing that a violation has occ...

...(A) The state employment relations board or the complaining party may petition the court of common pleas for any county wherein an unfair labor practice occurs, or wherein any person charged with the commission of any unfair labor practice resides or transacts business, for the enforcement of the order and for appropriate temporary relief or restraining order. The board shall certify and file in the court a transcrip...

...(A) The procedures contained in this section govern the settlement of disputes between an exclusive representative and a public employer concerning the termination or modification of an existing collective bargaining agreement or negotiation of a successor agreement, or the negotiation of an initial collective bargaining agreement. (B)(1) In those cases where there exists a collective bargaining agreement, any pub...

...(A) Whenever a strike by public employees who are prohibited from striking under division (D)(1) of section 4117.14 of the Revised Code, a strike by other public employees during the pendency of the settlement procedures set forth in section 4117.14 of the Revised Code, or a strike during the term or extended term of a collective bargaining agreement occurs, the public employer may seek an injunction against the stri...

...(A) Whenever the public employer believes that a lawful strike creates clear and present danger to the health or safety of the public, the public employer may petition the court of common pleas having jurisdiction over the parties to issue a temporary restraining order enjoining the strike. If the court finds probable cause to believe that the strike may be a clear and present danger to the public health or safety, i...

...Formal charges, petitions, complaints, orders, evidence, fact-finding recommendations, and other proceedings instituted by the state employment relations board under Chapter 4117. of the Revised Code are public records and available for inspection or copying subject to rules made by the board. All hearings on complaints or petitions pursuant to Chapter 4117. of the Revised Code are open to the public.

...(A) No person shall purposely refuse to obey an order issued by a court of competent jurisdiction under Chapter 4117. of the Revised Code. (B) No person shall purposely refuse to obey a lawful order of the state employment relations board, nor shall any person prevent or attempt to prevent any member of the board or any agent of the board from performing his lawful duties. (C) No public employee shall engage in any...

...(A) Every employee organization that is certified or recognized as a representative of public employees under this chapter shall file with the state employment relations board a registration report that is signed by its president or other appropriate officer. The report shall be in a form prescribed by the board and accompanied by two copies of the employee organization's constitution and bylaws. The board sh...

...(A) No person who is a member of the same local, state, national, or international organization as the employee organization with which the public employer is bargaining or who has an interest in the outcome of the bargaining, which interest is in conflict with the interest of the public employer, shall participate on behalf of the public employer in the collective bargaining process except that the person may, where...

...Collective bargaining meetings between public employers and employee organizations are private, and are not subject to section 121.22 of the Revised Code.

...Chapter 4117. of the Revised Code shall be construed liberally for the accomplishment of the purpose of promoting orderly and constructive relationships between all public employers and their employees.

...(A) In the case of a strike that is not authorized in accordance with this chapter, the public employer may notify the state employment relations board of the strike and request the board to determine whether the strike is authorized under Chapter 4117. of the Revised Code. The board shall make its decision within seventy-two hours of receiving the request from the public employer. (B) If the board determines that t...

...(A) The training, publications, and grants fund is hereby created in the state treasury. The state employment relations board shall deposit into the training, publications, and grants fund all moneys received from the following sources: (1) Payments received by the state employment relations board for copies of documents, rulebooks, and other publications; (2) Fees received from seminar participants; (3) Rece...

...As used in sections 4127.01 to 4127.14 of the Revised Code: (A) "Work-relief employee" means any person engaged in any public relief employment, and receiving "work-relief," who is under the supervision and control of any employer mentioned in this section or any agency of such employer. (B) "Work-relief" means public relief given in the form of public funds or goods, on the basis of the budgetary needs of the work...

...The administrator of workers' compensation may hear and determine all claims for compensation, death benefits, medical, nurse, and hospital services, medicine, and funeral expenses under this chapter. The decisions of the administrator in all claims for compensation, death benefits, medical, nurse, and hospital services, medicine, and funeral expenses are appealable pursuant to sections 4123.511 and 4123.512 of the ...

...Every work-relief employee who sustains an injury and the dependents of such as are killed, in the course of and arising out of employment, wheresoever such injury or death occurs, except when such injury or death is caused by willful misconduct or intent to bring about such injury or death, or when the use of intoxicating liquors or drugs is the proximate cause of such injury or death, is entitled to receive out of ...

...The basis upon which compensation or benefits shall be computed, is the amount of work-relief which would have been afforded to the injured person for the calendar week in which the injury or death occurred. In no event shall such compensation exceed the maximum reimbursable relief award established by the state which the claimant would have been entitled to had he not been injured.

...The premiums, collected under this chapter shall be paid into a separate fund to be known as the "public work-relief employees' compensation fund," and all compensation, death benefits, and expenses for medical, nurse, and hospital services, medicine, and funerals, shall be paid out of the fund. Such premiums shall be collected, the moneys of the fund disbursed and the fund maintained, without regard to or reliance ...

...During periods of temporary disability and partial disability other than that resulting from loss of a member or sight or total or partial loss of use of a member, an injured work-relief employee shall be paid directly out of the fund from which the employee was receiving relief, the amounts required to meet the budgetary needs of the employee and his dependents, and in the manner determined by the person or agency h...

