Ohio FOIA procedures

Ohio FOIA procedures
FOIA laws in Ohio
Freedom of Information Act
Court cases with an impact on state FOIA
FOIA procedures by state
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Each state has laws governing public access to governmental records. These laws are sometimes known as open records laws, public records laws, or FOIA laws after the federal Freedom of Information Act. These FOIA laws define the procedures that people can use to obtain access to these records.

This article describes FOIA procedures in Ohio as of May 2025. On this page you will find:

• How to request public records
• Who may request public records
• Fees associated with public records requests
• Required response times for requests
• Exemptions to public records requests

How to request public records in Ohio

Requests for public records of public agencies must be made directly to the agency in question. Any medium, such as email, in-person, or over the phone, can be used to make the request.

Purpose and use

Ohio law does not require a statement of purpose or use. Ohio Revised Code Section 149.43(B)(4) states:

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Unless specifically required or authorized by state or federal law or in accordance with division (B) of this section, no public office or person responsible for public records may limit or condition the availability of public records by requiring disclosure of the requester's identity or the intended use of the requested public record. Any requirement that the requester disclose the requester's identity or the intended use of the requested public record constitutes a denial of the request.

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Who may request public records?

See also: List of who can make public record requests by state

Ohio law states that any person may request public documents. According to Ohio Revised Code Section 149.43(B)(1):

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Upon request by any person and subject to division (B)(8) of this section, all public records responsive to the request shall be promptly prepared and made available for inspection to the requester at all reasonable times during regular business hours. Subject to division (B)(8) of this section, upon request by any person, a public office or person responsible for public records shall make copies of the requested public record available to the requester at cost and within a reasonable period of time.

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Ohio is among 42 states that do not require individuals requesting public records to be state residents.

Fees

See also: How much do public records cost?

Ohio law allows for individuals to choose the method and medium in which they would like to receive their requested record. According to Ohio Revised Code Section 149.43(B)(6-7(a), a department can charge fees to cover the cost of producing the record based on their request. Additionally, according to Ohio Revised Code Section 149.43(B)(1), local governments can charge $75 per hour, up to $750, for access to police and jail video footage.

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(6)If any person requests a copy of a public record in accordance with division (B) of this section, the public office or person responsible for the public record may require the requester to pay in advance the cost involved in providing the copy of the public record in accordance with the choice made by the requester under this division. [...] (7)(a)Upon a request made in accordance with division (B) of this section and subject to division (B)(6) of this section, a public office or person responsible for public records shall transmit a copy of a public record to any person by United States mail or by any other means of delivery or transmission within a reasonable period of time after receiving the request for the copy. The public office or person responsible for the public record may require the person making the request to pay in advance the cost of postage if the copy is transmitted by United States mail or the cost of delivery if the copy is transmitted other than by United States mail, and to pay in advance the costs incurred for other supplies used in the mailing, delivery, or transmission.

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And,

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When considering whether a state or local law enforcement agency promptly prepared a video record for inspection or provided a video record for production within a reasonable period of time, in addition to any other factors, a court shall consider the time required for a state or local law enforcement agency to retrieve, download, review, redact, seek legal advice regarding, and produce the video record. Notwithstanding any other requirement set forth in Chapter 149. of the Revised Am. Sub. H. B. No. 315 135th G.A.72 Code, a state or local law enforcement agency may charge a requester the actual cost associated with preparing a video record for inspection or production, not to exceed seventy-five dollars per hour of video produced, nor seven hundred fifty dollars total.

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Response time

See also: Request response times by state

Ohio law does not outline a specific response time for public records requests. The Ohio Sunshine Laws: An Open Government Resource Manual, compiled by the Ohio Attorney General, says:

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When it receives a proper public records request, unless all or part of a record is exempt from release, a public office must promptly provide inspection of the requested records or copies of the records (at cost or no cost) within a reasonable period of time. There is not a set time by which a public office must respond to a request.

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As of May 2025, 11 states had no mandated response time. Of the 39 states with response time limits, 12 allow agencies to extend response times in certain cases, while 27 allow no exceptions. Eight states required responses in three days or fewer, 11 in five days or fewer, 13 in 10 days or fewer, and seven in 20 days or fewer.

