You can get the name, contact information, top personnel and a description of all Ohio administrative agencies in the Directory of State Administrative Agencies published in Volume 17 of Baldwin's Ohio Administrative Code. Alternatively, you can get addresses and telephone numbers from the Ohio Legal Directory, the State Yellow Book and other directories. The State of Ohio Web site
provides links to the Web pages of most Ohio agencies and executive offices (www.state.oh.us/agencies.htm).
The best places to find government documents produced by Ohio agencies and offices are the Government Information Services section of the Ohio State Library
(http://winslo.state.oh.us/govinfo/slogovt.html), other Ohio State depository libraries (listed by city on the Government Information Services Web site) and the agencies and offices themselves.
Decisions and opinions of selected agencies are available on Lexis, Westlaw, HANNAH Online / Ohio Capital Connection. Most of the material available online or printed by professional publishers is discussed below.
Attorney General: The Attorney General's main telephone number is 614-466-4320. The Attorney General's Web site
(www.ag.state.oh.us) posts information about the Attorney General and the branches of the Attorney General's Office. The Web site also posts the location of regional offices, Press Releases and selected Attorney General Publications and Attorney General Opinions
Opinions: Opinions of the Ohio Attorney General are published in West's Ohio Attorney General Opinions. They are posted free and searchable on the Attorney General's Web site back to 1994 (at
www.ag.state.oh.us/sections/opinions/ag_opinions.htm), along with a table showing which opinions have been overruled. For more sophisticated searching, use Lexis (OHIO;OHAG) or Westlaw (OH-AG), though their databases go back only to January 1997.
Ohio AG opinions are also searchable on the Ohio CD-ROMs by Anderson and West back to 1997 and on the Ohio State Bar Association's Casemaker CD-ROM back to 1993.
Subscribers can get Ohio AG opinions from HANNAH Online / Ohio Capital Connection back to 1986. Members of the Ohio Bar can access the Casemaker CD-ROM free over the Internet
(www.ohiobar.org/casemaker).
See also the separate entry for "Attorney General Opinions."
Note: You can Shepardize Ohio Attorney General Opinions using Shepard's Ohio Citations or Lexis (see "Shepardizing").
Civil Rights: The Ohio Civil Rights Commission's main phone number is 614-466-6715. The Commission's Web site
(www.state.oh.us/crc) posts an explanation of Ohio civil rights law, the procedures for processing a claim of illegal discrimination, the form for filing a complaint with the Commission, Commission press releases and the principle civil rights laws and regulations of Ohio.
The Commission's decisions are available on Westlaw (OHCIV-ADMIN) back to 1980.
Corporations: See "Secretary of State," below.
Employment: The State Employment Relations Board's main phone number is 614-466-8573. The SERB Web site
(www.serb.state.oh.us) posts contact information, opinions from 1999, the relevant Ohio rules and regulations, SERB publications, forms and a log of cases filed since September 1999.
Opinions, decisions, forms and other SERB materials are also published in West's Official Reporter: SERB. LRP Publications' Ohio Public Employee Reporter publishes SERB decisions, along with selected state and Federal court cases.
Decisions from LRP's Ohio Public Employee Reporter are available on Westlaw (OH-PER) back to 1984 and Lexis (OHIO;OHPER) back to 1983.
Environment: The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency's main phone number is 614- 644-3020. The EPA's Web site
(www.epa.state.oh.us) posts contact information for the Agency, environmental information about each county in Ohio, selected EPA publications, internal EPA policies and a separate page for information about each type of pollution regulated by the agency.
Decisions and Opinion Letters of the Environmental Review Appeals Commission (formerly the Ohio Environmental Board of Review) are available on Westlaw (OHENV-ADMIN) back to 1974, Lexis (OHIO;OHENV) back to April 1973, and the subscription-based HANNAH Online/Ohio Capital Connection from 1993-95.
Ethics: For information on the Ohio Supreme Court's Board of Grievances and Discipline or the Ohio Ethics Commission, see the Ohio sections of the separate entry for "Legal Ethics."
Governor's Office: The phone number for the Governor's Office is 614-466-3555. As of 1999, the Governor's Web page
(www.state.oh.us/gov) mostly posted the governor's resume. The Lieutenant Governor's Web page
(www.state.oh.us/LtGov/) was about the same.
The Governor's Executive Orders are available by calling the Governor's office. Subscribers can get Executive Orders back to 1989 on HANNAH Online / Ohio Capital Connection.
The Governor's Messages on legislation back to 2000 is available on Westlaw (OH-LS).
