House Bill 609 Seeks to Guarantee Public Comment in Local Government Meetings
Vol. III, No. 188 - Newly Proposed Legislation Ensures Residents Have a Voice
This publication doesn’t always dive into the happenings at the Ohio Statehouse. Not because those activities don’t hold any interest, but often because the impact of those decisions aren’t necessarily felt here at home in a real and tangible way. However, there is one recently introduced piece of legislation, that if adopted, will have impacts in hometowns all across the Buckeye State.
House Bill 609 would require every public body covered by Ohio’s Open Meetings Act to build guaranteed public comment into its meetings before taking any formal action, and to do so under rules that are open, accessible, and not weaponized as gatekeeping tools. Even if the bill never becomes law, local governments would be wise to adopt its core ideas now because they strengthen public trust, reduce legal risk, and make decisions more durable in the eyes of residents.
HB 609 amends Ohio Revised Code 121.22, the state’s Open Meetings Act, which already requires that official action and deliberations of public business happen in open meetings with proper notice and minutes. The big shift is in division (F): instead of simply requiring a rule about how people find out when meetings occur, the bill requires public bodies to adopt a rule that does four distinct things—notice of meetings, limits on special meetings, guaranteed public comment and testimony before any formal action, and a method for residents to request advance notice when specific topics will be discussed.
The new language requires that every public body “allow for public commentary and testimony before taking formal action on any item,” while permitting “reasonable restrictions on the length and nature” of that commentary. The bill also bars rules that force residents to “register, or obtain approval to comment, before commencement of the public meeting,” although it allows asking speakers for their name and contact information as a condition of speaking.
How Public Comment Rules Would Work
For local councils, boards, and commissions, this bill effectively turns public comment from a courtesy into a legal requirement tied to every decision. A city council voting on a zoning change, a school board adopting a calendar, or a township trustees’ board approving a contract would all have to provide an opportunity for people to speak before the vote occurs, not just at a generic “public comment” period tacked on at the end of the night.
“Reasonable restrictions on the length and nature” of comment give local governments room to manage meetings so they remain productive and respectful. That can include time limits, requiring comments to be related to items on the agenda during an action segment, and setting expectations about decorum, as long as those rules do not discriminate based on viewpoint or create hidden barriers to participation. The explicit ban on pre-meeting registration or prior approval helps ensure that an engaged resident who learns of an issue the day of the meeting is not shut out simply because they missed a sign-up deadline posted days earlier.
Practical Steps Local Governments Should Take
Even before HB 609 advances, local governments can begin to align their meeting rules with the proposed statute by looking closely at their current Open Meetings Act policies in section 121.22 and their own adopted rules of procedure. Many already give residents a chance to speak, but the timing, accessibility, and clarity of those opportunities often vary from body to body or meeting to meeting, which can create confusion and frustration.
A practical first step is to revise the “rules of council” or equivalent procedural rules to embed a clearly labeled public comment segment before each block of formal action or at a minimum before the main consent agenda and individual action items. Staff can support this change by redesigning agendas so the structure is obvious to residents: call to order, approval of minutes, public comment on pending action items, then the votes themselves. Training staff and elected officials on how to facilitate public comment—acknowledging residents, clarifying questions, and summarizing themes without turning the comment period into an unstructured debate—helps ensure that these new opportunities feel meaningful rather than perfunctory.
Why Adopt HB 609’s Reforms Even If It Never Passes
The spirit of Civic Capacity is that our local governments work better when people know what is happening, understand why it matters, and feel invited into the conversation. HB 609 lives squarely in that space: it does not change what local governments can decide, but it does change how those decisions are made by insisting that residents have a predictable, protected moment to speak before the roll is taken and the gavel comes down. When residents experience that openness, they are more likely to see local government as something done with them rather than to them, which, over time, builds the shared civic strength that communities need when hard choices come along.
From a risk management perspective, voluntarily moving toward HB 609’s standards can also reduce litigation exposure under the existing Open Meetings Act, which already invalidates actions taken in violation of division (F) and allows courts to issue injunctions, impose civil forfeitures, and award attorney’s fees. Clear, well-publicized rules for public comment and notice make it easier to show a court—and the public—that the body has taken transparency seriously, that residents had a genuine chance to participate, and that any disagreement is about policy, not process. In other words, adopting these practices now is not just about compliance with a possible future law; it is a concrete way for local leaders to increase civic capacity in their own communities today.
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I'm just curious who the sponsor was on that bill. Do you know?