Senate committee holds first hearing on 'Gus Frangos Act' to update county land bank law

Senate Bill 102, the Gus Frangos Act, received its first hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the bill’s sponsor testimony and descriptive outline of proposed changes to Ohio land bank law.

The bill is aimed at updating the law that governs county land bank entities — public bodies that acquire, hold and transfer vacant or tax-delinquent property for redevelopment. "This bill addresses needed reform for County Land Bank Reutilization Corporation, also known, more commonly as land banks," the sponsor said in committee testimony, describing land banks as mechanisms "for acquiring, holding, and distributing property in the service of community goals."

Why it matters: Land banks are widely used in Ohio to clear title, rehabilitate vacant parcels and return property to productive use. The sponsor told the committee that land bank authorizing legislation they previously helped enact in 2009 served as a playbook and that 70 of Ohio’s 88 counties now operate land banks.

Major provisions described in testimony include: permitting online notices and auctions and removing duplicative fees and processes; clarifying the difference between an auditor’s value and fair market value; authorizing safety and environmental inspections of abandoned or tax-delinquent property during court-supervised foreclosure so inspection reports are available at sheriff’s sale; conforming sheriff’s-sale process to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Tyler v. Hennepin County to give owners an absolute right to expose property to a sheriff’s sale; and allowing county commissioners, at their discretion, to authorize up to 50% of future real estate tax proceeds to be paid to a county land reutilization fund as a payment in lieu of taxes for up to five years following sale.

Sponsor and context: The sponsor said the measure is named the "Gus Frangos Act" in honor of Gus Frangos, who served as president of the Cuyahoga County Land Bank for 15 years and who, the sponsor said, was a leading voice in land bank administration until his recent death. The sponsor also told the committee that the bill was developed in consultation with the Cuyahoga Land Bank and the Ohio Land Bank Association.

Questions from the committee focused on how the optional tax-sharing provision would operate. "It’s a may provision, it’s not a shall," the sponsor said, explaining that the funding shift would be discretionary for county commissioners and that the commissioners would decide whether a project merits that temporary revenue allocation.

Procedural status: Committee members recorded the testimony as the first hearing on Senate Bill 102; the committee took no final action at the hearing.

Next steps: The sponsor asked the committee chair to move the bill forward so county land banks remain viable long term; no formal vote or amendment was taken during the hearing.