Staff report

Ohio news
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HUSTED RELEASES NEW BUSINESS FILING FIGURES FOR JUNE – Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted announced 8,151 new entities filed to do business in Ohio during June 2015. This number is up from the same month in 2014 when 7,660 entities filed.

So far in 2015, 50,514 new businesses have been formed in Ohio, maintaining course for 2015 to be another record-breaking year for the state. At the same point in 2014, 49,254 new businesses were filed with the Secretary of State.

At Secretary Husted’s request, the General Assembly in June approved a 21 percent cut to the cost of starting and maintaining a new business in Ohio (see official announcement). This reduction was made possible by Secretary Husted’s responsible fiscal stewardship over the office, which reduced operating expenses by more than $14 million over past four years, representing a 16 percent cut from the previous administration.

The cost reduction, which goes into effect this fall, represents the first time this fee has been cut in modern history and will make Ohio the least expensive state in the region to start and maintain a new business.

FORMER POLICE OFFICER INDICTED FOR MISUSING OHLEG DATABASE – A former Put-in-Bay police officer was indicted by an Ottawa County grand jury on charges related to the misuse of the Ohio Law Enforcement Gateway (OHLEG) database.

Steven Korossy, 39, of Brookpark, was indicted on the following counts:

14 counts of Unauthorized Use of the Ohio Law Enforcement Gateway, felonies of the fifth degree

1 count of Falsification, a misdemeanor of the first degree

The allegations against Korossy arose after the Ohio Attorney General’s Special Prosecutions Section completed its separate review of the misconduct investigation regarding the Put-in-Bay Police Department. This previous investigation, which was conducted by the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office, resulted in four misdemeanor charges against the department’s chief, Robert “Ric” Lampela. After those charges were filed, witnesses in that case made complaints to the special prosecutor about potential witness intimidation. The allegations were subsequently reviewed, which led to discovery of alleged misuse of the OHLEG database by Korossy.

OHIO BALLOT BOARD CERTIFIES PROPOSED “FRESH START ACT” AS SINGLE ISSUE – Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted announced the Ohio Ballot Board has certified a proposed initiated statute concerning the expungement of certain convictions relating to firearms and certain drug related convictions if the offense is no longer considered a crime by state law.

Petitioners must now collect 91,677 signatures, a number equal to three percent of the total vote cast for governor in the most recent gubernatorial election, 2014, in order to bring the issue before the General Assembly for consideration. Petitioners must file the required number of valid signatures with the Secretary of State’s Office not less than 10 days prior to the start of any legislative session, which begin on the first Monday of each calendar year.

Should the petitioners meet the signature threshold, the General Assembly will be granted four months to act on the proposed law. If lawmakers do not pass the law, pass it in an amended form or take no action after four months, petitioners may collect additional signatures in order to place the issue on the ballot. The number of supplemental signatures required is 91,677, again equal to three percent of the total vote cast for governor in the most recent gubernatorial election. The supplemental signatures must be presented to the Secretary of State within 90 days after any action by the General Assembly or at the conclusion of the four month period and no later than 125 days before the General Election at which the petitioners wish for the initiative to be placed on the ballot.

As part of the total number of signatures needed for both the initial and supplemental signatures filed, petitioners must also collect signatures from at least 44 of Ohio’s 88 counties, and within each of those counties, collect enough signatures equal to one and one-half percent of the total vote cast for governor in the most recent gubernatorial election, 2014, in that county.