2006 Ohio Revised Code - 4503.03. Deputy registrars.

§ 4503.03. Deputy registrars.
 

(A) (1) (a)  The registrar of motor vehicles may designate the county auditor in each county a deputy registrar. If the population of a county is forty thousand or less according to the last federal census and if the county auditor is designated by the registrar as a deputy registrar, no other person need be designated in the county to act as a deputy registrar. 

(b) The registrar may designate a clerk of a court of common pleas as a deputy registrar if the population of the county is forty thousand or less according to the last federal census. All fees collected and retained by a clerk for conducting deputy registrar services shall be paid into the county treasury to the credit of the certificate of title administration fund created under section 325.33 of the Revised Code. 

(c) In all other instances, the registrar shall contract with one or more other persons in each county to act as deputy registrars. 

(2) Deputy registrars shall accept applications for the annual license tax for any vehicle not taxed under section 4503.63 of the Revised Code and shall assign distinctive numbers in the same manner as the registrar. Such deputies shall be located in such locations in the county as the registrar sees fit. There shall be at least one deputy registrar in each county. 

Deputy registrar contracts are subject to the provisions of division (B) of section 125.081 [125.08.1] of the Revised Code. 

(B)  The registrar shall not contract with any person to act as a deputy registrar if the person or, where applicable, the person's spouse or a member of the person's immediate family has made, within the current calendar year or any one of the previous three calendar years, one or more contributions totaling in excess of one hundred dollars to any person or entity included in division (A)(2) of section 4503.033 [4503.03.3] of the Revised Code. As used in this division, "immediate family" has the same meaning as in division (D) of section 102.01 of the Revised Code, and "entity" includes any political party and any "continuing association" as defined in division (B)(4) of section 3517.01 of the Revised Code or "political action committee" as defined in division (B)(8) of that section that is primarily associated with that political party. For purposes of this division, contributions to any continuing association or any political action committee that is primarily associated with a political party shall be aggregated with contributions to that political party. 
 

The contribution limitations contained in this division do not apply to any county auditor or clerk of a court of common pleas. 
 

The registrar shall not contract with either of the following to act as a deputy registrar: 

(1) Any elected public official other than a county auditor or, as authorized by division (A)(1)(b) of this section, a clerk of a court of common pleas, acting in an official capacity; 

(2) Any person holding a current, valid contract to conduct motor vehicle inspections under section 3704.14 of the Revised Code. 

(C) (1)  Except as provided in division (C)(2) of this section, deputy registrars are independent contractors and neither they nor their employees are employees of this state, except that nothing in this section shall affect the status of county auditors or clerks of courts of common pleas as public officials, nor the status of their employees as employees of any of the counties of this state, which are political subdivisions of this state. Each deputy registrar shall be responsible for the payment of all unemployment compensation premiums, all workers' compensation premiums, social security contributions, and any and all taxes for which the deputy registrar is legally responsible. Each deputy registrar shall comply with all applicable federal, state, and local laws requiring the withholding of income taxes or other taxes from the compensation of the deputy registrar's employees. Each deputy registrar shall maintain during the entire term of the deputy registrar's contract a policy of business liability insurance satisfactory to the registrar and shall hold the department of public safety, the director of public safety, the bureau of motor vehicles, and the registrar harmless upon any and all claims for damages arising out of the operation of the deputy registrar agency. 

(2) For purposes of Chapter 4141. of the Revised Code, determinations concerning the employment of deputy registrars and their employees shall be made under Chapter 4141. of the Revised Code. 

(D) (1)  With the approval of the director, the registrar shall adopt rules governing the terms of the contract between the registrar and each deputy registrar and specifications for the services to be performed. The rules shall include specifications relating to the amount of bond to be given as provided in this section; the size and location of the deputy's office; and the leasing of equipment necessary to conduct the vision screenings required under section 4507.12 of the Revised Code and training in the use of the equipment. The specifications shall permit and encourage every deputy registrar to inform the public of the location of the deputy registrar's office and hours of operation by means of public service announcements and allow any deputy registrar to advertise in regard to the operation of the deputy registrar's office. The rules also shall include specifications for the hours the deputy's office is to be open to the public and shall require as a minimum that one deputy's office in each county be open to the public for at least four hours each weekend, provided that if only one deputy's office is located within the boundary of the county seat, that office is the office that shall be open for the four-hour period each weekend, and that every deputy's office in each county shall be open to the public until six-thirty p.m. on at least one weeknight each week. The rules also shall include specifications providing that every deputy in each county, upon request, provide any person with information about the location and office hours of all deputy registrars in the county and that every deputy prominently display within the deputy's office, the toll-free telephone number of the bureau. The rules shall not prohibit the award of a deputy registrar contract to a nonprofit corporation formed under the laws of this state. The rules shall prohibit any deputy registrar from operating more than one such office at any time, except that the rules may permit a nonprofit corporation formed for the purposes of providing automobile-related services to its members or the public and that provides such services from more than one location in this state to operate a deputy registrar office at any such location, provided that the nonprofit corporation operates no more than one deputy registrar office in any one county. The rules may include such other specifications as the registrar and director consider necessary to provide a high level of service. 