Exemptions

Ohio law exempts certain types of records from public access. According to Ohio Revised Code Section 149.43(A)(1)(a-mm), these include:

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"Public record" does not mean any of the following: (a) Medical records; (b) Records pertaining to probation and parole proceedings, to proceedings related to the imposition of community control sanctions and post-release control sanctions, or to proceedings related to determinations under section 2967.271 of the Revised Code regarding the release or maintained incarceration of an offender to whom that section applies; (c) Records pertaining to actions under section 2151.85 and division (C) of section 2919.121 of the Revised Code and to appeals of actions arising under those sections; (d) Records pertaining to adoption proceedings, including the contents of an adoption file maintained by the department of health under sections 3705.12 to 3705.124 of the Revised Code; (e) Information in a record contained in the putative father registry established by section 3107.062 of the Revised Code, regardless of whether the information is held by the department of job and family services or, pursuant to section 3111.69 of the Revised Code, the office of child support in the department or a child support enforcement agency; (f) Records specified in division (A) of section 3107.52 of the Revised Code; (g) Trial preparation records; (h) Confidential law enforcement investigatory records; (i) Records containing information that is confidential under section 2710.03 or 4112.05 of the Revised Code; (j) DNA records stored in the DNA database pursuant to section 109.573 of the Revised Code; (k) Inmate records released by the department of rehabilitation and correction to the department of youth services or a court of record pursuant to division (E) of section 5120.21 of the Revised Code; (l) Records maintained by the department of youth services pertaining to children in its custody released by the department of youth services to the department of rehabilitation and correction pursuant to section 5139.05 of the Revised Code; (m) Intellectual property records; (n) Donor profile records; (o) Records maintained by the department of job and family services pursuant to section 3121.894 of the Revised Code; (p) Designated public service worker residential and familial information; (q) In the case of a county hospital operated pursuant to Chapter 339. of the Revised Code or a municipal hospital operated pursuant to Chapter 749. of the Revised Code, information that constitutes a trade secret, as defined in section 1333.61 of the Revised Code; (r) Information pertaining to the recreational activities of a person under the age of eighteen; (s) In the case of a child fatality review board acting under sections 307.621 to 307.629 of the Revised Code or a review conducted pursuant to guidelines established by the director of health under section 3701.70 of the Revised Code, records provided to the board or director, statements made by board members during meetings of the board or by persons participating in the director's review, and all work products of the board or director, and in the case of a child fatality review board, child fatality review data submitted by the board to the department of health or a national child death review database, other than the report prepared pursuant to division (A) of section 307.626 of the Revised Code; (t) Records provided to and statements made by the executive director of a public children services agency or a prosecuting attorney acting pursuant to section 5153.171 of the Revised Code other than the information released under that section; (u) Test materials, examinations, or evaluation tools used in an examination for licensure as a nursing home administrator that the board of executives of long-term services and supports administers under section 4751.15 of the Revised Code or contracts under that section with a private or government entity to administer; (v) Records the release of which is prohibited by state or federal law; (w) Proprietary information of or relating to any person that is submitted to or compiled by the Ohio venture capital authority created under section 150.01 of the Revised Code; (x) Financial statements and data any person submits for any purpose to the Ohio housing finance agency or the controlling board in connection with applying for, receiving, or accounting for financial assistance from the agency, and information that identifies any individual who benefits directly or indirectly from financial assistance from the agency; (y) Records listed in section 5101.29 of the Revised Code; (z) Discharges recorded with a county recorder under section 317.24 of the Revised Code, as specified in division (B)(2) of that section; (aa) Usage information including names and addresses of specific residential and commercial customers of a municipally owned or operated public utility; (bb) Records described in division (C) of section 187.04 of the Revised Code that are not designated to be made available to the public as provided in that division; (cc) Information and records that are made confidential, privileged, and not subject to disclosure under divisions (B) and (C) of section 2949.221 of the Revised Code; (dd) Personal information, as defined in section 149.45 of the Revised Code; (ee) The confidential name, address, and other personally identifiable information of a program participant in the address confidentiality program established under sections 111.41 to 111.47 of the Revised Code, including the contents of any application for absent voter's ballots, absent voter's ballot identification envelope statement of voter, or provisional ballot affirmation completed by a program participant who