OHIO LEGISLATIVE SERVICE COMMISSION
Office of Research Legislative Budget
www.lsc.ohio.gov and Drafting Office
H.B. 271
135th General Assembly
Bill Analysis
Special Session
Version: As Passed by the Senate
Primary Sponsors: Reps. Mathews and Peterson
Effective date:
Emily E. Wendel, Attorney
SUMMARY
 Specifies that the bill responds to the Governor’s proclamation calling a special session
of the General Assembly.
Deadline to certify presidential candidates
 Delays the deadline, for purposes of the 2024 general election, for a major political
party to certify its candidates for President and Vice-President to the Secretary of State
from August 7 to the effective date of the bill.
 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.
 Requires the Secretary to certify the forms of the official ballots by the fourth day after
the bill takes effect, instead of August 27.
 Specifies that these provisions are intended to apply retroactively for purposes of the
2024 general election, and that they are remedial in nature because they prevent a
major political party’s candidates from being inadvertently excluded from the ballot.
Numbering of state ballot issues
 Specifies that, beginning with the general election on November 5, 2024, a state issue
appearing at the top of the ballot must be designated as Issue 1 and any state issue
placed below that must be consecutively numbered.
 Specifies that, for elections occurring after November 5, 2024, a state issue appearing at
the top of the ballot must be designated by the next number after the number of the
last state issue, instead of starting over at Issue 1.
May 29, 2024
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 Requires, once state Issue 500 appears on the ballot, that the next state issue be
designated as Issue 1.
Campaign finance
Campaign spending by foreign nationals
 Prohibits a foreign national from knowingly making a contribution or expenditure to
support or oppose a state or local ballot issue, either directly or through another entity,
and retains 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 to include a continuing association.
 Prohibits any person from knowingly aiding or facilitating a violation of the prohibitions
described above regarding foreign nationals.
 Adds the term “knowingly” to each prohibition regarding foreign national campaign
spending.
 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.
 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.
 Requires the Ohio Elections Commission (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.
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 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.
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Enforcement of the Campaign Finance Law
 Changes the prosecutors who have jurisdiction over campaign finance cases referred by
the OEC for prosecution and gives the Attorney General authority over certain cases
currently handled by the Franklin County Prosecutor.
DETAILED ANALYSIS
The bill specifies that it responds to the Governor’s proclamation calling a special
session of the General Assembly beginning on Tuesday, May 28, 2024, for the following
purposes:1
 Enabling a major political party to certify to the Ohio Secretary of State the names of the
major party candidates for President and Vice-President of the United States of America
nominated by the party’s national convention pursuant to R.C. 3505.10;
 Meaningfully strengthening the State of Ohio’s prohibition against foreign influence
with and in Ohio’s elections.
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 bill’s effective date (90 days after the Governor signs it and
files it with the Secretary of State), as adjusted for any Sunday or legal holiday, instead of the
90th day before the election (August 7).
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. The Secretary then must certify the forms of the official ballots by
the fourth day after the bill’s effective date, as adjusted for any Sunday or legal holiday, instead
of by the 70th day before the election.
The bill specifies that these provisions are intended to apply retroactively for purposes
of the 2024 general election, and that they are remedial in nature because they prevent a
major political party’s candidates from being inadvertently excluded from the ballot.2
Numbering of state ballot issues
Issues that appear on a ballot are grouped together, with state issues appearing at the
top of the ballot and local issues following in a rotating order prescribed by law. Currently,
those issues are consecutively numbered beginning with Issue 1 at each election.
1 Section 5 of the bill.
2 Section 3 of the bill.
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Under the bill, beginning with the 2024 general election, state issues must be
designated beginning with Issue 1, and at future elections, state issues must be numbered
beginning with the next available numeral, instead of starting over at Issue 1. For example, if
only one state issue appears on the ballot in November 2024, it will be “Issue 1.” The state issue
that appears at the top of the ballot at the next election will be “Issue 2,” and no state issue will
ever have a repeating number from a previous election. Once state Issue 500 appears on the
ballot, the next state issue must be designated as Issue 1.
The bill permits the existing numbering process to continue for local questions and
issues. It is not clear whether, under the bill, the local issues in a county would be labeled for
each election beginning with a local Issue 1, beginning with the next available number after the
state issues that appear on the ballot, or using some other indicator, such as letters. The
Secretary of State currently provides detailed instructions to the boards of elections regarding
ballot issues and might institute a standardized method for labeling local issues under the bill.3
Campaign finance
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 knowingly making a contribution or
expenditure in support of or opposition to a candidate, but the current prohibitions do not
cover ballot issues. (In 2021, the Ohio Elections Commission (OEC) issued an opinion that the
existing statute prevents a foreign national from participating in any ballot issue campaign in
Ohio by prohibiting a political entity from soliciting or accepting a contribution from a foreign
national, apparently regardless of the purpose.)4 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 foreign
3 R.C. 3505.06 and Ohio Secretary of State, Ohio Ballot Questions and Issues Handbook (PDF) (2023),
available at ohiosos.gov under “Publications.”