(2) With the prior approval of the registrar, each deputy registrar may conduct at the location of the deputy registrar's office any business that is consistent with the functions of a deputy registrar and that is not specifically mandated or authorized by this or another chapter of the Revised Code or by implementing rules of the registrar. 

(3) As used in this section and in section 4507.01 of the Revised Code, "nonprofit corporation" has the same meaning as in section 1702.01 of the Revised Code. 

(E)  Unless otherwise terminated and except for interim contracts of less than one year, contracts with deputy registrars shall be for a term of at least two years, but no more than three years, and all contracts effective on or after July 1, 1996, shall be for a term of more than two years, but not more than three years. All contracts with deputy registrars shall expire on the last Saturday of June in the year of their expiration. The auditor of state may examine the accounts, reports, systems, and other data of each deputy registrar at least every two years. The registrar, with the approval of the director, shall immediately remove a deputy who violates any provision of the Revised Code related to the duties as a deputy, any rule adopted by the registrar, or a term of the deputy's contract with the registrar. The registrar also may remove a deputy who, in the opinion of the registrar, has engaged in any conduct that is either unbecoming to one representing this state or is inconsistent with the efficient operation of the deputy's office. 
 

If the registrar, with the approval of the director, determines that there is good cause to believe that a deputy registrar or a person proposing for a deputy registrar contract has engaged in any conduct that would require the denial or termination of the deputy registrar contract, the registrar may require the production of books, records, and papers as the registrar determines are necessary, and may take the depositions of witnesses residing within or outside the state in the same manner as is prescribed by law for the taking of depositions in civil actions in the court of common pleas, and for that purpose the registrar may issue a subpoena for any witness or a subpoena duces tecum to compel the production of any books, records, or papers, directed to the sheriff of the county where the witness resides or is found. Such a subpoena shall be served and returned in the same manner as a subpoena in a criminal case is served and returned. The fees and mileage of the sheriff and witnesses shall be the same as that allowed in the court of common pleas in criminal cases and shall be paid from the fund in the state treasury for the use of the agency in the same manner as other expenses of the agency are paid. 
 

In any case of disobedience or neglect of any subpoena served on any person or the refusal of any witness to testify to any matter regarding which the witness lawfully may be interrogated, the court of common pleas of any county where the disobedience, neglect, or refusal occurs or any judge of that court, on application by the registrar, shall compel obedience by attachment proceedings for contempt, as in the case of disobedience of the requirements of a subpoena issued from that court, or a refusal to testify in that court. 
 

Nothing in this division shall be construed to require a hearing of any nature prior to the termination of any deputy registrar contract by the registrar, with the approval of the director, for cause. 

(F)  Except as provided in section 2743.03 of the Revised Code, no court, other than the court of common pleas of Franklin county, has jurisdiction of any action against the department of public safety, the director, the bureau, or the registrar to restrain the exercise of any power or authority, or to entertain any action for declaratory judgment, in the selection and appointment of, or contracting with, deputy registrars. Neither the department, the director, the bureau, nor the registrar is liable in any action at law for damages sustained by any person because of any acts of the department, the director, the bureau, or the registrar, or of any employee of the department or bureau, in the performance of official duties in the selection and appointment of, and contracting with, deputy registrars. 

(G)  The registrar shall assign to each deputy registrar a series of numbers sufficient to supply the demand at all times in the area the deputy registrar serves, and the registrar shall keep a record in the registrar's office of the numbers within the series assigned. Each deputy shall be required to give bond in the amount of at least twenty-five thousand dollars, or in such higher amount as the registrar determines necessary, based on a uniform schedule of bond amounts established by the registrar and determined by the volume of registrations handled by the deputy. The form of the bond shall be prescribed by the registrar. The bonds required of deputy registrars, in the discretion of the registrar, may be individual or schedule bonds or may be included in any blanket bond coverage carried by the department. 

