State Fiscal Highlights
· The Governor can currently issue proclamations regarding flag lowering on public buildings and grounds throughout the state. It appears that since there is a mechanism in place to issue these notices, there will be no fiscal impact to the state.
Local Fiscal Highlights
· According to the Ohio Township Association, it is possible that a township without full-time staff could have negligible cost increases if an employee or township trustee was required to lower the flag to half-staff on a day in which the employee was not scheduled to be working.
Detailed Fiscal Analysis
The bill requires the Director of Veterans Services to notify the Governor whenever a person who is an Ohio resident and who is a member of the armed forces of the United Sates or the National Guard has been killed by hostile fire. After receiving notice, the Governor shall order that all state agencies and political subdivisions of this state fly at half-staff on the day of that person's funeral the United States flag, the state flag, and any relevant military flag, if the state agency or political subdivision possesses such a flag.
Currently, the Adjutant General's Office receives notice from the United States Department of Defense (USDOD) when a member of the National Guard is killed in action. The Department of Veterans Services (DVS) receives notification regarding the death of a member of the armed forces from the USDOD. The notice to DVS usually comes after USDOD notifies the next of kin. However, in some cases DVS does not get notice right away. Once DVS and the Adjutant General's Office is notified, they contact the Governor's Office. The Governor can then direct that flags be lowered to half-staff in the home county of the service member on the day of internment.
The Governor's web site has proclamations regarding flag lowering on all public buildings and grounds throughout the state and in a specific county or counties. Since there is already a mechanism in place to get this notice out, it is assumed that the bill will have little to no fiscal impact on state agencies or political subdivisions. However, according to the Ohio Township Association, it is possible that a township without full‑time staff could have cost increases if an employee or township trustee was required to lower the flag to half-staff on a day in which the employee was not scheduled to be working. However, the cost associated with this would be negligible.