...Every employer shall contribute to the public work-relief employees' compensation fund the amount of money determined by the administrator of workers' compensation, with the advice and consent of the bureau of workers' compensation board of directors. The contributions may be made in whole or in part out of any relief funds or any other available public funds, regardless of the manner in which the funds were r...

...The administrator of workers' compensation, under special circumstances and with the advice and consent of the bureau of workers' compensation board of directors, may adjust the rate of disbursements of compensation of benefits, which shall not in any instance exceed the maximum reimbursable relief award established by the state which the claimant would have been entitled to had the claimant not been injured.

...Employers who comply with sections 4127.01 to 4127.14 of the Revised Code, are not liable to respond in damages at common law or by statute for injury or death of any work-relief employee, wherever occurring. Employees of a noncomplying employer shall receive their compensation and benefits as if the premiums had been paid and the employer shall be liable on the same basis as a noncomplying employer under Chapter 41...

...Chapter 4123. of the Revised Code, except sections 4123.512, 4123.62, and 4123.64 of the Revised Code, apply to this chapter.

...Sections 4127.01 to 4127.14, inclusive, of the Revised Code apply to all work-relief employees who are injured and to the dependents of such as are killed, whether such injury or death occurred prior to May 17, 1935, or subsequent thereto.

...As used in this chapter: (A) "Public employer" means any of the following: (1) The state and its instrumentalities; (2) Any political subdivisions and their instrumentalities, including any county, county hospital, municipal corporation, city, village, township, park district, school district, state institution of higher learning, public or special district, state agency, authority, commission, or board; (3) Any ...

...(A) The administrator of workers' compensation shall operate and enforce the public employment risk reduction program created by this chapter. (B) The administrator shall do all of the following: (1) Adopt rules, with the advice and consent of the bureau of workers' compensation board of directors and in accordance with Chapter 119. of the Revised Code, for the administration and enforcement of this chapter. The ad...

...(A) Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, no provision of this chapter shall be construed to supersede or in any manner affect any workers' compensation law or to enlarge or diminish or affect in any other manner the common law, statutory rights, duties, or liabilities of public employers or public employees under any law with respect to injuries, diseases, or death of public employees arising out of, or in t...

...(A) Each public employer shall: (1) Furnish to each of his public employees employment and a place of employment free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to his public employees; (2) Comply with Ohio employment risk reduction standards, rules, and orders adopted or issued pursuant to this chapter. (B) Notwithstanding this section or any other provision in ...

...Each public employee shall: (A) Comply with Ohio employment risk reduction standards, rules, and orders adopted or issued pursuant to this chapter which are applicable to the public employee's actions and conduct; (B) Comply with safety rules the public employer establishes for the purpose of fulfilling compliance with Ohio employment risk reduction standards, rules, or orders adopted or issued pursuant to this cha...

...(A) A public employee acting in good faith has the right to refuse to work under conditions that the public employee reasonably believes present an imminent danger of death or serious harm to the public employee, provided that such conditions are not such as normally exist for or reasonably might be expected to occur in the occupation of the public employee. A public employer shall not discriminate against a public e...

...(A) The administrator of workers' compensation, with the advice and consent of the bureau of workers' compensation board of directors, shall adopt rules that establish employment risk reduction standards. Except as provided in division (B) of this section, in adopting these rules, the administrator shall do both of the following: (1) By no later than July 1, 1994, adopt as a rule and an Ohio employment risk re...

...(A) In the event of an emergency or unusual situation, the administrator of workers' compensation shall issue an emergency temporary Ohio employment risk reduction standard to take immediate effect upon publication in newspapers of general circulation in Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, and Toledo if the administrator finds both of the following: (1) Public employees are exposed to grave danger from exposure to...

...(A) Any public employer affected by a proposed rule or Ohio employment risk reduction standard or any provision of a standard proposed under section 4167.07 or 4167.08 of the Revised Code may apply to the administrator of workers' compensation for an order granting a temporary variance from the standard or provision. The application for the order and any extension of the order shall contain a reasonable applica...

...(A) In order to carry out the purposes of this chapter, the administrator of workers' compensation or the administrator's designee shall, as provided in this section, enter without delay during normal working hours and at other reasonable times, to inspect and investigate any plant, facility, establishment, construction site, or any other area, workplace, or environment where work is being performed by a public emplo...

...(A) In order to further the purposes of this chapter, the administrator of workers' compensation shall develop and maintain, for public employers and public employees, an effective program of collection, compilation, and analysis of employment risk reduction statistics. (B) To implement and maintain division (A) of this section, the administrator, with the advice and consent of the bureau of workers' compensation ...

...All information reported to or otherwise obtained by the administrator of workers' compensation or the administrator's designee in connection with any investigation, inspection, or proceeding under this chapter that reveals a trade secret of any person is confidential, except that the information may be disclosed to other agents or authorized representatives of the administrator concerned with fulfilling the require...

...(A) No public employer shall discharge or in any manner discriminate against any public employee because the public employee, in good faith, files any complaint or institutes any proceeding under or related to this chapter, or testifies or is about to testify in any proceeding, or because of the exercise by the public employee, on his own behalf or on the behalf of others, of any right afforded under this chapter. (...