4 Ohio Elections Commission, Advisory Opinion 2021ELC-05 (PDF) (December 16, 2021), available at
elc.ohio.gov under “Advisory Opinions,” “Advisory Opinions by Year.”
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national knows will be used for political purposes, even if the foreign national does not say so
explicitly.5
Accepting contributions or expenditures from foreign nationals
Further, the bill expands the list of entities that may not solicit or accept a contribution
or expenditure from a foreign national. Currently, no candidate, campaign committee, political
party, legislative campaign fund, political action committee, political contributing entity, or
separate segregated fund may solicit or accept such a contribution or expenditure. The bill adds
a continuing association to that list. (See “Political entities covered by the bill,” below.)
The bill specifies that the prohibition against accepting a foreign contribution or
expenditure includes knowingly transferring funds, or accepting a transfer of funds, directly or
indirectly into an account from which the person makes political contributions or expenditures
from an account that is controlled by the person or the person’s affiliate and that the person, at
any time, knew to contain political funds received directly or indirectly from a foreign national,
as described by the bill. A person is affiliated with another person if they are both established,
financed, maintained, or controlled by, or if they are, the same person, including any parent,
subsidiary, division, or department of that person.
For example, assume that Branch A and Branch B are branches of the same
organization. Branch A, which might be located outside Ohio, accepts funds from a foreign
national for political purposes, as described by the bill, and places them in its account. Later,
Branch A transfers some funds from its account into Branch B’s political account and Branch B
accepts the transfer, knowing that Branch A’s account has contained foreign political funds.
Branch B would be in violation of the bill, even though it did not accept funds directly from a
foreign national, and even though it might be difficult to trace those specific funds to a foreign
national because they were commingled with other funds in Branch A’s account. However,
Branch B would not be in violation of the bill if (1) the foreign funds were not political in nature,
such as business profits, or (2) Branch B did not actually know that foreign political funds had
been in Branch A’s account.6
Aiding or facilitating a violation
The bill also prohibits any person from knowingly aiding or facilitating a violation of the
prohibitions described above regarding foreign nationals.7
5 R.C. 3517.13(W)(1). See also 52 United States Code (U.S.C.) 30121, prohibiting foreign nationals from
making contributions “in connection with a federal, state, or local election.” In 2021, the Federal
Election Commission determined that the federal statute does not apply to ballot issues. (Federal
Election Commission, Matter Under Review #7523 (2021), available at fec.gov under “Legal resources,”
“Enforcement” via a search for closed MURs.)
6 R.C. 3517.13(W).
7 R.C. 3517.13(W)(3).
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Culpable mental state
The bill adds the term “knowingly” to each prohibition described above. It appears that
this change does not impact existing law because the corresponding penalty provisions, which
the bill does not change, state that the penalties apply to whoever “knowingly” violates the
law.8
Definition of “foreign national”
The bill prohibits a lawful permanent U.S. resident, also known as a green card holder,
from making contributions or expenditures regarding ballot issues or candidates. Under current
Ohio and federal law, “foreign national” means any of the following:9
 In the case of an individual, an individual who is not a U.S. citizen or national or a lawful
permanent resident. (The bill removes Ohio’s exception for lawful permanent residents,
meaning that those individuals may not make contributions or expenditures.)
 A government of a foreign country or of a political subdivision of a foreign country;
 A foreign political party;
 A person, other than an individual, that is organized under the laws of a foreign country
or has its principal place of business in a foreign country.
Certifying compliance
Under the bill, all campaign committees and other political entities must 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, including the prohibitions regarding foreign nationals. This
certification must be included on an entity’s designation of treasurer that it files with the
Secretary of State upon initially forming, as well as on its periodic statements of contributions
and expenditures.10
Penalty
Under continuing law, before any prosecution or court proceeding may begin for a
violation of the Campaign Finance Law, a complaint must be filed with the OEC. If the OEC
determines that a violation has occurred, the OEC has discretion to refer the matter to a
prosecutor for potential court proceedings or instead to impose an administrative fine in any
amount, up to the maximum court fine. With respect to violations of the law regarding foreign
nationals, the bill instead requires the OEC to either impose the maximum administrative
penalty or refer the matter for prosecution.
8 R.C. 3517.13(W) and 3517.992(AA).
9 R.C. 3517.13(W) and 52 U.S.C. 30121.
10 R.C. 3517.10.
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