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Bill would expand Ohio Checkbook and push for a one‑stop local expenditure database
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Summary
Witnesses told the committee that House Bill 413 would expand the Ohio Checkbook to incorporate more local governments, creating a single online database of local expenditures; advocates discussed mandating participation versus providing state tools to ease compliance for small jurisdictions.
Witnesses and committee members discussed House Bill 413, a package intended to expand local participation in the Ohio Checkbook and create a statewide local‑expenditure database so citizens can view municipal spending in one place.
Greg Lawson (Buckeye Institute) said Ohio's Ohio Checkbook transformed transparency but that local government take‑up has been limited because sign‑on was permissive. "This package in 04/13 moves us very far along that pathway," Lawson said, while acknowledging some local governments may resist or face costs.
Committee members raised implementation concerns for small jurisdictions that lack professional accounting staff. The chair asked whether the bill could be amended to allow the state to provide a single system or an AI‑powered accounting tool to help smaller entities produce compliant reports; Lawson said he would be amenable to such a solution and suggested many small townships would benefit from easier, state‑provided tools.
Lawson framed the database as a transparency tool that would empower taxpayers to ask hard questions about local spending and said the measure was a piece of a larger debate about local government structure and property tax policy. The committee closed the bill's second hearing; no amendments or votes were recorded during this session.
