To amend sections 117.10 and 1711.05 and to enact section 3769.0811 of the Revised Code to revise the laws governing county and independent agricultural societies regarding audits conducted by the Auditor of State and horse races conducted by a society.

Section 1. That sections 117.10 and 1711.05 be amended and section 3769.0811 of the Revised Code be enacted to read as follows:

Sec. 117.10.  The auditor of state shall audit all public offices as provided in this chapter. The auditor of state also may audit the accounts of private institutions, associations, boards, and corporations receiving public money for their use and may require of them annual reports in such form as the auditor of state prescribes. However, the auditor of state shall audit only public money received from a state agency or a board of county commissioners, and shall not audit other money raised or received, by a county agricultural society organized under section 1711.01 of the Revised Code or an independent agricultural society organized under section 1711.02 of the Revised Code. The auditor of state shall not charge more than three thousand dollars for an audit of a county or independent agricultural society.

If the auditor of state performs or contracts for the performance of an audit, including a special audit, of the public employees retirement system, school employees retirement system, state teachers retirement system, state highway patrol retirement system, or Ohio police and fire pension fund, the auditor of state shall make a timely report of the results of the audit to the Ohio retirement study council.

The auditor of state may audit the accounts of any provider as defined in section 5111.06 of the Revised Code.

If a public office has been audited by an agency of the United States government, the auditor of state may, if satisfied that the federal audit has been conducted according to principles and procedures not contrary to those of the auditor of state, use and adopt the federal audit and report in lieu of an audit by the auditor of state's own office.

Within thirty days after the creation or dissolution or the winding up of the affairs of any public office, that public office shall notify the auditor of state in writing that this action has occurred.

Sec. 1711.05.  Every county agricultural society and every independent agricultural society annually shall publish an abstract of its treasurer's account in a newspaper of the county or on the web page of the society and make a report of its proceedings during the year. It shall also make, in accordance with the rules of the department of agriculture, a synopsis of its awards for improvement in agriculture and in household manufactures and forward such the synopsis to the director of agriculture at or before the annual meeting of the directors of the society with the director of agriculture, as provided for in section 901.06 of the Revised Code. No payment after such that date shall be made from the county treasury to such the society unless a certificate from the director is presented to the county auditor showing that such reports have been made.

Sec. 3769.0811.  (A) Horse races that are conducted by a county agricultural society or independent agricultural society in accordance with section 3769.082 of the Revised Code shall be conducted at the fairgrounds of the sponsoring agricultural society. If the horse races cannot be contested due to unfavorable weather or another unavoidable cause, the races may be transferred to a suitable track with the approval of the director of agriculture. When such a race cannot be conducted, the agricultural society shall allocate the remaining money in a manner established by the director in rules adopted under division (B) of this section notwithstanding division (G) of section 3769.082 of the Revised Code.

(B) The director shall adopt rules in accordance with Chapter 119. of the Revised Code that establish the manner in which money may be allocated under division (A) of this section.

Section 2. That existing sections 117.10 and 1711.05 of the Revised Code are hereby repealed.