has a confidential voter registration record, and records or portions of records pertaining to that program that identify the number of program participants that reside within a precinct, ward, township, municipal corporation, county, or any other geographic area smaller than the state. As used in this division, "confidential address" and "program participant" have the meaning defined in section 111.41 of the Revised Code. (ff) Orders for active military service of an individual serving or with previous service in the armed forces of the United States, including a reserve component, or the Ohio organized militia, except that, such order becomes a public record on the day that is fifteen years after the published date or effective date of the call to order; (gg) The name, address, contact information, or other personal information of an individual who is less than eighteen years of age that is included in any record related to a traffic accident involving a school vehicle in which the individual was an occupant at the time of the accident; (hh) Protected health information, as defined in 45 C.F.R. 160.103, that is in a claim for payment for a health care product, service, or procedure, as well as any other health claims data in another document that reveals the identity of an individual who is the subject of the data or could be used to reveal that individual's identity; (ii) Any depiction by photograph, film, videotape, or printed or digital image under either of the following circumstances: (i) The depiction is that of a victim of an offense the release of which would be, to a reasonable person of ordinary sensibilities, an offensive and objectionable intrusion into the victim's expectation of bodily privacy and integrity. (ii) The depiction captures or depicts the victim of a sexually oriented offense, as defined in section 2950.01 of the Revised Code, at the actual occurrence of that offense. (jj) Restricted portions of a body-worn camera or dashboard camera recording; (kk) In the case of a fetal-infant mortality review board acting under sections 3707.70 to 3707.77 of the Revised Code, records, documents, reports, or other information presented to the board or a person abstracting such materials on the board's behalf, statements made by review board members during board meetings, all work products of the board, and data submitted by the board to the department of health or a national infant death review database, other than the report prepared pursuant to section 3707.77 of the Revised Code. (ll) Records, documents, reports, or other information presented to the pregnancy-associated mortality review board established under section 3738.01 of the Revised Code, statements made by board members during board meetings, all work products of the board, and data submitted by the board to the department of health, other than the biennial reports prepared under section 3738.08 of the Revised Code; (mm) Except as otherwise provided in division (A)(1)(oo) of this section, telephone numbers for a victim, as defined in section 2930.01 of the Revised Code or a witness to a crime that are listed on any law enforcement record or report. (nn) A preneed funeral contract, as defined in section 4717.01 of the Revised Code, and contract terms and personally identifying information of a preneed funeral contract, that is contained in a report submitted by or for a funeral home to the board of embalmers and funeral directors under division (C) of section 4717.13, division (J) of section 4717.31, or section 4717.41 of the Revised Code. (oo) Telephone numbers for a party to a motor vehicle accident subject to the requirements of section 5502.11 of the Revised Code that are listed on any law enforcement record or report, except that the telephone numbers described in this division are not excluded from the definition of "public record" under this division on and after the thirtieth day after the occurrence of the motor vehicle accident. (pp) Records pertaining to individuals who complete training under section 5502.703 of the Revised Code to be permitted by a school district board of education or governing body of a community school established under Chapter 3314. of the Revised Code, a STEM school established under Chapter 3326. of the Revised Code, or a chartered nonpublic school to convey deadly weapons or dangerous ordnance into a school safety zone. (rr) Records, documents, and information the release of which is prohibited under sections 2930.04 and 2930.07 of the Revised Code; (ss) Records of an existing qualified nonprofit corporation that creates a special improvement district under Chapter 1710. of the Revised Code that do not pertain to a purpose for which the district is created; (tt) Educational support services data, as defined in section 3319.325 of the Revised Code; (uu) Records of the past, current, and future work schedule of a designated public service worker. As used in division (A)(1)(uu) of this section, "work schedule" does not include the docket of cases of a court, judge, or magistrate; (vv) A request form or confirmation letter submitted to a public office under section 149.45 of the Revised Code; (ww) An affidavit or confirmation letter submitted under section 319.28 of the Revised Code; (xx) License or certificate application or renewal responses and supporting documentation submitted to the state medical board regarding an applicant's, or a license or certificate holder's, inability to practice according to acceptable and prevailing standards of care by reason of a medical condition.

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See also

• Freedom of Information Act

External links

• Ohio Revised Code
• Ohio State Archives
• Ohio Attorney General - Ohio Sunshine Laws: An Open Government Resource Manual