JCARR HEARING SET ON AMENDMENTS PROPOSED TO OHIO MORTGAGE LOAN ACT AND SMALL LOAN ACT RULES

The proposed rules under the Ohio Mortgage Loan Act (MLA) and the Ohio Small Loan Act (SLA) will be considered at a hearing before the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review (JCARR) on April 3, 2008. The content of the proposed rules were outlined in our March 18, 2008 Alert. As stated in our Alert, the new MLA provisions exceed the Division's statutory authority to adopt rules under the MLA.

JCARR consists of five State Representatives and five State Senators. The primary function of JCARR is to review proposed new, amended and rescinded rules to ensure the following:

1. The rules do not exceed the scope of the rule-making agency's statutory authority;
2. The rules do not conflict with a rule of that agency or another rule-making agency;
3. The rules do not conflict with the intent of the legislature in enacting the statute under which the rule is proposed; and,
4. The rule-making agency has prepared a complete and accurate rule summary and fiscal analysis of the proposed rule, amendment, or rescission.

The effective date of a rule is determined by two different factors: (1) when the rule leaves JCARR jurisdiction, which lasts 65 days from the date of original filing (February 8, 2008 for the MLA rules and February 11, 2008 for the SLA rules) or 29 days from the date of refiling and (2) when the agency files the rule in final form with JCARR, the Legislative Services Commission and the Ohio Secretary of State.

Please let us know if you would like a complete copy of the proposed amendments to the rules under the MLA and the SLA or if you have any questions.