A provision in Ohio's HB1024 permanently caps how many new regulations state agencies can impose—and most business owners have no idea it exists.
Most Ohio auto service owners haven't heard of a quiet but significant change buried in HB1024, the bill revising the Common Sense Initiative Office and administrative rule processes. Yet this provision directly affects how many new regulations your business may face going forward.
Here's the core change: Any state agency that has already met Ohio's 30% regulatory reduction target must now follow a strict rule. Before imposing any new regulatory restriction on business, that agency must simultaneously remove at least one existing restriction of equal or greater burden. This is codified in Section 121.951(A)(3) on page 31 of HB1024.
In plain terms, it's a one-in/one-out compliance floor. Agencies cannot simply add new rules without offsetting them by removing old ones. This creates a binding cap on the net volume of new regulations that can accumulate.
Auto service shops operate under rules from multiple agencies—the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (emissions, waste disposal), the Ohio Department of Commerce (licensing, inspections), and others. Each agency has already completed its 30% reduction target. Under HB1024, those agencies now face a permanent constraint: they cannot burden your business with new rules without proving they've lightened the load elsewhere.
This doesn't eliminate regulation. It does mean the pace and volume of new regulatory burden is structurally limited. For a trade dealing with environmental compliance, licensing, and safety standards, that constraint matters.
The Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review gains authority to ensure compliance with this one-in/one-out requirement. If an agency proposes a new rule without removing an offsetting restriction, the committee can challenge it. There is a show-cause exception under Section 121.953(C), which allows agencies to justify exceptions in specific circumstances, but the default rule is the offset requirement.
The provision is operative as of July 1, 2025. Since the 30% reduction deadline has already passed, this new one-in/one-out floor applies immediately to any new rules proposed after that date.
Stay aware of proposed rules affecting your operation. When agencies announce new regulations—whether on emissions testing, shop licensing, or safety standards—you now have a tool: the one-in/one-out requirement. If an agency proposes a new burden without clearly removing an equivalent existing one, that's a legitimate point to raise in public comment or with your trade association.
This provision doesn't solve every regulatory challenge, but it does create a structural brake on regulatory accumulation. For auto service owners managing compliance costs, that's worth understanding.
Source: Ohio HB1024, Section 121.951(A)(3), effective July 1, 2025.