OHIO LEGISLATIVE SERVICE COMMISSION
Office of Research Legislative Budget
www.lsc.ohio.gov and Drafting Office
H.B. 114* Bill Analysis
135th General Assembly
Click here for H.B. 114’s Fiscal Note
Version: As Reported by Senate General Government
Primary Sponsors: Reps. Humphrey and Seitz
Effective date:
Emily E. Wendel, Attorney
SUMMARY
Deadline to certify presidential candidates
Delays the deadline, from August 7 to August 23, for a major political party to certify the
names of its presidential and vice-presidential candidates to the Secretary of State for
purposes of the 2024 general election.
Allows a party to make that certification, for purposes of the 2024 election, in writing by
any reasonably reliable method that, under the circumstances, will provide for the
Secretary to receive it by the deadline, including hand delivery, U.S. mail, commercial
carrier, facsimile, or email.
Campaign finance
Use of campaign funds for child care
Allows a candidate to use the candidate’s campaign fund to pay the cost of child care
while the candidate is campaigning or carrying out official duties, so long as certain
requirements are met.
Allows a candidate or public official or employee to accept funds from a political entity
to pay the cost of child care while the person is campaigning or fundraising for the entity
or attending a political meeting, so long as those requirements are met.
Campaign spending by foreign nationals
Prohibits a foreign national from making a contribution or expenditure to support or
oppose a state or local ballot issue, either directly or through another entity, and retains
* This analysis was prepared before the report of the Senate General Government Committee appeared
in the Senate Journal. Note that the legislative history may be incomplete.
May 8, 2024
Office of Research and Drafting LSC Legislative Budget Office
the current prohibition against a foreign national making a contribution or expenditure
regarding a candidate.
Prohibits a foreign national from soliciting another person to make a contribution or
expenditure.
Expands the list of entities that are prohibited from soliciting or accepting a contribution
or expenditure from a foreign national.
Prohibits any person from knowingly aiding or facilitating a violation of the prohibitions
described above regarding foreign nationals.
Prohibits a lawful permanent U.S. resident, also known as a green card holder, from
making contributions or expenditures regarding ballot issues or candidates.
Requires all political entities to certify on their campaign finance filings, under penalty of
election falsification, that they have not knowingly accepted, and will not knowingly
accept, any campaign contributions that are prohibited under the Campaign Finance
Law.
Expenditures from alternate sources of funds
Clarifies that the term “expenditure” means the disbursement or use of a contribution
or other funds for the purpose of influencing the results of an election.
Independent expenditures regarding ballot issues
Clarifies that the term “independent expenditure” includes an expenditure to advocate
support of or opposition to an identified ballot issue or to achieve the successful
circulation of an initiative or referendum petition, regardless of whether the issue has
yet been certified to appear on the ballot.
Ballot issue committees
Specifies that if the committee in charge of a statewide or local initiative or referendum
petition receives a contribution or makes an expenditure for the purpose of achieving
the successful circulation of the petition, the committee is considered a political action
committee (PAC) for that purpose and must file periodic disclosures in the same manner
as any other PAC.
Enforcement of the Campaign Finance Law
Requires, when the Ohio Elections Commission (OEC) refers a violation of the Campaign
Finance Law for prosecution, that the Attorney General prosecute most cases that
currently would go to the Franklin County Prosecutor.
Provides a procedure for choosing a different prosecutor if the appropriate prosecutor is
a victim or witness or otherwise involved in the case.
Retains the existing penalty for violating the law regarding contributions and
expenditures by foreign nationals, but requires a violator to return the contribution to
the foreign national, in addition to paying a fine.
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Requires the OEC, if it finds a violation of that law, to either (1) impose the maximum
fine and, if applicable, order the violator to return the funds, or (2) refer the matter for
prosecution.
Allows the Attorney General, if the OEC refers a violation of that law to a county
prosecutor, to transfer the case to the Attorney General for prosecution upon the
request of the county prosecutor or upon the Attorney General’s own initiative, unless
the Attorney General has a conflict of interest.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Deadline to certify presidential candidates .................................................................................... 3
Campaign finance............................................................................................................................ 4
Use of campaign funds for child care .......................................................................................... 4
Candidate’s own campaign funds .......................................................................................... 4
Other political entities’ funds ................................................................................................. 5
Campaign spending by foreign nationals .................................................................................... 6
Foreign nationals making contributions or expenditures ...................................................... 6
Accepting contributions or expenditures from foreign nationals .......................................... 7
Aiding or facilitating a violation .............................................................................................. 7
Definition of “foreign national” .............................................................................................. 8
Certifying compliance ............................................................................................................. 8
Expenditures from alternate sources of funds ........................................................................... 8
Independent expenditures regarding ballot issues .................................................................... 8
Ballot issue committees .............................................................................................................. 9
Enforcement of the Campaign Finance Law ............................................................................... 9
Violations involving foreign nationals .................................................................................. 10
Political entities covered by the bill .......................................................................................... 11
Background on continuing associations and corporations .................................................. 11
Accepting contributions from foreign nationals .................................................................. 12
DETAILED ANALYSIS
Deadline to certify presidential candidates
For purposes of the 2024 general election, the bill delays the deadline for a major
political party to certify the names of its presidential and vice-presidential candidates to the
Secretary of State after it nominates those candidates at its convention. Under the bill, a party
must certify its candidates by the 74th day before the election (August 23), instead of the 90 th
day (August 7).
