Ohio § 101.72

§ 101.72.

(A) Each legislative agent and employer, within ten days following an engagement of a

legislative agent, shall file with the joint legislative ethics committee an initial

registration statement showing all of the following: (1) The name, business address, and occupation of the legislative agent; (2) The name and business address of the employer and the real party in interest on whose

behalf the legislative agent is actively advocating, if it is different from the employer.  For the purposes of division (A) of this section, where a trade association or other

charitable or fraternal organization that is exempt from federal income taxation under

subsection 501(c) of the federal Internal Revenue Code is the employer, the statement

need not list the names and addresses of each member of the association or organization,

so long as the association or organization itself is listed. (3) A brief description of the type of legislation to which the engagement relates. (B) In addition to the initial registration statement required by division (A) of this

section, each legislative agent and employer shall file with the joint committee,

not later than the last day of January, May, and September of each year, an updated

registration statement that confirms the continuing existence of each engagement described

in an initial registration statement and that lists the specific bills or resolutions

on which the agent actively advocated under that engagement during the period covered

by the updated statement, and with it any statement of expenditures required to be

filed by section 101.73 of the Revised Code and any details of financial transactions required to be filed by section 101.74 of the Revised Code . (C) If a legislative agent is engaged by more than one employer, the agent shall file

a separate initial and updated registration statement for each engagement.  If an employer engages more than one legislative agent, the employer need file only

one updated registration statement under division (B) of this section, which shall

contain the information required by division (B) of this section regarding all of

the legislative agents engaged by the employer. (D)(1) A change in any information required by division (A)(1), (2), or (B) of this section

shall be reflected in the next updated registration statement filed under division

(B) of this section. (2) Within thirty days after the termination of an engagement, the legislative agent

who was employed under the engagement shall send written notification of the termination

to the joint committee. (E) A registration fee of twenty-five dollars shall be charged for filing an initial

registration statement.  The state agency of an officer or employee who actively advocates in a fiduciary

capacity as a representative of that state agency shall pay the registration fee required

under this division.  All money collected from registration fees under this division and late filing fees

under division (G) of this section shall be deposited into the state treasury to the

credit of the joint legislative ethics committee fund created under section 101.34 of the Revised Code . An officer or employee of a state agency who actively advocates in a fiduciary capacity

as a representative of that state agency need not file expenditure statements under section 101.73 of the Revised Code .  As used in this division, “state agency” does not include a state institution of

higher education as defined in section 3345.011 of the Revised Code . (F) Upon registration pursuant to division (A) of this section, the legislative agent

shall be issued a card by the joint committee showing that the legislative agent is

registered.  The registration card and the legislative agent's registration shall be valid from

the date of their issuance until the next thirty-first day of December of an even-numbered

year. (G) The executive director of the joint committee shall be responsible for reviewing

each registration statement filed with the joint committee under this section and

for determining whether the statement contains all of the information required by

this section.  If the joint committee determines that the registration statement does not contain

all of the required information or that a legislative agent or employer has failed

to file a registration statement, the joint committee shall send written notification

by certified mail to the person who filed the registration statement regarding the

deficiency in the statement or to the person who failed to file the registration statement

regarding the failure.  Any person so notified by the joint committee shall, not later than fifteen days

after receiving the notice, file a registration statement or an amended registration

statement that does contain all of the information required by this section.  If any person who receives a notice under this division fails to file a registration

statement or such an amended registration statement within this fifteen-day period,

the joint committee shall assess a late filing fee equal to twelve dollars and fifty

cents per day, up to a maximum of one hundred dollars, upon that person.  The joint committee may waive the late filing fee for good cause shown. (H) On or before the fifteenth day of March of each year, the joint committee shall,

in the manner and form that it determines, publish a report containing statistical

information on the registration statements filed with it under this section during

the preceding year.