In Advisory Opinion 2025-01, the Ohio Ethics Commission (OEC) clarified when a public official or employee’s domestic partner crosses over to “family” for purposes of Ohio’s Ethics laws. The Ethics law prohibits public officials or employees from using their authority or influence to secure a definite and direct financial benefit for a family member, including contracts for employment with a public entity.
The previous definition of family included blood relatives (parents, children, step-children, siblings, grandchildren, and grandparents) regardless of where that person lived. The OEC also concluded that other relatives (like a niece or nephew) who live in the same household as the official/employee also qualify as a family member. Using that same logic, the OEC now extends that understanding to a domestic partner who lives with the public official/employee. Because cohabitation intrinsically links the official’s and the domestic partner’s financial well-being as part of one household, the OEC concluded that a public official’s objectivity and independence would be challenged.