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The bill specifies that for purposes of the 2024 election, a party may make that
certification in writing by any reasonably reliable method that, under the circumstances, will
provide for the Secretary to receive it by the deadline, including by hand delivery, any type of
U.S. mail, commercial carrier service, facsimile, or email.1
Campaign finance
Use of campaign funds for child care
Candidate’s own campaign funds
The bill allows a candidate for state or local office to use the candidate’s campaign fund
(that is, political contributions received from donors) to pay the cost of child care while the
candidate is campaigning or carrying out official duties, so long as all of the following apply:
The costs are incurred only as a direct result of the candidate’s activities and would not
otherwise be incurred;
The costs are reasonable;
The child care is rendered in Ohio;
The candidate is a primary caregiver of the child;
The child is 12 or younger.
Continuing law limits the purposes for which a candidate may use the candidate’s
campaign fund. In general, a candidate may not use campaign funds to cover the candidate’s
personal expenses, except that a candidate may be reimbursed from the candidate’s campaign
fund for the following types of expenses:
Legitimate and verifiable prior campaign expenses incurred by the candidate;
Legitimate and verifiable ordinary and necessary prior expenses incurred by the
candidate in connection with duties as the holder of a public office, including expenses
incurred through participation in nonpartisan or bipartisan events if the participation of
the candidate would normally be expected;
Legitimate and verifiable ordinary and necessary prior expenses incurred by the
candidate while doing any of the following:
Engaging in activities in support of or opposition to another candidate, a political
party, or a ballot issue;
Raising funds for a political entity or another candidate;
Participating in the activities of a political entity;
Attending a political party convention or other political meeting.
1 Section 3 of the bill.
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The bill specifies that the cost of child care is considered an “ordinary and necessary
expense” under this law, so long as all the requirements listed above are met.
For example, if a candidate normally stayed at home during the day to care for the
candidate’s infant, but the candidate hired a babysitter at a reasonable rate to stay at home
with the child so that the candidate could campaign or carry out official duties, the bill would
allow the candidate to use campaign funds to pay the babysitter.
On the other hand, if a candidate normally sent the candidate’s children to a day care
facility, and the candidate campaigned or carried out official duties while the children were at
the facility, the bill would not allow the candidate to use campaign funds to pay for day care
because the candidate would have paid for day care regardless of whether the candidate was
campaigning or carrying out official duties. And, under the bill’s requirements that the child
care be for a reasonable cost and rendered in Ohio, the bill would prevent a candidate from, for
example, using campaign funds to send a child to an overseas boarding school while the
candidate was on the campaign trail.2
In 2018, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) issued an advisory opinion that under
federal law and administrative rules, a candidate for federal office may use the candidate’s
campaign funds to pay for child care costs that are incurred as a direct result of campaign
activities or official duties and that would not otherwise exist. The bill allows state and local
candidates in Ohio to use their campaign funds for child care costs in a similar manner, but
imposes additional restrictions on the cost and location of the child care, the age of the child,
and the candidate’s relationship to the child.3
Other political entities’ funds
Similarly, the bill allows a candidate or public official or employee to accept funds from a
political entity to pay the cost of child care while the person is campaigning or fundraising for
the entity or attending a political meeting, so long as all of the following apply:
The costs are incurred only as a direct result of the person’s activities and would not
otherwise be incurred;
The costs are reasonable;
The child care is rendered in Ohio;
The candidate or the public official or employee is a primary caregiver of the child;
The child is 12 or younger.
Under continuing law, a candidate or public official or employee may accept money or
things of value from a political party, political action committee (PAC), political contributing
2 R.C. 3517.13(O), (P), and (R)(4).
3FEC, Advisory Opinion 2018-06 (May 10, 2018), available on the FEC’s website:
www.fec.gov/data/legal/advisory-opinions.
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entity, or legislative campaign fund or from another candidate’s campaign committee only if
the payment qualifies as one of the following:
Reimbursement for legitimate and verifiable ordinary and necessary expenses incurred
by the candidate or public official or employee while engaged in any legitimate activity
of the political party, PAC, political contributing entity, legislative campaign fund, or
campaign committee, including all of the following:
Engaging in activities in support of or opposition to another candidate, a political
party, or a ballot issue;
Raising funds for a political party, legislative campaign fund, campaign committee, or
another candidate;
Attending a political party convention or other political meeting.
Compensation for actual and valuable personal services rendered under a written
contract with the entity to carry out the entity’s legitimate activities.
In this situation, under the bill, the cost of child care also is considered an ordinary and
necessary expense incurred by a candidate or public official or employee while engaging in
those activities and duties, so long as the bill’s requirements are met. For instance, the bill
would allow a state political party to reimburse a public official for child care costs while the
official attended the party’s national convention if the official incurred those child care costs as
a direct result of attending the convention and otherwise would not have incurred those costs.
However, in that example, the child would be required to remain in Ohio instead of traveling
with the official to the convention.4
Campaign spending by foreign nationals
Foreign nationals making contributions or expenditures
The bill prohibits a foreign national from making a contribution or expenditure to
support or oppose a state or local ballot issue, either directly or through another entity. Existing
Ohio and federal law prohibit a foreign national from making a contribution or expenditure in
support of or opposition to a candidate, but the current prohibitions do not cover ballot issues.
The bill also prohibits a foreign national from soliciting another person to make a contribution
or expenditure.
Additionally, the bill prohibits a foreign national from making a loan, gift, deposit,
forgiveness of indebtedness, donation, advance, payment, or transfer of funds to another
person with a designation, instruction, or encumbrance that the foreign national knows will
result in any part of the funds being used to make a contribution or expenditure. “Designation,
instruction, or encumbrance” includes any designation, instruction, or encumbrance that is
direct or indirect, express or implied, oral or written, or involving an intermediary or conduit. In
other words, the bill prohibits a foreign national from making a donation that the foreig