...(A) Any court of common pleas has jurisdiction, upon petition of the administrator of workers' compensation, to restrain any conditions or practices in any places of employment that present a danger that could reasonably be expected to cause death or serious harm or contribute significantly to occupationally related illness immediately or before the imminence of the danger can be eliminated through the enforcem...

...Any public employer, public employee, or public employee representative affected by an order, rule, or Ohio employment risk reduction standard proposed, adopted, or otherwise issued pursuant to this chapter, may request, within fourteen days after the proposal, adoption, or issuance of the order, rule, or standard, a hearing from the administrator of workers' compensation. The administrator, within fourteen days af...

...(A) Any party who is adversely affected by a final order of the administrator of workers' compensation issued pursuant to division (G) of section 4167.10 or section 4167.15 of the Revised Code, and who has exhausted all administrative appeals from such order may appeal the order, within thirty days after the issuance of a final order, to the court of common pleas of Franklin county or to the court of common pleas of ...

...(A) If a public employer, public employee, or public employee representative willfully fails to comply with any final order of the administrator of workers' compensation issued pursuant to this chapter, the administrator may apply to the court of common pleas of Franklin county or the court of common pleas of the county in which the violation occurred, for an injunction, restraining order, or any other appropriate re...

...As used in this section and sections 4167.27 and 4767.28 of the Revised Code: (A) "Bloodborne pathogen" means a microorganism present in human blood that can cause disease in humans, including the human immunodeficiency virus, hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus, and other pathogenic microorganisms. (B) "Engineered sharps injury protection" means either of the following: (1) A physical attribute built into a need...

...(A) The administrator of workers' compensation shall adopt a rule and Ohio employment risk reduction standard for the prevention of exposure incidents. The initial rule and standard shall be adopted not later than one hundred eighty days after October 5, 2000. (B) The administrator shall provide advice to public employers with regard to their implementation of the requirements established by the rule and standard ad...

...(A) Except as provided in division (B) of this section, each public employer of public health care workers shall do all of the following: (1) Include, as part of the employer's engineering and work practice controls, needleless systems, sharps that are manufactured with engineered sharps injury protection, and other devices that comply with the United States occupational safety and health administration's bloodborne...

...As used in sections 4901.01 to 4901.24 of the Revised Code: (A) "Public utility" has the same meaning as in section 4905.02 of the Revised Code. (B) "Railroad" has the same meaning as in section 4907.02 of the Revised Code.

...(A) There is hereby created the public utilities commission of Ohio, by which name the commission may sue and be sued. The commission shall consist of five public utilities commissioners appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the senate. The governor shall designate one of such commissioners to be the chairperson of the commission. The chairperson of the commission shall serve as chairperson a...

...(A) There is hereby created a public utilities commission nominating council consisting of the following: (1) The chairperson of the consumers' counsel governing board; (2) The president of the accountancy board; (3) The chairperson of the state board of registration for professional engineers and surveyors; (4) The president of the Ohio state bar association; (5) The president of the Ohio municipal league; (6)...

...The public utilities commission shall have a seal bearing the following inscription: "The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio." The seal shall be affixed to all writs and authentications of copies of records and to such other instruments as the commission directs. All courts shall take judicial notice of said seal.

...No person in the employ of or holding any official relation to any person, corporation, or utility, which person, corporation, or utility is subject, in whole or in part, to regulation by the public utilities commission, and no person holding stocks or bonds of, or in any manner pecuniarily interested in, any such corporation or utility shall be appointed to the office of public utilities commissioner or be appointed...

...Each public utilities commissioner shall be a bona fide resident of this state and shall not, during the commissioner's term of office, hold any other office of trust or profit. No commissioner shall engage in any occupation or business inconsistent with the commissioner's duties as commissioner, but shall devote entire time to the duties of that office. As used in this section only, "office of trust or profit...

...Before entering upon the duties of his office each public utilities commissioner shall take and subscribe to an oath of office, in writing, which shall be filed in the office of the secretary of state, and shall give a bond of five thousand dollars, with a sufficient surety approved by the treasurer of state; after such approval the bond shall be filed with the secretary of state. If such bond is executed by a surety...

...The governor may remove any public utilities commissioner for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or a failure to abide by sections 4901.04 or 4903.081 of the Revised Code, malfeasance in office, giving to such commissioner a copy of the charges against him and an opportunity to be publicly heard, in person or by counsel, in his own defense, upon not less than ten days' notice. If such commissioner is removed, the governo...

...A majority of the public utilities commissioners constitutes a quorum for the transaction of any business, for the performance of any duty, or for the exercise of any power of the public utilities commission. No vacancy in the commission shall impair the right of the remaining commissioners to exercise all powers of the commission. The act of a majority of the commission, when in session as a board, is the act of the...

...All expenses incurred by the public utilities commission pursuant to Chapters 4901., 4903., 4905., 4907., 4909., 4921., 4923., and 4925. of the Revised Code, including the actual and necessary traveling and other expenses and disbursements of the commission, its officers and employees, incurred while on the business of the commission, shall be paid from funds appropriated for the use of the commission after being ap...

...The office of the public utilities commission shall be at the seat of government in Columbus, in suitable quarters provided by the state, and shall be open throughout the year, Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays excepted. The commission shall hold its sessions at least once in each calendar month in Columbus, but also may meet at such other times and places as are necessary for the proper performance of its dutie...

