Ohio Rev. Code § 149.38 (2026)

(A) Except as otherwise provided in section 307.847 of the Revised Code, there is hereby created in each county a county records commission, composed of a member of the board of county commissioners as chairperson, the prosecuting attorney, the auditor, the recorder, and the clerk of the court of common pleas. The commission shall appoint a secretary, who may or may not be a member of the commission and who shall serve at the pleasure of the commission. The commission may employ an archivist or records manager to serve under its direction. The commission shall meet upon the call of the chairperson.

(B)(1) The functions of the county records commission shall be to provide rules for retention and disposal of records of the county, and to review applications for one-time disposal of obsolete records and schedules of records retention and disposition submitted by county offices. The commission may dispose of records pursuant to the procedure outlined in this section. The commission, at any time, may review any schedule it has previously approved and, for good cause shown, may revise that schedule, subject to division (D) of this section.

(2)(a) As used in division (B)(2) of this section, "paper case records" means written reports of child abuse or neglect, written records of investigations, or other written records required to be prepared under section 2151.421, 5153.166, 5153.17, or 5180.40 of the Revised Code.

(b) A county public children services agency may submit to the county records commission applications for one-time disposal, or schedules of records retention and disposition, of paper case records that have been entered into permanently maintained and retrievable fields in the state automated child welfare information system established under section 5180.40 of the Revised Code or entered into other permanently maintained and retrievable electronic files. The county records commission may dispose of the paper case records pursuant to the procedure outlined in this section.

(C)(1) When the county records commission has approved any county application for one-time disposal of obsolete records or any schedule of records retention and disposition, the commission shall send that application or schedule to the Ohio history connection for its review. The Ohio history connection shall review the application or schedule within a period of not more than sixty days after its receipt of it. During the sixty-day review period, the Ohio history connection may select for its custody from the application for one-time disposal of obsolete records any records it considers to be of continuing historical value, and shall denote upon any schedule of records retention and disposition any records for which the Ohio history connection will require a certificate of records disposal prior to their disposal.

(2) Upon completion of its review, the Ohio history connection shall forward the application for one-time disposal of obsolete records or the schedule of records retention and disposition to the auditor of state for the auditor's approval or disapproval. The auditor of state shall approve or disapprove the application or schedule within a period of not more than sixty days after receipt of it.

(3) Before public records are to be disposed of pursuant to an approved schedule of records retention and disposition, the county records commission shall inform the Ohio history connection of the disposal through the submission of a certificate of records disposal for only the records required by the schedule to be disposed of and shall give the Ohio history connection the opportunity for a period of fifteen business days to select for its custody those records, from the certificate submitted, that it considers to be of continuing historical value. Upon the expiration of the fifteen-business-day period, the county records commission also shall notify the public libraries, county historical society, state universities, and other public or quasi-public institutions, agencies, or corporations in the county that have provided the commission with their name and address for these notification purposes, that the commission has informed the Ohio history connection of the records disposal and that the notified entities, upon written agreement with the Ohio history connection pursuant to section 149.31 of the Revised Code, may select records of continuing historical value, including records that may be distributed to any of the notified entities under section 149.31 of the Revised Code. Any notified entity that notifies the county records commission of its intent to review and select records of continuing historical value from certificates of records disposal is responsible for the cost of any notice given and for the transportation of those records.

(D) The rules of the county records commission shall include a rule that requires any receipts, checks, vouchers, or other similar records pertaining to expenditures from the delinquent tax and assessment collection fund created in section 321.261 of the Revised Code, from the real estate assessment fund created in section 325.31 of the Revised Code, or from amounts allocated for the furtherance of justice to the county sheriff under section 325.071 of the Revised Code or to the prosecuting attorney under section 325.12 of the Revised Code to be retained for at least four years.

(E) No person shall knowingly violate the rule adopted under division (D) of this section. Whoever violates that rule is guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree.