The government of the U.S. state of Ohio consists of the executive, judicial, and legislative branches. Its basic structure is set forth in the Constitution and law of Ohio .
19-494: The Ohio Department of Natural Resources ( ODNR ) is the Ohio government agency charged with ensuring "a balance between wise use and protection of our natural resources for the benefit of all." ODNR regulates Ohio's oil and gas industry, the mining industry, hunting and fishing, and dams while maintaining natural resources such as state parks , state nature preserves, state wildlife areas, state forests , and state waterways. It
38-416: A sheriff (the highest law enforcement officer in the county); prosecutor (equivalent of a district attorney in other states); coroner , engineer, Recorder, auditor , treasurer , and clerk of courts . Population figures are based on the 2023 vintage Census population estimates. The population of Ohio was 11,785,935 at that time, a decrease of 0.1% from 2020. The average population of Ohio's counties
57-541: A municipality has five thousand or more residents as of the last United States Census it is a city, otherwise it is a village. Municipalities have full home rule powers, may adopt a charter, ordinances and resolutions for self-government. Each municipality chooses its own form of government, but most have elected mayors and city councils or city commissions. City governments provide much more extensive services than county governments, such as police forces and paid (as opposed to volunteer) fire departments. The entire area of
76-513: Is divided into 88 counties. Ohio law defines a structure for county government, although they may adopt charters for home rule. Summit County and Cuyahoga County have chosen an alternate form of government. The other counties have a government with a three-member board of county commissioners, a sheriff, coroner, auditor, treasurer, clerk of the court of common pleas prosecutor, engineer, and recorder. There are two kinds of incorporated municipalities, 251 cities and 681 villages. If
95-440: Is responsible for overseeing and permitting all mineral extraction, monitoring dam safety, managing water resources, and mapping the state's major geologic structures and mineral resources. In addition, ODNR also oversees the registration of all of Ohio's watercraft and issues all of the state's hunting and fishing licenses. ODNR has two main focuses: Regulating the use of Ohio's reserve of natural resources and providing visitors with
114-536: Is used by the U.S. government to uniquely identify counties. In the following table, these codes link to the United States Census Bureau's "quick facts" for each county. Ohio's FIPS code of 39 is used to distinguish from counties in other states. For example, Adams County's unique nationwide identifier is 39001. Various state agencies identify counties by different coding schemes. The Ohio Department of Taxation assigns consecutive numbers for
133-579: The Ohio General Assembly , is made up of two houses: the Senate and the House of Representatives . The House of Representatives is composed of 99 members elected from single-member districts of equal population. Each of the 33 senate districts is formed by combining three house districts. Senators serve four-year staggered terms and representatives serve two-year terms. The General Assembly, with
152-570: The U.S. state of Ohio . Nine of them existed at the time of the Ohio Constitutional Convention in 1802. A tenth county, Wayne , was established on August 15, 1796, and encompassed roughly the present state of Michigan . During the Convention, the county was opposed to statehood, and was not only left out of the Convention, but dissolved; the current Wayne County is in northeastern Ohio, considerably distant from
171-572: The K-12 districts. Each city school district, local school district, or exempted village school district is governed by an elected board of education. A school district previously under state supervision (municipal school district) may be governed by a board whose members either are elected or appointed by the mayor of the municipality containing the greatest portion of the district's area. List of counties in Ohio There are 88 counties in
190-606: The Ohio court system: Judges in Ohio are generally elected, except for the Court of Claims, for which judges sit by assignment of the chief justice. When there are temporary vacancies in elected judgeships, those vacancies are also filled by assignment by the chief justice. There are also several levels of local government in Ohio: counties , municipalities ( cities and villages ), townships , special districts and school districts. Ohio
209-604: The approval of the Governor, draws the U.S. congressional district lines for Ohio's 16 seats in the United States House of Representatives . The Ohio Apportionment Board draws state legislative district lines in Ohio. In order to be enacted into law, a bill must be adopted by both houses of the General Assembly and signed by the Governor. If the Governor vetoes a bill, the General Assembly can override
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#1732790660692228-546: The area that was the original Wayne County. The Ohio Constitution allows counties to set up a charter government as many cities and villages do, but only Summit and Cuyahoga counties have done so, the latter having been approved by voters in November 2009. Counties do not possess home rule powers and can do only what has been expressly authorized by the Ohio General Assembly . The elected county officials in Ohio county governments include three commissioners ,
247-626: The executive branch agencies. All are elected statewide for four-year terms, all on a partisan ballot, with the Governor and Lieutenant Governor elected on a single ticket. The state government is primarily organized into several cabinet or administrative departments: Notices and proposed rules are published in the Register of Ohio , which are codified in the Ohio Administrative Code (OAC). The legislative branch,
266-498: The purpose of enumerating taxing districts. The Ohio Department of Public Safety , including the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles , associates these county numbers with vehicle registrations. The Department of Transportation uses three-letter abbreviations in road inventory and traffic management applications. For historic preservation purposes, Ohio History Connection refers to counties by two- and three-letter abbreviations in
285-729: The recreational opportunities that these resources provide. Government of Ohio The daily administration of the state’s laws are carried out by six elected statewide officials ; the chief executive the Governor , and their second in command the Lieutenant Governor , the Secretary of State , the Attorney General , the State Treasurer , the State Auditor , and by the staff and employees of
304-526: The state is encompassed by townships. When the boundaries of a township are coterminous with the boundaries of a city or village, the township ceases to exist as a separate government (called a paper township ). Townships are governed by a three-member board of township trustees. Townships may have limited home rule powers. There are more than 600 city, local, and exempted village school districts providing K-12 education in Ohio, as well as about four dozen joint vocation school districts which are separate from
323-652: The veto with a three-fifths supermajority of both houses. A bill will also become a law if the Governor fails to sign or veto it within 10 days of its being presented. The session laws are published in the official Laws of Ohio . These in turn have been codified in the Ohio Revised Code . The judicial branch is headed by the Ohio Supreme Court , which has one chief justice and six associate justices, each elected to staggered six-year terms. There are several other levels of elected judiciary in
342-548: Was 133,931; Franklin County was the most populous (1,326,063) and Vinton County was the least (12,474). The average land area is 464 sq mi (1,200 km ). The largest county by area is Ashtabula County at 702.44 sq mi (1,819.3 km ), and its neighbor, Lake County , is the smallest at 228.21 sq mi (591.1 km ). The total area of the state is 40,860.69 sq mi (105,828.7 km ). The Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS)
361-565: Was created in 1949 by the Ohio Legislature . ODNR owns and manages more than 640,000 acres (260,000 ha) of land, including 75 state parks, 23 state forests, 136 state nature preserves, and 150 wildlife areas. The department has jurisdiction over more than 61,500 mi (99,000 km) of inland rivers and streams, 451 mi (726 km) of the Ohio River , and 2.29 million acres (9,300 km) of Lake Erie . ODNR
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