...The public utilities commission may procure all necessary books, maps, charts, stationery, instruments, office furniture, apparatus, and appliances, including telephone service, and may purchase from the interstate commerce commission blank forms for the use of railroads and other utilities in making their annual reports, necessary for the proper administration of the affairs of the public utilities commission,...

...Except as provided in section 149.43 of the Revised Code and as consistent with the purposes of Title XLIX of the Revised Code, all proceedings of the public utilities commission and all documents and records in its possession are public records.

...The public utilities commission may adopt and publish rules to govern its proceedings and to regulate the mode and manner of all valuations, tests, audits, inspections, investigations, and hearings relating to parties before it. All hearings shall be open to the public.

...Any person who is a citizen of the United States who is a regular salaried employee of the person, firm, or corporation directly concerned, or a chamber of commerce in matters of a general character in which the majority of its members are directly concerned, and who manifests to the satisfaction of the public utilities commission that he possesses the necessary qualifications to enable him to render valuable service...

...The public utilities commission shall, whenever called upon by any officer, board, or commission of this state or any political subdivision of this state, furnish any data or information to such officer, board, or commission and shall aid or assist any such officer, board, or commission in performing official duties. All officers, boards, or commissions of this state or any political subdivision of this state s...

...Except in his report to the public utilities commission or when called on to testify in any court or proceeding of the public utilities commission, no employee or agent referred to in section 4905.13 of the Revised Code shall divulge any information acquired by him in respect to the transaction, property, or business of any public utility, while acting or claiming to act as such employee or agent. Whoever violates th...

...The attorney general shall be the legal adviser of the public utilities commission, but he shall designate, subject to the approval of the governor, one or more of his assistants to perform the services and discharge the duties of attorney to the commission. Such specially designated counsel shall receive a salary which shall be paid in the same manner as that of the members of the commission.

...The public utilities commission shall appoint one or more examiners for the purpose of making any investigation or holding any inquiry or hearing which the commission is required or permitted to make or hold. Such examiners may administer oaths, take depositions, issue subpoenas, compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of books, accounts, papers, records, documents, and testimony, examine witnesses, re...

...The public utilities commission may appoint a secretary, attorney examiners, experts, engineers, accountants, and such other officers as it considers necessary, who shall be in the classified civil service except for persons in attorney examiner or supervisory policy-making positions, who shall serve at the pleasure of the commission. The commission's discretion as to whether or not a position is an attorney examiner...

...In the employment of engineers, experts, or other assistants the public utilities commission may make use of engineers and experts employed in the Ohio state university in such manner as is provided by mutual arrangement between the commission and the trustees and faculty of such university. Any information, data, and equipment of such university shall be placed at the disposal of the commission.

...Each of the public utilities commissioners, for the purposes mentioned in Chapters 4901., 4903., 4905., 4907., 4909., 4921., 4923., and 4927. of the Revised Code, may administer oaths, certify to official acts, issue subpoenas, and compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of papers, waybills, books, accounts, documents, and testimony.

...The public utilities commissioners and the attorney, secretary, other officers, and employees of the public utilities commission may, when in the performance of their official duties, pass free of charge on all railroads, cars, vessels, and other vehicles of every common carrier, subject to control or regulation by the commission, between points within this state, and such persons shall not be denied the right to tra...

...No public utilities commissioner, attorney to the public utilities commission, secretary to the commission, or person employed or appointed to office by the commission or by its attorney shall accept any gift, gratuity, emolument, or employment from any public utility or railroad or any officer, agent, or employee of a public utility or railroad or solicit, suggest, request, or recommend, directly or indirectly, to a...

...(A) Whoever violates section 4901.16 of the Revised Code shall be fined not less than fifty nor more than one hundred dollars.

...As used in sections 4903.01 to 4903.25 of the Revised Code: (A) "Public utility" has the same meaning as in section 4905.02 of the Revised Code. (B) "Railroad" has the same meaning as in section 4907.02 of the Revised Code.

...The public utilities commission may, either through the public utilities commissioners or by inspectors or employees authorized by it, examine under oath, at any time and for assisting the commission in the performance of any powers or duties of the commission, any officer, agent, or employee of any public utility or railroad or any other person, in relation to the business and affairs of such public utility or railr...

...The public utilities commission may, through the public utilities commissioners or by inspectors or employees authorized by it, examine all books, contracts, records, documents, and papers of any public utility, and by subpoena duces tecum may compel the production thereof, or of verified copies of the same or any of them. The commission may compel the attendance of such witnesses as it requires to give evidence...

...If a person disobeys an order of the public utilities commission or a public utilities commissioner, or a subpoena, or if a witness refuses to testify to any matter regarding which he may be lawfully interrogated, the court of common pleas of a county or a judge of such court, on application of a commissioner, shall compel obedience by attachment proceedings for contempt, as in the case of disobedience of the require...

...Each witness who appears before the public utilities commission by its order shall receive the fees and mileage provided for under section 119.094 of the Revised Code, which shall be audited and paid by the state as other expenses are audited and paid, upon the presentation of proper vouchers sworn to by such witnesses and approved by the chairperson of the commission. No witness subpoenaed at the instance of...

