Editorials & Other Articles

..........The budget includes an additional change that loosens public-records law: written communication between lawmakers and the Legislative Service Commission during a legislative session will now also become public records after the session ends.

It’s not clear who sought the public-records change. It was among a slew of anonymously authored amendments added en masse by a Republican-controlled legislative panel to the nearly 6,000-page budget bill around 1:30 a.m. on June 25. About 17 hours later, Republican lawmakers voted to approve the changes and send the $60 billion budget to Gov. Mike DeWine, who signed them into law on June 30.

The public-records changes, like other state budget policy measures, take effect 91 days after the governor signed the legislation.