Ohio Attorney General Releases 2020 Sunshine Law Manual

Cover of the Ohio Attorney General's 2020 "Yellow Book", an annually-updated guide to Ohio's Sunshine Laws

Ohio's Open Meetings and Public Records Acts are collectively known as "Sunshine Laws".  The purpose of these laws is to prevent citizens from being kept in the dark about government operations.  

Unless an exception applies, any member of the public has a right to be present at a meeting of a public body where public business is being discussed and to have access to records kept by government entities.  

An extensive guide to Ohio's Sunshine laws is published with annual updates by the Ohio Attorney General's office (OAG).  The guide is nicknamed, the "Yellow Book" and can be accessed online.  A paper copy can be requested, limited to one (1) copy per requester.  Several informational videos are available in response to frequently asked questions.  

Free training sessions are offered by the OAG at various statewide locations throughout the year.  Free Online Sunshine Laws Training is also available and has been approved for 3.0 general self-study activity hours of Ohio Attorney Continuing Legal Education.  

OAG Sunshine Law training is open to public officials, as well as any individual interested in open government.

In White v. Clinton County Board of Commissioners, 76 Ohio St.3d 416 (1996), the Ohio Supreme Court described the historical significance of government transparency to the founders of the United States and the State of Ohio:

        "One of the strengths of American government is the right of the public to know and understand the actions of their elected representatives. This includes not merely the right to know a government body's final decision on a matter, but the ways and means by which those decisions were reached. There is great historical significance to this basic foundation of popular government, and our founding fathers keenly understood this principle.

        James Madison clearly laid out this strength of our government when he said that:

        'A popular Government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or, perhaps, both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; And a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.' The Complete Madison, His Basic Writings (1988) 337 (Letter to W.T. Barry, August 4, 1822).

        Thomas Jefferson further expounded on this principle:

        'The way to prevent [errors of] the people, is to go give them full information of their affairs throu' the channel of the public papers, and to contrive that those papers should penetrate the whole mass of the people. The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right * * *.' 11 The Papers of Thomas Jefferson (1955) 49 (Letter to Col. Edward Carrington, January 16, 1787).

        Ohio's own history is replete with rich examples of detailed records dating back to the 1800s. Amicus League of Women Voters of Ohio cites many rich examples of the long and illustrious record-keeping of our forebears. In fact, when the Ohio legislature created the first boards of county commissioners, it included in that creation a requirement that accurate records be kept by the county commissioners. See 2 Ohio Laws 150. In 1804, in "An act establishing boards of commissioners," the Ohio legislature required:

        'Sec. 9. * * * That the commissioners shall have a just and accurate record kept of all their corporate proceedings, and for that purpose they are hereby empowered to appoint a clerk * * *.' Id. at 153.  ... '"

Sunshine Week, an initiative of the American Society of News Editors, is celebrated nationwide every March.