...In an investigation, the public utilities commission or any party to the investigation may cause the depositions of witnesses residing within or without the state to be taken in the manner prescribed for depositions in civil actions in the court of common pleas.

...A transcribed copy of the evidence and proceedings on an investigation, or a specific part thereof, taken by a stenographer appointed by the public utilities commission, certified by such stenographer to be a true and correct transcript of such evidence and proceedings, and carefully compared by him with his original notes, shall be received in evidence as if such stenographer was present and testified to the facts a...

...No person shall be excused from testifying or from producing accounts, books, and papers, in any hearing before the public utilities commission any public utilities commissioner, or any person appointed by the commission to investigate any matter under its jurisdiction, on the ground or for the reason that the testimony or evidence might tend to incriminate him, or subject him to a penalty or forfeiture. No such per...

...After a case has been assigned a formal docket number neither a member of the public utilities commission nor any examiner associated with the case shall discuss the merits of the case with any party or intervenor to the proceeding, unless all parties and intervenors have been notified and given the opportunity of being present or a full disclosure of the communication insofar as it pertains to the subject matter...

...All parties and intervenors shall be granted ample rights of discovery. The present rules of the public utilities commission should be reviewed regularly by the commission to aid full and reasonable discovery by all parties. Without limiting the commission's discretion the Rules of Civil Procedure should be used wherever practicable.

...(A) For all cases involving applications for an increase in rates pursuant to section 4909.18 of the Revised Code the public utilities commission shall hold public hearings in each municipal corporation in the affected service area having a population in excess of one hundred thousand persons, provided that, at least one public hearing shall be held in each affected service area. At least one such hearing shall...

...In all contested cases heard by the public utilities commission, a complete record of all of the proceedings shall be made, including a transcript of all testimony and of all exhibits, and the commission shall file, with the records of such cases, findings of fact and written opinions setting forth the reasons prompting the decisions arrived at, based upon said findings of fact.

...After any order has been made by the public utilities commission, any party who has entered an appearance in person or by counsel in the proceeding may apply for a rehearing in respect to any matters determined in the proceeding. Such application shall be filed within thirty days after the entry of the order upon the journal of the commission. Notwithstanding the preceding paragraph, in any uncontested proceeding o...

...No proceeding to reverse, vacate, or modify a final order of the public utilities commission is commenced unless the notice of appeal is filed within sixty days after the date of denial of the application for rehearing by operation of law or of the entry upon the journal of the commission of the order denying an application for rehearing or, if a rehearing is had, of the order made after such rehearing. An order deny...

...No court other than the supreme court shall have power to review, suspend, or delay any order made by the public utilities commission, or enjoin, restrain, or interfere with the commission or any public utilities commissioner in the performance of official duties. A writ of mandamus shall not be issued against the commission or any commissioner by any court other than the supreme court.

...A final order made by the public utilities commission shall be reversed, vacated, or modified by the supreme court on appeal, if, upon consideration of the record, such court is of the opinion that such order was unlawful or unreasonable. The proceeding to obtain such reversal, vacation, or modification shall be by notice of appeal, filed with the public utilities commission by any party to the proceeding before it,...

...Upon application, the public utilities commission shall furnish certified copies under its seal of any order made by it, which certified copies shall be prima-facie evidence in a court or proceeding of the facts stated therein.

...Unless a different time is specified therein or by law, every order made by the public utilities commission shall become effective immediately upon entry thereof upon the journal of the public utilities commission. Every order shall be served by United States mail in the manner prescribed by the commission. No utility or railroad shall be found in violation of any order of the commission until notice of said or...

...A proceeding to reverse, vacate, or modify a final order rendered by the public utilities commission does not stay execution of such order unless the supreme court or a judge thereof in vacation, on application and three days' notice to the commission, allows such stay, in which event the appellant shall execute an undertaking, payable to the state in such a sum as the supreme court prescribes, with surety to t...

...The supreme court, in case it stays or suspends the order or decision of the public utilities commission in any matter affecting rates, joint rates, fares, tolls, rentals, charges, or classifications, may also by order direct the public utility or railroad affected to pay into the hands of a trustee to be appointed by the court, to be held until the final determination of the proceeding, under such conditions a...

...In case the supreme court stays or suspends any order or decision of the public utilities commission lowering any rate, joint rate, fare, toll, rental, charge, or classification, the commission, upon the execution and approval of the suspending bond required by section 4903.16 of the Revised Code, may require the public utility or railroad affected, under penalty of the immediate enforcement of the order or dec...

...Upon the final decision by the supreme court upon an appeal from an order or decision of the public utilities commission, all moneys which the public utility or railroad has collected pending the appeal, in excess of those authorized by such final decision, shall be promptly paid to the corporations or persons entitled to them, in such manner and through such methods of distribution as are prescribed by the court. ...

...All actions and proceedings in the supreme court under Chapters 4901., 4903., 4905., 4906., 4907., 4909., 4921., 4923., and 4927. of the Revised Code, and all actions of proceedings to which the public utilities commission, power siting board, or this state is a party, and in which any question arises under those chapters, or under or concerning any order or decision of the commission or the board, to reverse, ...

