Ohio Revised Code (R.C.) Section 9.66 is well-known to economic development practitioners as the oft-cited state law provision requiring disclosure in economic development assistance applications of any outstanding liabilities owed to Ohio governments; this statute also addresses the issue of using false statements in such assistance applications.[1]
But with a little-noticed change[2] in this statute, which took effect March 20, 2026, we foresee significant impact in how Ohio’s economic developers handle project information. Namely, new subsection (D) renders a broad array of economic development-related project information as confidential: “any” information submitted to political subdivisions (i.e., counties, municipalities, and townships), port authorities, or tax incentive review councils (TIRCs) related to economic development assistance[3] is confidential and not a public record under Ohio’s Public Records Act.[4]
In practice, new R.C. Section 9.66(D) requires a wide array of information to be kept confidential. Such information now treated as confidential – and requiring careful handling by economic developers – includes applications for economic development assistance, project financial data, identities of project companies, draft agreements, project details such as maps and real property information as compiled by developers, CRA compliance data, draft TIF instruments, and Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) subrecipient progress reports, among others. This new law says such information is non-public until it is statutorily mandated to be disclosed (such as a board approval of a cooperative agreement detailing financial assistance).
Critically, new R.C. Section 9.66(D) places public officials and employees in legal peril when processing applications for economic development incentives, administering agreements, and evaluating compliance. Public officials (including members of legislative authorities) and employees may be subject to liability – including criminal penalty – if they publicly disclose such information. The new statutory provision says that “under no circumstance shall the political subdivision, port authority, or tax incentive review council publicly disclose information... that is not a public record”. This means public officials and employees are exposed to criminal liability under Ohio’s ethics law for such disclosure of confidential information.[5] By way of illustration, a public official or employee in Ohio may now be subject to criminal liability for disclosing confidential information – by explaining to a resident or the local media outlet the contents of an economic development application.
At base, it appears this provision was designed to expand the exemption from Ohio’s Public Records Law[6] of financial and proprietary information such as that permitted to port authorities.[7] But the unintended consequence of adding such a layer of statutory confidentiality exposes Ohio’s public officials and employees to criminal liability in the handling and discussion of economic development incentives applications and agreements.
With R.C. Section 9.66(D) now effective in Ohio, counties, municipalities, townships, port authorities, and tax incentive review councils will need to take extra precautions to safeguard against their unauthorized disclosure of economic development project-related information. To that end, Ohio’s public sector economic development practitioners should strongly consider requiring all current and prospective incentives applicants to disclaim and indemnify against the potential liability created by the new law.
[1] R.C. Section 9.66(A)(1) defines “economic development assistance”; R.C. Section 2921.13(A)(4) sets forth the crime of falsification, a misdemeanor of the first degree, for providing a false statement in an application for such assistance.
[2] The Ohio Constitution requires that the General Assembly only enact bills that pertain to a single-subject – so that legislation watchers generally know what’s in those bills and don’t miss “unnatural combinations of provisions in a single bill” (Community Hospitals and Wellness Centers v. State, 151 N.E.3d 1113, 1126 (Ohio Ct. App. 6th Dist., Williams County 2020); and see OH CONST Art. II, § 15; further see Pim v. Nicholson, 6 Ohio St. 176 (1856)).
As to state budget (and reappropriation) bills, that requirement is ignored under the following theory: such bills encompass many kinds of items, nevertheless, they’re all bound by the thread of budget appropriations.
Such was purportedly the case with Sub. H.B. 184, signed into law at the end of 2025 and which took effect on March 20, 2026. Although the bill ostensibly was introduced to address college athletes’ name, image, or likeness (NIL) compensation, the final legislation was chock-full of an array of different items, such as reappropriations of the state’s One-Time Strategic Community Investment grant allocations.
[3] R.C. Section 9.66(A)(1) defines “economic development assistance” as all of the following:
“(a) The programs and assistance provided or administered by the department of development under Chapters 122. and 166. of the Revised Code and any other section of the Revised Code under which the department provides or administers economic development assistance;
(b) The programs and assistance provided or administered by a political subdivision under Chapters 725. and 1728. and sections 3735.67 to 3735.70 [Community Reinvestment Area (CRA)], 5709.40 to 5709.43 [municipal tax increment financing (TIF)], 5709.61 to 5709.69 [Enterprise Zone], 5709.73 to 5709.75 [township TIF], and 5709.77 to 5709.81 [county TIF] of the Revised Code and any other section of the Revised Code under which a political subdivision provides economic development assistance;
(c) Assistance provided under any other section of the Revised Code under which the state or a state agency provides or administers economic development assistance;
(d) The tax credit authorized by section 5725.31, 5729.07, or 5733.42 of the Revised Code.”
New subsection (D) further expands such economic development assistance to include “any grant, subgrant, exemption, credit, loan, award, [and somewhat incongruently] cooperative agreements, or other similar and related form of financial assistance[.]”
[4] R.C. Section 149.43.
[5] See R.C. Section 102.99(B), which makes unauthorized disclosure of confidential information by public officials or employees punishable as a misdemeanor of the first degree; under R.C. 102.03(B), no current or former public official, whether elected or appointed, or employee may disclose any information acquired by the public official or employee in the course of the public official's or employee's official duties that is confidential, without appropriate authorization.
[6] R.C. Section 149.43.
[7] R.C. Section 4582.091; R.C. Section 4582.58.
