OHIO LEGISLATIVE SERVICE COMMISSION
Office of Research Legislative Budget
www.lsc.ohio.gov and Drafting Office
H.B. 497 Bill Analysis
135th General Assembly
Click here for H.B. 497’s Fiscal Note
Version: As Reported by Senate Local Government
Primary Sponsors: Reps. Stewart and Klopfenstein
Effective date:
Daniel DeSantis, Research Analyst, and other LSC staff
SUMMARY
County law
▪ Allows counties to designate additional public depositories of active moneys during the
four-year designation period.
▪ Exempts county improvement projects for minor repairs from the requirement to obtain
detailed plans, bills, specifications, and cost estimates from an architect or engineer.
▪ Modifies the approval process for county courthouse and jail projects with an estimated
cost of $75,000 or less.
▪ Increases, from $1,000 to $20,000, the threshold at which a county prosecutor is required
to approve contracts related to county improvements.
▪ Requires plans and specifications related to county improvements, county homes, and
county children’s homes to be kept on file with the county commissioners instead of the
county auditor.
▪ Requires plans and specifications related to county bridges to be kept by the county
engineer instead of the county auditor.
▪ Simplifies the process a county must follow to donate unneeded property.
▪ Increases threshold amounts, from $50,000 to $75,000, related to the county notice
requirement for purchases, leases, and construction contracts, and related to guaranty
and bonding requirements for county contracts.
 This analysis was prepared before the report of the Senate Local Government Committee appeared in
the Senate Journal. Note that the legislative history may be incomplete.
December 10, 2024
Office of Research and Drafting LSC Legislative Budget Office
▪ Prohibits a contract entered into by a county for the procurement of goods or services
from including certain terms and conditions.
▪ Allows a county prosecutor to provide legal services to a transportation improvement
district.
▪ Specifies that a county coroner performing an autopsy at the request of another coroner
does not constitute the private practice of medicine for purposes of determining the
coroner’s compensation.
▪ Sets the county coroner’s deposition fee and testimonial fee at $350 per hour.
▪ Specifies that any court cost, fine, restitution, or other monetary penalty imposed at the
time of a transfer to the juvenile court of the child’s residence is not a final, appealable
order.
▪ Permits a county records commission to meet at the call of the chair rather than at least
every six months.
Public notice requirements
▪ Requires a publisher to establish a government rate for posting legal advertisements,
notices, and proclamations that are required by law to be published, in a newspaper of
general circulation’s digital edition on the newspaper’s website.
▪ Permits a county to publish required county advertisements in only the digital edition of
a newspaper of general circulation within the county, or only on the county’s website and
social media account.
Coroner
▪ Authorizes a coroner, while an autopsy is pending, to deny a journalist access to
preliminary autopsy and investigative notes and findings, photographs taken by a
coroner, and suicide notes (access must be granted once a final autopsy report and final
death certification are complete).
▪ Requires health care workers who obtain knowledge of facts related to an individual’s
suspicious or unusual death, including criminal and violent deaths, suicides, and deaths
of individuals with developmental disabilities, to immediately notify the coroner of those
facts.
▪ Specifies that autopsy costs include any component of an autopsy, as well as costs to
transport the body.
▪ Establishes new eligibility requirements for the office of coroner, with exceptions for
those currently in office.
▪ Defines “private practice of medicine” for purposes of coroner compensation, and
specifies that it includes performing an autopsy at the request of another coroner, a
hospital, a business entity, an institution of higher education, or any other person.
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▪ Establishes a $350 per hour fee for a coroner for time spent preparing for and giving
expert testimony at a trial, hearing, or deposition in a civil action.
▪ Requires that collaboration agreements between advanced practice registered nurses
and collaborating physicians, and supervision agreements between physician assistants
and supervising physicians, contain an agreement that the physician must complete and
sign the medical certificate of death.
Land conveyances
▪ Authorizes the conveyance of certain state-owned land in Monroe Township to the Knox
County Park District for development into a park that is accessible and inclusive to persons
of physical and mental disabilities.
▪ Authorizes the release of an easement respecting certain land in Montgomery County
formerly under the jurisdiction of the Department of Developmental Disabilities.
PCSA Workers
▪ Allows a public children services agency (PCSA) to hire as a caseworker a person who has
completed at least 60 credit hours or the equivalent towards a degree in human services-
related studies.
▪ Exempts a PCSA caseworker from the requirement to obtain a job-related bachelor’s
degree within five years of employment if the caseworker demonstrates hardship and is
determined to be in good standing.