...Upon service or waiver of the notice of appeal as provided in section 4903.13 of the Revised Code, the public utilities commission shall forthwith transmit to the clerk of the supreme court a transcript of the journal entries, the original papers or transcripts thereof, and a certified transcript of all evidence adduced upon the hearing before the commission in the proceeding complained of, which documents shal...

...Except when otherwise provided by law, all processes in actions and proceedings in a court arising under Chapters 4901., 4903., 4905., 4906., 4907., 4909., 4921., 4923., and 4927. of the Revised Code shall be served, and the practice and rules of evidence in such actions and proceedings shall be the same, as in civil actions. A sheriff or other officer empowered to execute civil processes shall execute process ...

...Any other person who may be adversely affected by a public utilities commission proceeding may intervene in such proceeding, provided: (A) That such other person files a motion to intervene with the commission no later than: (1) Any specific deadline established by order of the commission for purposes of a particular proceeding; or, if no such deadline is established; (2) Five days prior to the scheduled date ...

...The public utilities commission or power siting board may charge and collect a fee, which shall not exceed cost, for furnishing any copy of any paper, record, testimony, or writing made, taken, or filed under Chapters 4901., 4903., 4905., 4906., 4907., 4909., 4921., 4923., and 4927. of the Revised Code, except such transcript and other papers as are required to be filed in any court proceedings authorized in th...

...If the public utilities commission finds after investigating that any rate, joint rate, fare, charge, toll, rental, schedule, or classification of service is unjust, unreasonable, insufficient, unjustly discriminatory, unjustly preferential, or in violation of law, or that any service is inadequate or cannot be obtained, the public utility found to be at fault shall pay the expenses incurred by the commission upon su...

...No officer, agent, or employee in an official capacity of a public utility shall knowingly violate section 4903.03 or 4903.24 of the Revised Code, nor shall any officer, agent, or employee in an official capacity or a public utility or railroad knowingly violate section 4903.02 or 4903.08 of the Revised Code, or willfully fail to comply with any lawful order or direction of the public utilities commission made w...

...For all cases involving an application pursuant to section 4909.18 of the Revised Code, the public utilities commission shall not permit any new discovery beginning not later than two hundred fifteen days after the application is determined to be complete.

...Whoever violates section 4903.25 of the Revised Code is guilty of a felony of the fifth degree.

...As used in this chapter: (A) "Railroad" has the same meaning as in section 4907.02 of the Revised Code. (B) "Motor carrier" has the same meaning as in section 4923.01 of the Revised Code. (C) "Motor vehicle" and "public highway" have the same meanings as in section 4921.01 of the Revised Code. (D) "Ohio coal research and development costs" means all reasonable costs associated with a facility or project unde...

...(A) As used in this chapter, "public utility" includes every corporation, company, copartnership, person, or association, the lessees, trustees, or receivers of the foregoing, defined in section 4905.03 of the Revised Code, including any public utility that operates its utility not for profit, except the following: (1) An electric light company that operates its utility not for profit; (2) A public utility, other t...

...As used in this chapter, any person, firm, copartnership, voluntary association, joint-stock association, company, or corporation, wherever organized or incorporated, is: (A) A telephone company, when engaged in the business of transmitting telephonic messages to, from, through, or in this state; (B) A for-hire motor carrier, when engaged in the business of transporting persons or property by motor vehicle for ...

...The public utilities commission is hereby vested with the power and jurisdiction to supervise and regulate public utilities and railroads, to require all public utilities to furnish their products and render all services exacted by the commission or by law, and to promulgate and enforce all orders relating to the protection, welfare, and safety of railroad employees and the traveling public, including the appor...

...(A) The public utilities commission has exclusive jurisdiction to enforce, in accordance with Chapter 4913. of the Revised Code, section 153.64, divisions (A) and (B) of section 3781.26, sections 3781.27 and 3781.28 to 3781.32, and Chapter 4913. of the Revised Code. (B) The commission's enforcement authority described in division (A) of this section is limited to actions specifically authorized by Chapter 4913. of t...

...Regarding advanced services or internet protocol-enabled service as defined by federal law, including federal regulations, the public utilities commission shall not exercise any jurisdiction over those services that is prohibited by, or is inconsistent with its jurisdiction under, federal law, including federal regulations.

...The jurisdiction, supervision, powers, and duties of the public utilities commission extend to every public utility and railroad, the plant or property of which lies wholly within this state and when the property of a public utility or railroad lies partly within and partly without this state to that part of such plant or property which lies within this state; to the persons or companies owning, leasing, or ope...

...The public utilities commission has general supervision over all public utilities within its jurisdiction as defined in section 4905.05 of the Revised Code, and may examine such public utilities and keep informed as to their general condition, capitalization, and franchises, and as to the manner in which their properties are leased, operated, managed, and conducted with respect to the adequacy or accommodation ...

...Except as provided in section 149.43 of the Revised Code and as consistent with the purposes of Title XLIX of the Revised Code, all facts and information in the possession of the public utilities commission shall be public, and all reports, records, files, books, accounts, papers, and memorandums of every nature in its possession shall be open to inspection by interested parties or their attorneys.

