OHIO LEGISLATIVE SERVICE COMMISSION
Office of Research Legislative Budget
www.lsc.ohio.gov and Drafting Office
H.B. 430 Final Analysis
134th General Assembly
Click here for H.B. 430’s Fiscal Note
Primary Sponsor: Rep. Cross
Effective date: September 23, 2022
Effective Date:
Rocky Hernandez, Attorney
Amanda George Goodman, Attorney
Carla Napolitano, Attorney
SUMMARY
Interstate hazardous liquid or gas pipelines
 Requires that if a public improvement is within 660 feet of the center point of any
interstate hazardous liquid pipeline or interstate gas pipeline, the pipeline operator
must provide specified information to the public authority constructing the public
improvement.
 Requires that if the public authority is notified that the public improvement is 660 feet
of the center point of an interstate hazardous liquid pipeline or interstate gas pipeline,
the public authority must include in the plans and specifications information specified in
the act related to the pipeline.
 Requires a utility to provide the location information of an interstate hazardous pipeline
or interstate gas pipeline to a developer or designer of a proposed project requiring
excavation when the project is within 660 feet of a center point of the pipeline.
 Requires the developer and designer to include the notice information provided by the
utility of the interstate hazardous pipeline and interstate gas pipeline in the developer’s
or designer’s plans and specifications.
 Authorizes a public authority to withhold approval to a project until the requirements
have been satisfied by the developer and the utility.
 Provides that a public authority is immune from liability related to the approval or
construction of the development when the approval is based on information provided
by the developer in the plans and specifications.
Mobile computing units and building regulations
 Exempts “mobile computing units” from statutes governing the construction and
condition of buildings and related rules adopted by the Board of Building Standards.
July 20, 2022
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Ingress/egress obstructions
 Requires the Board of Building Standards to adopt rules providing for the use of a device
in a nonresidential building that prevents both ingress and egress through a door in the
building for a finite period of time, in an emergency situation, and during active shooter
drills.
PUCO regulatory restrictions
 Prohibits the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO), in certain service
abandonment or withdrawal proceedings, from imposing on certain telecommunication
providers or service any regulatory requirement or restriction that is not generally
applicable to the service or provider in other contexts.
 Requires PUCO, within 90 days of the act’s effective date, to adopt rules to implement
the provisions described immediately above.
Rent control and rent stabilization
 Specifies that the prohibition preventing a municipal corporation or township from
adopting any regulation that is in conflict or that regulates the rights and obligations of
parties to a rental agreement regulated by the Landlord and Tenant Law applies to all
political subdivisions.
 Prohibits rent control and rent stabilization regulations adopted by political
subdivisions, specifying that these are considered rental agreement regulations covered
by the state Landlord and Tenant Law.
 Allows political subdivisions to adopt and enforce rent control and rent stabilization
regulations in specified circumstances.
 Makes legislative findings relating to rent control and rent stabilization regulations.
Orphaned well plugging
 Revises the law governing idle and orphaned oil and gas wells (which, under former law
were wells for which a bond has been forfeited or an abandoned well for which no
money was available to plug the well).
 Renames that term “orphaned well” and specifies that an orphaned well is a well that
was not properly plugged or its land surface restored in accordance with the Oil and Gas
Law to which either of the following apply:
 The well owner is unknown, deceased, or cannot be located and the well is
abandoned; or
 The owner has abandoned the well and there is no money available to plug the well
in accordance with that Law.
 Alters the procedures that applied to plugging an idle and orphaned well and applies
those procedures to orphaned wells, including all of the following:
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 Streamlining procedures for reporting and evaluating orphaned wells;
 Modifying the requirements and procedures governing contracts to plug an
orphaned well;
 Revising the procedures that allow a landowner to plug an orphaned well;
 Modifying the authorized uses of the Oil and Gas Well Fund.
Use of Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund
 Allows money from the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to be deposited
in the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund.
 Allows the ODNR Division of Mineral Resources Management to use the money for
reclaiming land affected by mining or controlling mine drainage in accordance with the
requirements of the federal Act.
Ohio Work Zone Safety Awareness Month
 Designates April as “Ohio Work Zone Safety Awareness Month.”
TABLE OF CONTENTS
General overview ............................................................................................................................ 4
Interstate hazardous liquid pipeline or interstate gas pipelines .................................................... 5
Public improvements................................................................................................................... 5
General utility protection service law ......................................................................................... 6
Mobile computing units and building regulations .......................................................................... 7
Ingress/egress obstructions ............................................................................................................ 7
PUCO regulatory restrictions .......................................................................................................... 8
Rent control and rent stabilization ................................................................................................. 8
Orphaned well plugging ................................................................................................................ 10
Reporting and evaluating orphaned wells ................................................................................ 11
Plugging contracts ..................................................................................................................... 11
Landowner plugging option ...................................................................................................... 12
Transfer of ownership of an orphaned well .............................................................................. 13
Chief’s orders............................................................................................................................. 14
Oil and Gas Well Fund ............................................................................................................... 14
Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund ............................................................................................ 14
Ohio Work Zone Safety Awareness Month .................................................................................. 15
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DETAILED ANALYSIS
General overview
The act makes a variety of changes to Ohio law regarding underground utility facilities,
oil and gas wells, building regulations, telecommunications, and the state’s Landlord and
Tenant Law.
