How Do I Find Ohio Legislative History?

Legislative history documents created as a bill moves through a legislative body can be used to understand the “legislative intent” of lawmakers or to bolster a position that you are advocating.

If you’re familiar at all with legislative history research, you may have heard that federal legislative history is generally easier to locate than state legislative history. This may be true, since state legislatures over the years have produced and made access to fewer legislative history documents than the federal government.

If your research takes you down the road of Ohio legislative history, we have a resource that can help you understand, identify, and access the materials you need. As part of our larger Ohio Primary Law research guide, you will find tabs on Ohio legislative history generally, types of documents, and steps for finding and a research checklist.

Our guide covers everything from bill versions, to committee hearings, to Legislative Service Commission bill analyses. If you need more help with finding Ohio legislative history documents, don’t hesitate to reach out to us at research.services@law.csuohio.edu