...A substantial compliance by the public utilities commission with the requirements of Chapters 4901., 4903., 4905., 4907., 4909., 4921., 4923., and 4927. of the Revised Code is sufficient to give effect to all its rules and orders. Those rules and orders shall not be declared inoperative, illegal, or void for an omission of a technical nature. And, those chapters do not affect, modify, or repeal any law fixing t...

...(A) For the sole purpose of maintaining and administering the public utilities commission and exercising its supervision and jurisdiction over the railroads and public utilities of this state, an amount equivalent to the appropriation from the public utilities fund created under division (B) of this section to the public utilities commission for railroad and public utilities regulation in each fiscal year shall be a...

...A railroad company that violates section 4905.10, 4907.13, or 4907.15 of the Revised Code shall forfeit to the state one thousand dollars, and twenty-five dollars for each day the company fails to comply with a requirement of any such section. The forfeiture does not release the company from the assessment provided in section 4905.10 of the Revised Code.

...The public utilities commission may establish a system of accounts to be kept by public utilities or railroads, including municipally owned or operated public utilities, or may classify said public utilities or railroads and establish a system of accounts for each class, and may prescribe the manner in which such accounts shall be kept. Such system shall, when practicable, conform to the system prescribed by the depa...

...(A)(1) Every public utility shall file an annual report with the public utilities commission. The report shall be filed at the time and in the form prescribed by the commission, shall be duly verified, and shall cover the yearly period fixed by the commission. The commission shall prescribe the character of the information to be embodied in the annual report, and shall furnish to each public utility a blank for...

...Each public utility shall furnish to the public utilities commission, in such form and at such times as the commission requires, such accounts, reports, and information as shall show completely and in detail the entire operation of the public utility in furnishing the unit of its product or service to the public.

...When and as required by the public utilities commission, every public utility shall file with it a copy of any contract, agreement, or arrangement, in writing, with any other public utility relating in any way to the construction, maintenance, or use of its plant or property, or to any service, rate, or charge.

...The public utilities commission shall keep informed of all new construction, extensions, and additions to the property of public utilities, and may prescribe the necessary forms, regulations, and instructions to the officers and employees of such public utilities for the keeping of construction accounts. Such construction accounts shall clearly distinguish all operating expenses and new construction.

...Every public utility shall carry a proper and adequate depreciation or deferred maintenance account, whenever the public utilities commission, after investigation, determines that a depreciation account can be reasonably required. The commission shall ascertain, determine, and prescribe what are proper and adequate charges for depreciation of the several classes of property for each public utility. The charge f...

...The moneys for depreciation charges provided for by section 4905.18 of the Revised Code shall be set aside out of the earnings and carried as a depreciation fund. The moneys in such fund may be expended in new construction, extensions, or additions to the property of the public utility, or may be invested. If such moneys are invested, the income from the investment shall also be carried in the depreciation fund. Such...

...No railroad as defined in section 4907.02 of the Revised Code, operating any railroad in this state, and no public utility as defined in section 4905.02 of the Revised Code furnishing service or facilities within this state, shall abandon or be required to abandon or withdraw any main track or depot of a railroad, or main pipe line, gas line, electric light line, water line, sewer line, steam pipe line, or any ...

...Any railroad or any political subdivision desiring to abandon, close, or have abandoned, withdrawn, or closed for traffic or service all or any part of a main track or depot, and any public utility or political subdivision desiring to abandon or close, or have abandoned, withdrawn, or closed for traffic or service all or any part of any line, pumping station, generating plant, power station, sewage treatment pl...

...Every public utility shall furnish necessary and adequate service and facilities, and every public utility shall furnish and provide with respect to its business such instrumentalities and facilities, as are adequate and in all respects just and reasonable. All charges made or demanded for any service rendered, or to be rendered, shall be just, reasonable, and not more than the charges allowed by law or by order of t...

...(A) As used in this section, "base load electric generating facility" means an electric generating plant and associated facilities located in this state that primarily uses a nonrenewable fuel source to generate electricity, including natural gas and nuclear reaction, and that is not owned or operated by a public utility, municipal corporation, or electric cooperative. (B) No person shall enter into a settlement to...

...Upon complaint in writing against any public utility by any person, firm, or corporation, or upon the initiative or complaint of the public utilities commission, that any rate, fare, charge, toll, rental, schedule, classification, or service, or any joint rate, fare, charge, toll, rental, schedule, classification, or service rendered, charged, demanded, exacted, or proposed to be rendered, charged, demanded, or exact...

...The public utilities commission shall operate a telephone call center for consumer complaints, to receive complaints by any person, firm, or corporation against any public utility. The commission shall expeditiously provide the consumers' counsel with all information concerning residential consumer complaints received by the commission in the operation of the telephone call center and with any materials produced in t...

...The public utilities commission shall ascertain and prescribe suitable and convenient standard commercial units of the product or service of any public utility when the character of its product or service is such that it can be determined. Such units shall be the lawful units for the purposes of Chapters 4901., 4903., 4905., 4907., 4909., 4921., 4923., and 4925. of the Revised Code.

...The public utilities commission may ascertain and fix adequate and serviceable standards for the measurement of quality, pressure, initial voltage, or other conditions pertaining to the supply or quality of the product furnished or adequacy of service rendered by any public utility and may prescribe reasonable regulations for examination, testing, and measurement of such product or service. It may establish reasonabl...