Short biographies of the Governors of Ohio are posted on the Ohio Historical Society's Web site
(www.ohiohistory.org/resource/database/funddocs.html)
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Insurance: The main phone number for the Ohio Department of Insurance is 800-686-1526 (call 800 686-1527 to report fraud). The Department's Web site
(www.state.oh.us/ins) is consumer-oriented; it provides a list of authorized insurance companies, a complaint form and basic information for purchasing the major kinds of insurance sold in Ohio. The Home Page says you can link to Ohio's insurance laws and regulations and the agency's Bulletins, but the link wasn't working when I tried it.
Bulletins of the Ohio Department of Insurance, are searchable on Westlaw (OHIN-BUL) back to 1950. Selected notices can be searched on Lexis back to 1991 (OHIO;OHBLTN). From 1914-1964, Ohio Insurance Commission opinions were published in Ohio Department Reports.
Secretary of State: The Ohio Secretary of State's Web site
(www.state.oh.us/sos/) posts UCC and company filing guides, a directory of County Reporter offices, forms and a database of UCC filing records, campaign finance data and business names. The "business names" database includes "Profit Corporations, Non-Profit Corporations, Professional Associations, Foreign Corporations, Foreign Name Registrations, Business Trusts, Real Estate Trusts, Churches, Fictitious Names, Trade Names, Limited Liability Companies, Limited Liability Partnerships, Limited Partnerships, Trade Marks, Service Marks, Marks of Ownership, and Name Reservations."
You can order forms, find out if a company is licensed to do business in Ohio and ask other questions by calling the Secretary of State toll-free at 877-767-3453; be prepared to spend some time on hold.
For other ways to get Secretary of State information, see the entry for "Secretary of State Records."
Securities: The main number for the Securities Division of the Ohio Department of Commerce is 614-644-7381. The Division's Web site posts forms, regulations, guidelines, press releases, bulletins and orders back to 1996
(www.securities.state.oh.us).
In addition, the Division's Orders, Opinions and No Action Letters are searchable on Westlaw (OHSEC-ADMIN) back to 1983 and on Lexis (OHIO;OHSEC) back to November 1965.
Tax: The main phone number for the Ohio Department of Taxation is 614-466-2166. The Department's Web site posts the Department's Rules, Information Releases, Tax Forms, statistics, telephone directory (under "Taxpayer Assistance") and more on its Web site
(www.state.oh.us/tax).
The main number for the Board of Tax Appeals is 614-466-6700. The Board's Rules, Announcements and selected Orders are posted on the Board's Web site
(www.state.oh.us/bta). The Board's Decisions are published in the CCH Ohio State Tax Reporter and posted back to 1997 in the Weekly Announcement section of the Board's Web site (www.state.oh.us/bta/decide.htm). Decisions are searchable on Westlaw (OHTX-ADMIN) back to 1985 and on Lexis (OHIO;OHBDTA) back to January 1977. Pleadings from BTA cases are available from the Board going back two years; after that, pleadings are available only from the attorneys on the case.
From 1914-1964, Tax Commission opinions were published in Ohio Department Reports. The Tax Commission opinions issued from July 1990 through July 1994 are available on Lexis (OHIO;OHOHOPTC).
Unemployment Compensation: Decisions of the Ohio Unemployment Compensation Review Commission -- formerly the Ohio Unemployment Compensation Board of Review -- are available for a small fee from the Banks-Baldwin research department (216-520-5586). Information about the Commission is posted on the Commission Web site (www.web.ucrc.state.oh.us).
Utilities: The main phone number for the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) is 614-466-3292 (in Ohio call 800-686-7826). PUCO's Web site (www.puc.state.oh.us) posts Attorney Examiner Opinions and Orders (by date), Ohio Power Sitting Board rules and docket sheets and considerable other information (forms, maps, utility rate surveys, etc.).
Opinions are also published in Ohio Public Utilities Reports, which adds selected state and Federal court cases. Ohio Public Utilities Reports is available on Lexis (OHIO;OHPUR) back to December 1978 and on Westlaw (OH-PUR) back to 1974.
From 1914-1964, Opinions were published in Ohio Department Reports.
Workers' Compensation: The Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation Web site posts information about the Bureau, information on how to file a workers comp. claim and interesting information on Ohio "managed care organizations"
(http://www.bwc.state.oh.us/ ).
Workers' Comp. decisions are available on Westlaw (OHWC-ADMIN) and Lexis (OHIO;OHWORK) back to January 1994.
