10/14/2025

House Bill 413

Lead Sponsors: Representative Tom Young and Representative Bob Peterson

Status: First hearing in House Local Government (October 7, 2025)

Description: The bill would create the Local Government Expenditure Database, a similar system to the Ohio Checkbook, and would require local governments to participate.

The Ohio Checkbook, more formally known as the State and Local Government Expenditure Database, makes many aspects of state financials available to the public. This includes state employee compensation, a general flow of state expenses, and more. While local governments can participate in the Ohio Checkbook, it is optional. CCAO reviewed the database and found that 47 counties either participate in the Checkbook or have at one time.

The bill would formally divide the Ohio Checkbook into a version for the state and a version for local governments. Counties, along with several other local government types, would be required to participate in the local government database. The Treasurer of State would adopt rules to specify the information that the entities would need to provide. Although the name of the database is the Local Government Expenditure Database, entities would need to submit revenue data as well.

The bill appropriates $5 million to the Treasurer of State to create and maintain the new database, but no resources are provided to assist local governments in integrating into the database.

CCAO Position: No position (as of October 2025)