First, the act adds provisions regarding public improvements around interstate
hazardous liquid and interstate gas pipelines. Ohio law imposes various responsibilities upon
public entities, contractors, and owners of underground utility facilities (such as items buried or
submerged for use in connection with the storage or conveyance of water or sewage, electronic
communications, electricity, or petroleum products or natural gas) to protect those facilities
during the construction of public improvements.1 Similarly, the law imposes various
responsibilities on the utilities, excavators, developers, and designers related to the operation
and protection of underground utility facilities during development projects. 2 The act adds
similar responsibilities to these entities for the protection of interstate hazardous liquid
pipelines and interstate gas pipelines.
Next, the act amends Ohio law governing oil and gas wells that were abandoned and are
no longer in production, including replacing the term “idle and orphaned well” with “orphaned
well.” It also alters the procedures that apply to plugging an orphaned well.
Additionally, the act allows money from the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs
Act to be deposited into the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund for funding projects to reclaim
land affected by mining or control mine drainage in accordance with the requirements of the
federal act.
The act also changes standards adopted by the Board of Building Standards by
exempting “mobile computing units” from statutes governing the construction and condition of
buildings and related rules adopted by the Board. Additionally, the act requires the Board to
adopt rules for the use of a device in certain buildings that prevents both ingress and egress
through a door in the building during emergency situations.
The act further prohibits the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) from imposing
certain regulatory restrictions on various telecommunication providers and services during
proceedings related to the withdrawal or abandonment of certain services.
Ohio’s Landlord and Tenant law is also altered by the act. First, the prohibition against
municipal corporations or townships from interfering in rental agreements is applied to all
political subdivisions. Additionally, with some exceptions, the act prohibits political subdivisions
1 R.C. 153.64.
2 R.C. 3781.25 through 3781.38.
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from enacting any type of rent control or rent stabilization regulations and makes some
legislative findings regarding such regulations.
Interstate hazardous liquid pipeline or interstate gas pipelines
Public improvements
Under current law, in any public improvement that may involve underground utility
facilities, the public authority, prior to preparing plans and specifications, must contact a
protection service (a notification center that receives notices of this sort and distributes
information related to the notice to its members) and owners of underground utility facilities
that are not members of a protection service for the existence and location of all underground
utility facilities within the construction area. If requested by the public authority, the owner of
the underground utility facility must mark the location of the underground utility facility within
the construction area or provide drawings to the public authority. The act adds that if a public
improvement is within 660 feet of the center point of any interstate hazardous liquid pipeline
or interstate gas pipeline, the pipeline operator must provide to the public authority the
following:
1. A written notice of any special notification requirements;
2. The location and description of any right-of-way associated with the pipeline as well as
pipeline location information, such as providing documents reflecting the actual location
of the pipeline, marking facilities on design drawings, and providing maps;
3. Contact information for the primary contact person for the project area.3
If the public authority is notified that the improvement is 660 feet of the center point of
an interstate hazardous liquid pipeline or interstate gas pipeline, the public authority must also
include in the plans and specifications for the project all of the following:
 Any special notification requirements;
 The name and contact information of the primary contact person for each pipeline
operator who has provided notice to the public;
 Notice stating that the public authority has utilized reasonable means to contact the
pipeline operator to verify the location of the pipeline and pipeline right-of-way (which
the public authority is deemed to have done if it provides notice to the protection
service);
 Notice that the public authority has reviewed, or has attempted to review, preliminary
information about the public improvement with the pipeline operator and incorporated
the requested adjustments into the plans.4
3 R.C. 153.64(A) and (B)(3).
4 R.C. 153.64(B)(4).
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General utility protection service law
Under current law, developers and designers of any property improvement that will
require excavation are required to notify a protection service that serves the area of a proposed
excavation site. The protection service then notifies each utility having an underground utility
facility in the proposed excavation site or gives the developer or designer contact information
for the utility. Upon receiving the notice, the utility then must notify the developer or designer
of the location of the underground utility facility; the developer or designer must then provide
the information to the excavator before excavation begins.5
Previous law required that in the case of interstate hazardous liquid pipelines or
interstate gas pipelines, the owner or operator of a utility would have provided written notice
to the developer or designer of any special notification requirements. The act limits this
requirement to when the proposed project is within 660 feet of the center point of the
interstate hazardous liquid pipeline or an interstate gas pipeline. The act also requires the utility
to identify its primary contact person for the project area.6
Current law requires that if requested by the developer or designer, the utility must
mark the location of the underground utility facility at the proposed excavation site or provide
drawings.7 Under the act, for these types of pipelines, the utility must also provide the location
and description of any right-of-way associated with the underground utility facilities as well as
pipeline location information, such as providing documents reflecting the actual location of the
pipeline, marking facilities on design drawings, and providing maps.8
Based on this information, under existing law the developer or designer must include on
the plans for the project the approximate location of the underground facility, the contact
information for the utility, and, in the case of an interstate hazardous liquid pipeline or an
interstate gas pipeline, any special notification requirements. Under the act, for these types of
pipelines, the developer or designer is also required to include in the plans and specifications
the following:
 The name and contact information of the primary contact person for each pipeline
operator who has provided notice to the developer or designer;
 Notice stating that the developer or designer has utilized reasonable means to contact
the pipeline operator to verify the location of the pipeline and pipeline rights-of-way
(which the developer or designer is deemed to have done if it notified the protection
service as described above);
5 R.C. 3781.27(A), (B), (C)(1), and (E); R.C. 3781.26, not in the act.
6 R.C. 3781.27(C)(1).
7