An incident recently occurred in which an agency mistakenly final-filed the wrong versions of two rules. Fortunately, JCARR caught the error before the wrong versions were sent for publication in the Ohio Administrative Code. I am writing today to emphasize that, as filers, you must take responsibility for assuring the accuracy of your own documents. WE MUST HAVE YOUR COOPERATION TO PREVENT PROBLEMS LIKE THIS IN THE FUTURE.

Although this recent problem was caused by a system error, it could have been avoided had the agency checked the accuracy of the documents before executing the final filing. It underscores the importance that LSC and JCARR place on agencies confirming, before they file, how accurately the electronic rule-filing system displays their rules. Always print or view all documents from your workspace on the ERF Website, and examine them with great care, before pushing the red FILE button to execute a formal filing action. This applies whether the action is an original, revised, re-filed, or final filing, an emergency filing, a withdrawal action, or a no-change filing. System errors occur before filing, while the filer is assembling the package. What you, the filer, see from your ERF Website workspace is what LSC and JCARR will receive when the rule is filed.

IT IS NOT WHAT YOU UPLOAD THAT LSC AND JCARR RECEIVE, BUT RATHER HOW THE SYSTEM DISPLAYS IT. THAT IS, WHEN YOU PUSH THE RED "FILE" BUTTON, YOU ARE INSTRUCTING THE SYSTEM TO TRANSMIT DOCUMENTS TO LSC, JCARR, AND THE SECRETARY OF STATE EXACTLY AS THEY WOULD HAVE DISPLAYED FROM YOUR WEBSITE PRIOR TO FILING. Errors manifest themselves before filing. If the system experiences an error in recording an uploaded document, that error will cause a flawed version to display from the filer's website, and that flawed version is what will be filed. Such errors can be caught and corrected before filing if agencies take care to examine how their documents display on the website.

Among the first things to check when examining documents from the website, for example:

--Prior to executing revised and re-filed filings, are all the changes in the rule text, RSFA, and other documents displaying? And

--Prior to executing final filings, are the most recently filed versions of each document displaying?

LSC and JCARR operate on the premise that agencies take seriously their responsibility to verify the accuracy of their own rules, and that we see what agencies intend us to see. If we do not hear from an agency that the system is displaying a rule incorrectly, we assume that what is displayed is correct.

Agencies that do not carefully examine their documents prior to all filing actions run the risk that they might file something they didn't intend to file.

Finally, if any agencies have rules pending or recently final-filed, and feel they didn't carefully examine how their documents displayed from ERF Website before filing, I encourage them to examine how the documents display now and alert the ERF Help Desk (614-387-2078) of any problems.

Again, what you, the filer, see from your workspace on the ERF Website is what LSC and JCARR receive and presume to be correct.

Thank you.

Jim Kelly, Supervisor
Register of Ohio and Administrative Rules Unit
Ohio Legislative Service Commission

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Posted to the Rule Filers Mailing List on May 8, 2002