OHIO LEGISLATIVE SERVICE COMMISSION
Office of Research Legislative Budget
www.lsc.ohio.gov and Drafting Office
H.B. 430 Bill Analysis
135th General Assembly
Click here for H.B. 430’s Fiscal Note
Version: As Reported by House Government Oversight
Primary Sponsors: Reps. Klopfenstein and Rogers, Jr.
Effective date:
S. Ben Fogle, Attorney
SUMMARY
 Permits a board of county commissioners, when the office of county engineer is vacant,
to contract with another county’s county engineer to perform the duties of county
engineer in that county, and gives the county engineer supplemental compensation for
doing so.
 Prohibits a county engineer from engaging in the private practice of engineering or
surveying in a county in which the person is the county engineer or acting county
engineer.
 Eliminates the compensation schedule applicable to county engineers with a private
practice, and instead subjects all country engineers to the compensation schedule
currently applicable to county engineers without a private practice.
DETAILED ANALYSIS
County engineer vacancies
The bill permits a board of county commissioners, when the office of county engineer is
vacant and cannot be filled, or when there is no person running for county engineer, to contract
with another county’s county engineer to exercise the powers and perform the duties of county
engineer for that county. The bill permits a person to serve as county engineer for more than one
county under these circumstances.1
A county engineer so contracted must receive supplemental compensation for the
services rendered under the contract, based on the population of the county in which the
1 R.C. 305.021(A). Note that a person is not eligible to be a county engineer unless the person is a
registered professional engineer and a registered surveyor (R.C. 315.02, not in the bill).
May 13, 2024
Office of Research and Drafting LSC Legislative Budget Office
engineer is contracted to perform services. The compensation must only be for the contract term,
and may not extend beyond the last day of the term for which there is a vacancy. 2
The Ohio Constitution requires that vacancies in elected offices be filled for the unexpired
term. For county offices, the Constitution allows the General Assembly to prescribe the manner
of filling the vacancy.3
Private practice
The bill prohibits county engineers from engaging in the private practice of engineering
or surveying work that would go before the office of county engineer in any county in which the
person is serving as county engineer or acting county engineer. “Acting county engineer” refers
to a county engineer serving a county other than the county in which they were elected.
The bill eliminates the procedures concerning conflicts of interest for a county engineer
who currently also elects to work in private practice.4
County engineer compensation
The bill eliminates the compensation schedule applicable to county engineers with a
private practice, and instead subjects all county engineers to the compensation schedule
currently applicable to county engineers without a private practice. The bill also eliminates
obsolete compensation schedules.5
The bill’s compensation change applies to a county engineer whose term of office begins
on or after the bill’s effective date. In accordance with the Ohio Constitution, the bill requires a
county engineer who is serving a term of office that began before the bill’s effective date to
continue to receive compensation in accordance with the law in effect before that date for the
remainder of that term of office.6
HISTORY
Action Date
Introduced 02-27-24
Reported, H. Government Oversight 05-08-24
ANHB0430RH-135/ts
2 R.C. 305.021(B).
3 Ohio Constitution, Article XVII, Section 2; see also R.C. 305.02, not in the bill.
4 R.C. 325.14(B), with conforming changes in R.C. 315.251(B) and 319.203.
5 R.C. 325.14(A).
6 Section 3.
P a g e |2 H.B. 430
As Reported by House Government Oversight