(H)  Each deputy registrar shall keep a file of each application received by the deputy and shall register that motor vehicle with the name and address of its owner. 

(I)  Upon request, a deputy registrar shall make the physical inspection of a motor vehicle and issue the physical inspection certificate required in section 4505.061 [4505.06.1] of the Revised Code. 

(J)  Each deputy registrar shall file a report semi-annually with the registrar of motor vehicles listing the number of applicants for licenses the deputy has served, the number of voter registration applications the deputy has completed and transmitted to the board of elections, and the number of voter registration applications declined. 
 

HISTORY: GC § 6291-1; 110 v 244; 111 v 461; 115 v 98; Bureau of Code Revision, 10-1-53; 127 v 907 (Eff 9-7-57); 137 v H 3 (Eff 1-1-79); 140 v H 58 (Eff 3-1-85); 142 v S 1 (Eff 11-28-88); 143 v H 381 (Eff 7-1-89); 143 v H 831 (Eff 7-17-90); 144 v H 58 (Eff 6-23-92); 144 v S 98 (Eff 11-12-92); 145 v S 18 (Eff 9-27-93); 145 v H 154 (Eff 6-30-93); 145 v S 300 (Eff 1-1-95); 149 v S 59 (Eff 10-31-2001); 149 v S 99. Eff 10-31-2001; 150 v H 230, § 1, eff. 9-16-04.
 

See provisions of § 6 of H.B. 230 (150 v  - ) following RC § 4501.01. 

The provisions of § 10, H.B. 230 (150 v  - ), read as follows: 

SECTION 10. * * * Section 4503.03 of the Revised Code is presented in this act as a composite of the section as amended by both Sub. S.B. 59 and S.B. 99 of the 124th General Assembly. * * * The General Assembly, applying the principle stated in division (B) of section 1.52 of the Revised Code that amendments are to be harmonized if reasonably capable of simultaneous operation, finds that each composite is the resulting version of the section in effect prior to the effective date of the section as presented in this act. 

The provisions of § 3 of SB 59 (149 v  - ) read as follows: 

SECTION 3. (A) The Registrar of Motor Vehicles shall adopt rules that establish a pilot program to appoint limited authority deputy registrars. Notwithstanding any contrary provision of section 4503.03 of the Revised Code, the Registrar may appoint the clerk of a court of common pleas as a limited authority deputy registrar under the program. Each limited authority deputy registrar appointed under the program shall conduct only initial and transfer motor vehicle registration transactions via electronic means, and VIN inspections, in a manner approved in the rules that the Registrar adopts; is entitled to collect and retain a fee of two dollars and seventy-five cents for each transaction or physical inspection that the limited authority deputy registrar conducts on and after the effective date of this section and before January 1, 2003, a fee of three dollars and twenty-five cents for each transaction or physical inspection that the limited authority deputy registrar conducts on and after January 1, 2003, and before January 1, 2004, and a fee of three dollars and fifty cents for each transaction or physical inspection that the limited authority deputy registrar conducts on and after January 1, 2004; and shall collect all fees and taxes that are required by law and related to the transactions or inspections in a manner approved by the Registrar. All fees collected and retained by a clerk of a court of common pleas for conducting transactions or inspections as a limited authority deputy registrar shall be paid into the county treasury to the credit of the certificate of title administration fund created under section 325.33 of the Revised Code. 

A limited authority deputy registrar appointed under the program is not subject to the contribution limitations contained in division (B) of section 4503.03 of the Revised Code or to the filing requirement contained in division (A) of section 4503.033 of the Revised Code. 

(B) The Registrar shall adopt the rules required by division (A) of this section not later than 30 days after the effective date of this section. 

(C) The Registrar shall make recommendations, not later than twenty-four months after the effective date of this section, to the Governor, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and President of the Senate regarding the success of the pilot program established under division (A) of this section and the feasibility of establishing a permanent system of limited authority deputy registrars. 

 

Effect of Amendments

150 v H 230, effective September 16, 2004, deleted "For three years after the effective date of this amendment" from the beginning of (A)(1)(b); in the first paragraph of (E), substituted "last Saturday" for "thirtieth day", and deleted the last sentence, relating to removal of a deputy registrar for contract violation; and made minor corrections.