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Opinions
As chief law officer of the state, the Ohio Attorney General provides written opinions on legal questions at the request of designated public officials on issues arising in the course of their duties. The Attorney General’s Office does not prepare opinions for private citizens. The Opinions Section researches, writes, and prepares for issuance and publication all formal opinions of the Attorney General. For more details about the formal opinions process, please visit the Opinions FAQs.
Opinions prior to 1993 can be found under the Opinions Archive.
The Opinions Section also maintains a listing of previous AG Opinions that have been subsequently overruled.
The Opinions Section can be reached:
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Requested by: Butler County Prosecuting Attorney
County contracting authorities and their designated selection committees are subject to R.C. 121.22 of the Open Meetings Law when evaluating, ranking, discussing, and negotiating proposals submitted pursuant to R.C. 307.862. These evaluations, rankings, discussions, negotiations and award decisions may be lawfully conducted in a properly called executive session pursuant to R.C. 121.22(G)(2) and (5). Documents and information generated as a result of an executive session or other meeting to evaluate, rank, discuss, or negotiate such proposals, and the eventual contract award, are public records. The sealed proposals and records related to a subsequent negotiation for a final contract, including ranking sheets or documents, are not subject to public inspection and copying under R.C. 149.43 until after the contract is awarded.
Requested by: Greene County Prosecuting Attorney
When county commissioners from multiple counties form a joint board for the purpose of constructing and maintaining a multicounty facility for the training and treatment of juveniles, no county prosecutor from any participating county has a duty to serve as legal counsel to the joint board. (1983 Ohio Atty.Gen.Ops. No. 83-064 approved and followed). The county prosecutor from a single county has no duty to provide legal counsel to the governing board of juvenile judges for a multicounty community corrections facility, nor does the county prosecutor have a duty to represent the juvenile judge from the prosecutor’s county when the judge is acting as a member of the governing board.
Requested by: Belmont County Prosecuting Attorney
The additional salary increase for county officials in 2025 Am.Sub.H.B. No. 96 takes effect on September 30, 2025, which is after the start of county treasurers’ current term of office. Pursuant to Ohio Constitution Article II, Section 20, prohibiting in-term compensation increases, the county treasurers’ salary may only increase at the current annual rate until another term commences.
Requested by: Stark County Prosecuting Attorney
A non-home-rule township lacks authority to directly enter into a memorandum of understanding with a chartered nonpublic school to provide school resource officer services to the school.
Requested by: Paulding County Prosecuting Attorney
The total amount to be paid by the Paulding County Municipal Clerk to the county law library resources fund cannot exceed $4,000 under R.C. 307.515(A) in any one calendar year from fines, penalties and forfeited bail, and $1,200 for violations of R.C. Chapters 4301 and 4303. There is no cap on the amount of monthly deposits to be made for violations of state traffic laws under R.C. 307.515(D). The treasurer of Paulding County or the treasurer of the municipal corporation collecting monies is required to make the required monthly deposit into the Paulding County legal resource fund. (2014 Ohio Atty.Gen.Ops. No. 2014-040, followed.)