(A) For purposes of this section:

(1) "Statewide candidate" means the joint candidates for the offices of governor and lieutenant governor or a candidate for the office of secretary of state, auditor of state, treasurer of state, attorney general, or member of the state board of education.

(2)

(a) "Personal funds" means contributions to the campaign committee of a candidate by the candidate .

(b) A loan obtained by, guaranteed by, or for the benefit of a statewide candidate, senate candidate, or house candidate shall be considered "personal funds" subject to the provisions of this section to the extent that the loan is obtained or guaranteed by the candidate . A loan that is obtained or guaranteed and that is for the benefit of a statewide candidate, senate candidate, or house candidate shall not be considered "personal funds" for the purposes of this section but shall be considered to be a "contribution" for the purposes of this chapter if the loan is obtained or guaranteed by anyone other than the candidate .

(c) When a debt or other obligation incurred by a committee or by a candidate on behalf of the candidate's committee is to be paid from "personal funds," those funds are considered to be expended when the debt or other obligation is incurred, regardless of when it is paid.

(B)

(1) Except as otherwise provided in division (B)(2) of this section, no statewide candidate or candidate for the office of member of the general assembly shall make an expenditure of personal funds to influence the results of an election for that candidate's nomination or election to office unless the personal funds are first deposited into the campaign fund of that candidate's campaign committee.

(2) A statewide candidate or candidate for the office of member of the general assembly may make an expenditure of personal funds without first depositing those funds into the campaign committee's funds as long as the aggregate total of those expenditures does not exceed five hundred dollars at any time during an election period. After the candidate's campaign committee reimburses the candidate for any direct expenditure of personal funds, the amount that was reimbursed is no longer included in the aggregate total of expenditures of personal funds subject to the five-hundred-dollar limit.

Amended by 130th General Assembly File No. 25, HB 59, §101.01, eff. 9/29/2013.

Amended by 129th General AssemblyFile No.105, SB 295, §1, eff. 8/15/2012.

Amended by 129th General AssemblyFile No.40, HB 194, §1 Made subject to referendum in the Nov. 6, 2012 election. The version of this section thus amended was repealed by 129th General AssemblyFile No.105, SB 295, §1, eff. 8/15/2012.

Effective Date: 12-22-1999; 03-31-2005

Note: From the Ohio Secretary of State's website: On August 26, 2009, United States District Court Judge Edmund A. Sargus, Jr., issued a permanent injunction enjoining the Ohio Secretary of State and the Ohio Elections Commission "from enforcing subsections (C), (D), (E), and (F) of Ohio Revised Code Section 3517.103 against any present or future candidate for statewide office." The Court's order held that those sections of the law were "indistinguishable from the federal statute struck down by the [United States] Supreme Court in Davis [v. Fed. Election Commission, 128 S.Ct. 2759 (2008)]" and were therefore unconstitutional.