Substitute House Bill 18 Summary

• Eliminates the requirement to hold a special election to fill a Congressional party nomination vacancy if only one candidate files or no candidates file a declaration of candidacy; in such cases, the Secretary of State issues a certificate of nomination to the candidate or declares no nomination.

• Permits elected officers of counties, townships, or municipal corporations that have levied a hotel lodging excise tax, or their designees, to simultaneously serve as officers or members of a convention and visitors' bureau board of trustees without constituting incompatible offices.

• Requires county auditors, municipal fiscal officers, and their employees to share hotel lodging tax return information with convention and visitors' bureau executive directors upon request.

• Amends confidentiality provisions in the Revised Code to create exceptions allowing disclosure of hotel lodging tax information to convention and visitors' bureau directors while maintaining other tax return confidentiality protections.

• The state pays all costs associated with any special elections held under the amended provisions.