Erie County Municipal Court
▪ Extends the territorial jurisdiction of the Erie County Municipal Court.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
County depository designation ....................................................................................................... 4
County improvements .................................................................................................................... 4
County donations ............................................................................................................................ 5
County purchases............................................................................................................................ 5
County contract terms and conditions ........................................................................................... 6
County prosecuting attorney .......................................................................................................... 7
County coroner ............................................................................................................................... 7
Journalist access to preliminary autopsy results ........................................................................ 7
Notice of facts related to suspicious and unusual deaths .......................................................... 7
Autopsy costs .............................................................................................................................. 8
Coroner qualification................................................................................................................... 8
Coroner compensation related to private practice of medicine ................................................ 8
Coroner fees for expert testimony .............................................................................................. 8
Physician completion of medical certificates of death ............................................................... 9
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Juvenile court transfer .................................................................................................................... 9
County records commission............................................................................................................ 9
Public notices, generally ................................................................................................................. 9
County notice requirements ..................................................................................................... 10
Land conveyances ......................................................................................................................... 10
Knox County .............................................................................................................................. 10
Montgomery County ................................................................................................................. 11
Educational requirements for PCSA caseworkers ........................................................................ 11
Erie County Municipal Court jurisdiction ...................................................................................... 11
DETAILED ANALYSIS
County depository designation
Under continuing law, each board of county commissioners must meet every four years
to designate its public depositories of active moneys, with the designation lasting four years. The
bill allows the county, during that time, to designate additional public depositories for the
remainder of that four-year period. The board may do this only once during the four-year period,
and the additional designation must take effect at least 180 days before the current four-year
period expires.1
County improvements
Current law requires a county to obtain detailed plans, bills, specifications, and cost
estimates from an architect or engineer before constructing, adding to, or altering a public
building or the substructure for a bridge. The bill creates an exception − under which the
requirement will not apply for “minor repairs,” which the bill defines as “the reconstruction or
renewal of any part of an existing building for the purpose of its maintenance when the work has
limited impact on access, safety, or health.” The bill specifically excludes the following from the
definition of “minor repair:”
▪ The cutting away of any wall, partition, or portions of walls;
▪ The removal or cutting of any structural beam or load bearing support;
▪ The removal or change of any required element of accessibility, means of egress, or
rearrangement of parts of a structure affecting the egress requirements;
▪ The addition to, alteration of, replacement of, or relocation of any standpipe, water
supply, sewer, drainage, drain leader, gas, soil, waste, vent or similar piping, electric
wiring, mechanical work, or other work affecting public health or general safety.2
1 R.C. 135.33.
2 R.C. 153.31. See also R.C. 153.68 and 153.69, not in the bill.
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When a project involves a county courthouse or jail, current law requires the plans, bills,
specifications, and cost estimates to be approved by a majority of the following: the board of
county commissioners (each has one vote3), the sheriff, the probate judge, the clerk of the court
of common pleas, and an individual appointed by the judge of the court of common pleas. Under
the bill, the board of county commissioners can approve a project that has a total estimated cost
of $75,000 or less, and may seek advice of the clerk of the court of common pleas, the sheriff,
and a probate judge. Projects exceeding $75,000 must be approved by a majority of the others
listed above − the sheriff, the probate judge, the clerk of the court of common pleas, and an
individual appointed by the judge of the court of common pleas.4
The bill increases, from $1,000 to $20,000, the threshold related to the requirement that
the county prosecutor approve contracts for county improvements.5
Finally, the bill requires plans and specifications related to county improvements, county
homes, county children’s homes, and county courthouses and jails to be kept on file with the
county commissioners, instead of the county auditor as under current law.6 And, plans and
specifications related to county bridges must be kept by the county engineer instead of the
county auditor.7
County donations
The bill modifies the method a county follows to donate unneeded property, including
vehicles, road machinery, equipment, tools, and supplies. Continuing law provides that any
property exceeding $2,500 in value must be sold by public auction or sealed bid to the highest
bidder. Property valued at or below $2,500 may either be sold directly (without a public process)
or donated to an eligible nonprofit. First, the bill increases the threshold to $5,000. Second, the
bill modifies the process for donating property valued at or below that threshold to a nonprofit
organization by eliminating all previous requirements, except two: (1) the nonprofit organization
still must be a 501(a) or 501(c)(3) organization located in Ohio, and (2) the nonprofit must submit
evidence of its eligibility. The bill retains the option to directly sell the property.8
County purchases
In light of a recent change to the competitive bidding threshold applicable to county
purchases,9 the bill likewise increases threshold amounts, from $50,000 to $75,000, related to
3 1973 Ohio Op.Att’y.Gen. No. 059 (1973).
4 R.C. 153.36.
5 R.C. 153.44.
6 R.C. 153.35, 153.36, 153.37, and 153.39.
7 R.C. 153.38.
8 R.C. 307.12.
9 R.C. 307.86, not in the bill.
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the county notice requirement for purchases, leases, and construction contracts, and related to
guaranty and bonding requirements for county contracts.10
County contract terms and conditions
The bill prohibits a contract entered into by the county for the procurement of goods or
services from including any of the following, unless otherwise required or permitted by state or
federal law:
▪ A provision that requires the county to indemnify or hold harmless another person;
▪ A provision by which the county agrees to binding arbitration or any other binding extra-
judicial dispute resolution process;
▪ A provision that names a venue for any action or dispute against the county other than a
court of proper jurisdiction in the county;
▪ A provision that requires the county to agree to limit the liability for any direct loss to the
county for bodily injury, death, or damage to property of the county caused by the
negligence, intentional or willful misconduct, fraudulent act, recklessness, or other
tortious conduct of a person or a person’s employees or agents, or a provision that
otherwise imposes an indemnification obligation on the county;
▪ A provision that requires the county to be bound by a term or condition that is unknown
to the county at the time of signing a contract, that is not specifically negotiated with the
county, that may be unilaterally changed by the other party, or that is electronically
accepted by a county employee;
▪ A provision that provides for a person other than the prosecuting attorney, or an attorney
otherwise employed by the county, to serve as legal counsel for the county;
▪ A provision that is inconsistent with the county’s obligations under Ohio’s Public Records
Act;11
▪ A provision that limits the county’s ability to recover the cost for a replacement
contractor.
If a contract contains one of these terms or conditions, the term or condition is void ab
initio (invalid from the outset), and the contract otherwise is enforceable as if it did not contain
the invalid term or condition. The bill specifies that a contract containing an invalid term or
condition is governed by and must be construed in accordance with Ohio law notwithstanding
any term or condition to the contrary in the contract. Finally, this provision of the bill does not
apply to a contract in effect before the provision’s effective date, or to the renewal or extension
of a contract in effect before that date.12
10 R.C. 307.87 and 307.88.<