AG CALLS FOR AUTHORITY TO REVIEW CONTRACTS:

Too many state agencies continue to enter into state contracts without the state attorney general’s office reviewing them beforehand, a problem that can only be corrected by changing state law, Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro told state legislative leaders recently in a letter about investment problems at the state Bureau of Workers’ Compensation.

“Despite being the state’s chief legal officer, I cannot compel the state agencies to provide me with their proposed contracts,” Petro said in a letter to Ohio House Speaker Jon Husted and Senate President Bill Harris. “There is no law that requires the agencies to do so.

“Therefore, I propose that Chapter 109 of the Revised Code be amended to require the Attorney General to review and approve any state contract in which any state agency, institution or instrumentality is called upon to spend or invest more than $1 million of the agency’s, institution’s, or instrumentality’s funds,” Petro said.

Petro proposed a number of other state contracting reforms in his letter to Speaker Husted and President Harris.