On Fri., Nov. 30, the Ohio Auditor of State’s office (AOS) issued Bulletin 2018-003 in response to House Bill (HB) 312 and its changes related to the use of credit card accounts by political subdivisions, including public libraries.

As a reminder, HB 312 became effective on Nov. 2 and public libraries utilizing credit card accounts have until Feb. 2, 2019 to make changes to their policies to meet the requirements outlined in the bill. Under the new law, use of credit card accounts will fall under either a “Custody and Control Model” or a “Compliance Officer Model.” The OLC has worked with its legal counsel at Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP to develop sample policies under each model. The policies are only samples and are meant to be personalized based on the needs and size of your library. The library Board of Trustees will still need to determine who is authorized to utilize the credit card accounts as well as the credit limits and amounts authorized.

Sample Credit Card Policy #1 (below) is for the “Custody and Control Model” and assumes that the credit cards will be held by the Fiscal Officer and checked out only as needed. Therefore, the library would not need to appoint a separate “compliance officer”.

Sample Credit Card Policy #2 (below) is for the “Compliance Officer Model” and assumes that the credit cards will not be held solely by the Fiscal Officer. Accordingly, the library would need to appoint a “compliance officer” as included in the sample policy.

For your convenience, information can be accessed by clicking the following hyperlinks:

• OLC Summary of HB 312
• AOS Bulletin on HB 312
• OLC Sample Credit Card Policy #1 (Custody & Control) | Word document
• OLC Sample Credit Card Policy #2 (Compliance Officer) | Word document

On Dec. 3, the OLC hosted a webinar earlier today with the AOS’s office on the new HB 312 requirements. The webinar outlined the steps your library can take now to prepare for the upcoming changes. It was recorded and an archived version is available on the OLC website along with the PowerPoint slide deck from the presentation.

• Webinar Video Archive. [Please run this technology test. The test will ensure your device is able to support the meeting audio and video (if applicable). Webinar audio is VoIP ONLY through your device speakers.]
• PDF of PowerPoint

As HB 312 is implemented, additional questions will arise and will need to be clarified by the AOS office. After reading through the information provided, please contact the OLC if you have any questions.