New limits to what constitutes an Ohio public record should be debated, not added secretively to a must-pass budget: editorial

By: The Editorial Board, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Apr. 25, 2025

Certainly, the ideal is also the way any especially consequential legislation should be handled -- and few matters are as consequential to the people of Ohio as the transparency and fairness that a rigorously considered public records law can provide.

That’s why the Ohio House’s attempt to bury in its version of the two-year state budget a slew of important changes to Ohio public records law is so alarming.

None of the proposals -- which, in significantly narrowing access to records in criminal cases, have raised red flags from investigative reporters at a Toledo television station to officials at the Ohio Innocence Project -- was debated during hearings.