...The public utilities commission may provide instruments for, and carry on, the examination and testing of all appliances used for the measurement of any product or service of a public utility or for the examination and testing of any devices or appliances of such public utility used for testing for accuracy any appliance used for the measurement of any product or service of such public utility. Any consumer or user m...

...(A) A public utility shall print and file with the public utilities commission schedules showing all rates, joint rates, rentals, tolls, classifications, and charges for service of every kind furnished by it, and all rules and regulations affecting them. The schedules shall be plainly printed and kept open to public inspection. The commission may prescribe the form of every such schedule, and may prescribe, by ...

...(A) As used in this section: (1) "Governmental entity" has the same meaning as in section 9.23 of the Revised Code, except that "governmental entity" excludes a municipal corporation. (2) "Right of way" means the surface of, and the space within, through, on, across, above, or below any land designated for public use that is owned or controlled by a governmental entity, except that "right of way" includes a publi...

...(A)(1) For the purpose of this section, the term "purchased gas adjustment clause" means: (a) A provision in a schedule of a gas company or natural gas company that requires or allows the company to, without adherence to section 4909.18 or 4909.19 of the Revised Code, adjust the rates that it charges to its customers in accordance with any fluctuation in the cost to the company of obtaining the gas that it se...

...(A) Before entering into an agreement to purchase synthetic natural gas or other fuels produced by a facility originated under the auspices of the federal government pursuant to a contract with the federal energy research and development administration or its successor agencies for the purpose of converting coal to gaseous, liquid, or solid fuels or by-products of such fuels, and the construction of which began on or...

...Once in every six months, the public utilities commission shall examine Ohio coal research and development costs incurred by a gas or natural gas company. The commission shall adopt a rule that: (A) Requires periodic reports, audits, and hearings and establishes investigative procedures for the purposes of this section; (B) Allows recovery on a uniform basis per unit of sale of the Ohio coal research and developmen...

...Chapters 4901., 4903., 4905., 4907., 4909., 4921., 4923., 4927., 4928., and 4929. of the Revised Code do not prohibit a public utility from filing a schedule or establishing or entering into any reasonable arrangement with another public utility or with one or more of its customers, consumers, or employees, and do not prohibit a mercantile customer of an electric distribution utility as those terms are defined in sec...

...No public utility shall charge, demand, exact, receive, or collect a different rate, rental, toll, or charge for any service rendered, or to be rendered, than that applicable to such service as specified in its schedule filed with the public utilities commission which is in effect at the time. No public utility shall refund or remit directly or indirectly, any rate, rental, toll, or charge so specified, or any part ...

...(A) Notwithstanding section 4905.32 of the Revised Code, all revenues collected from customers by a public utility as part of a rider or rates that are later found to be unreasonable, unlawful, or otherwise improper by the supreme court shall be subject to refund from the date of the issuance of the supreme court's decision until the date when, on remand, the public utilities commission makes changes to the rider or ...

...(A) No public utility shall directly or indirectly, or by any special rate, rebate, drawback, or other device or method, charge, demand, collect, or receive from any person, firm, or corporation a greater or lesser compensation for any services rendered, or to be rendered, except as provided in Chapters 4901., 4903., 4905., 4907., 4909., 4921., and 4923. of the Revised Code, than it charges, demands, collects, or rec...

...(A) As used in this section: (1) "Electric distribution utility" has the same meaning as in section 4928.01 of the Revised Code. (2) "Electric service" means any service involved in supplying or arranging for the supply of electricity to ultimate consumers in this state. "Electric service" includes "retail electric service" as defined in section 4928.01 of the Revised Code. (3) "Proceeding" includes a proceedi...

...Except as provided in sections 4905.33 and 4905.35 and Chapter 4928. of the Revised Code, Chapters 4901., 4903., 4905., 4907., 4909., 4921., 4923., and 4927. of the Revised Code do not prevent any public utility or railroad from granting any of its property for any public purpose, or granting reduced rates or free service of any kind to the United States, to the state or any political subdivision of the state, ...

...(A) No public utility shall make or give any undue or unreasonable preference or advantage to any person, firm, corporation, or locality, or subject any person, firm, corporation, or locality to any undue or unreasonable prejudice or disadvantage. (B)(1) A natural gas company that is a public utility shall offer its regulated services or goods to all similarly situated consumers, including persons with which it is a...

...When complaint is made of more than one rate, charge, or service, the public utilities commission may order separate hearings on such complaint and may consider and determine the matters complained of separately at such times and places as it prescribes. No complaint shall necessarily be dismissed because of the absence of direct damage to the complainant.

...Whenever the public utilities commission is of the opinion, after hearing had upon complaint or upon its own initiative or complaint, served as provided in section 4905.26 of the Revised Code, that the rules, regulations, measurements, or practices of any public utility with respect to its public service are unjust or unreasonable, or that the equipment or service of such public utility is inadequate, inefficient, im...

...Whenever the public utilities commission is of the opinion, after hearing had, as provided in section 4905.26 of the Revised Code, or upon its own initiative or complaint, that repairs, improvements, or additions to the plant or equipment of any public utility should reasonably be made, in order to promote the convenience or welfare of the public or of employees, or in order to secure adequate service or facilities, ...