Ohio House passes government spending transparency bill 

Taxpayers frustrated with digging through public records for details on local spending could soon gain easy online access to searchable municipal expenditures, including payments to contractors and nonprofit groups, under a bill that cleared the Ohio House last week.

House Bill 413, sponsored by Reps. Tom Young, R-Washington Twp. and Bob Peterson, R-Sabina, would expand the popular Ohio Checkbook program by requiring counties, cities, villages, townships, school districts and other political subdivisions to upload both expenditure and revenue data to the searchable online database. Entities would also be required to prominently display a link to the database on their websites.

Thank you to Lt. Governor Jon Husted & Ohio Treasurer Robert Sprague for your support of House Bill 46, a measure that aims to codify https://t.co/ogHt2U1ci7 to ensure its utilization by future officeholders. @LtGovHusted @OhioTreasurer https://t.co/IK81CtoIx5

— Dave Greenspan (@DaveGreenspan) November 21, 2019

The measure, which builds on the existing Ohio Checkbook system run by the Ohio Treasurer’s Office to track state spending, currently sees voluntary participation from only about 26% of local governments. If signed into law, the bill would make government expenditures proactively available in a standardized AI-searchable format, rather than reactive, and subject to request.

Testifying in favor of the bill, Zach Prouty, the deputy chief of staff for Ohio Treasurer Robert Sprague, explained the discrepancy in data availability.

“Local government expenditure data, which is processed by the Ohio Treasurer’s office, works much differently,” Prouty said. “While the State of Ohio operates through a single accounting system, there is no single accounting system being used across all local government entities throughout Ohio.”

Proponents of the bill say this lack of streamlined accounting software makes access to public records difficult. Susan Schindel, a resident of Ohio, told lawmakers in prepared testimony during a February hearing that expenditures are unreasonably difficult to obtain.

“To date, fiscal information regarding government spending has been scarce and unreasonably difficult to obtain for the taxpaying citizens of Ohio,” Schindel said.

I had the opportunity today in House Finance Committee to revisit one of my earliest legislative initiatives, "Open Ohio," which became https://t.co/yVdNsFdqBB. Now, Reps. Young and Peterson have introduced H.B. 413, legislation to require local governments and state retirement…

— Rep. Mike Dovilla (@mikedovilla) May 13, 2026

Proponents argue the change would reduce the volume of public records requests — currently a sizable expense for smaller governments that often lack staff — while shining a light on amounts paid to third parties such as vendors, consultants or NGO sub-recipients of grant funds.

Greg Lawson, Senior Policy Fellow at the Buckeye Institute, testified that obtaining basic payout amounts for vendor contracts or grant awards to NGOs currently requires formal public records requests or Freedom of Information Act requests, which are often tedious and time-consuming.

“The proposed legislation merely would make local revenues and expenses immediately accessible online rather than require taxpayers to file elaborate public records requests and wait weeks for a response,” Lawson said.

Responses can also vary in format and completeness, and sometimes require fees for labor or printing costs. Lawson, who represents a growing number of individuals who say AI should be used to track the government, said this patchwork system makes it difficult for average citizens to track how tax dollars flow to outside contractors and organizations—eroding trust.

This is right on by @a_churchill22 @OhioGadfly.

We should return to the old way of funding inter-district #openenrollment students in Ohio.#StudentsFirsthttps://t.co/ZgyPXlH8wL

— Greg R. Lawson (@BuckeyeInstGreg) March 31, 2026

Young, the bill’s prime sponsor, emphasized that the legislation is an important step towards restoring trust in local government.

“This legislation was brought to me by a constituent seeking to increase transparency and trust between elected officials and their constituents,” Young said in earlier committee testimony.

In a release, Young added: “Ohio taxpayers deserve easy access to clear and consistent information about how their tax dollars are being spent. House Bill 413 strengthens transparency, increases accountability, and helps build greater trust between Ohioans and their local governments.”

Peterson,  a co-sponsor of the legislation, expanded further on the trust factor.

“In a world where most people struggle to have faith in their government, [we] should open more pathways for citizens to review and understand where their money goes,” he said in prepared sponsor testimony. In the House announcement, he said the bill will “help strengthen trust between taxpayers and their elected officials while building upon the success of the Ohio Checkbook program.”

However, not everyone agreed that streamlining accounting software under a centralized database is needed, or even fair.
During the May 20 hearing before the Finance Committee, opponent testimony was offered by J. Scott Gooding II, the Interim Treasurer/CFO for Big Walnut Local School District.

Gooding, who said he supports transparency, argued that the bill requires duplicative efforts at local expense and a one-size-fits-all approach to accounting software. He urged lawmakers to allow greater flexibility in the compliance language.

Yet, support far outpaced opposition, and the bill ultimately passed the House this week. It now awaits action in the Ohio Senate.