When Secrecy Becomes the Law: The New Rules in Economic Development
Vol. III, No. 318 - Ohio Just Made It Harder For You To Know How Your Tax Dollars Are Being Used to Attract Business
In December 2025, Governor DeWine signed House Bill 184 into law. The bill began as a simple piece of legislation about college athlete NIL (name, image, likeness) contracts, but by the end of the year it had grown into what the Ohio Municipal League called “one of the most comprehensive bills in recent times” — loaded with dozens of unrelated items stuffed in near the finish line.
One of those items is a big deal for anyone who cares about open government.
A new section of state law — tucked into Ohio Revised Code Section 9.66(D) — now makes a wide range of economic development information confidential. That means when a company approaches your city, township, or county asking for a tax break, a grant, or a financial incentive, almost everything about that deal is now off-limits to the public. The law covers applications for assistance, financial data about the company, draft agreements, property maps, and progress reports — even the company’s identity are all sealed until a government body officially votes to approve a deal.
What This Means on the Ground
Think about how economic development works in a typical Ohio community. A company calls your city’s economic development office and says it wants to build a facility. It wants a tax increment financing (TIF) arrangement, meaning a portion of the future property taxes wouldn’t be paying for schools or services. Under the old rules, residents and journalists could ask questions and dig for documents. Under the new law, that information is confidential from the moment it is submitted — until officials are ready to vote.
And here is the part that makes it even more serious. The law firm Bricker, Graydon, and Wyatt — which works with economic developers across Ohio — warns that public officials who share this information could face criminal penalties.
Under Ohio’s ethics law, an elected or appointed official who discloses confidential economic development information could be charged with a misdemeanor. That could mean a public servant who explains the contents of a business application to a constituent or a local reporter is breaking the law.
The firm says this appears to be an unintended consequence — a loophole created when lawmakers expanded confidentiality protections that were previously limited to port authorities.
A Collision Course with Another Bill
Here is where Ohio’s legislature finds itself in a fascinating contradiction.
At nearly the same time HB 184 took effect, state Representatives Adam Bird and Brian Stewart introduced House Bill 695 — a bill that would make it illegal for certain local elected officials to sign non-disclosure agreements connected to their public duties. County commissioners, township trustees, village council members, and village mayors would all be covered.
The bill was born out of frustration across Ohio. Residents in Scioto County, where a Google data center was approved under a 75% tax abatement worth roughly $1 billion — felt shut out of major decisions that reshaped their communities. The deal was often done in private, guided by outside lawyers, and wrapped in secrecy. HB 695 tries to change that by saying elected officials cannot legally be silenced about their own public business.
But HB 695 has a gap: it does not cover economic development directors, port authority board members, or other unelected staff who often negotiate the deals before elected officials ever see them. And now, thanks to HB 184, the information those staff members are handling is officially off-limits.
What Residents Should Understand
The tension here is real. On one hand, Ohio lawmakers are trying to ban secret deals by elected officials. On the other hand, Ohio just made it a potential crime to talk about the information behind those deals. These efforts are now running in opposite directions at the same time.
Economic development is important. Bringing jobs and investment to communities like Troy, Piqua, and Tipp City matters. But when the process happens in the dark, residents are left to trust that the outcome was good without ever seeing the evidence. History shows that blind trust is a risky foundation for public policy.
Better informed residents provide better oversight. That is not just a belief — in Ohio right now, it is a civic necessity.
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