Amended Substitute Senate Bill 11 of the 123rd General Assembly required the Ohio Legislative Service Commission (LSC) to establish and maintain an electronic rule-filing system to connect LSC, the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review (JCARR), and the Secretary of State's Office with the rule-filing state agencies, colleges, and universities. The legislation required that the system be established so that beginning April 1, 2002, all rules would be filed, and all responses from LSC, JCARR, or the Secretary of State would be made exclusively by electronic means.

As a result of this legislation, a team was formed to begin the development of a system for electronic rule filing. The initial rollout came on October 1, 2001, marking the beginning of a six-month transition and testing phase. Between October 1, 2001, and April 1, 2002, filers were required to submit rules in both paper and electronic forms. After April 1, all rules were to be filed electronically, thereby fulfilling the mandate of S.B. 11 that the electronic rule-filing system be the exclusive means for filing rules.

The only rules that may continue to be submitted on paper are "grandfathered" rules. A grandfathered rule is a proposed rule that was both originally filed before October 1, 2001, and is still pending. A rule is still pending if (1) the rule was originally filed prior to October 1, 2001, as a proposed amendment, rescission, or new rule; (2) the rule is awaiting a final filing; and (3) the rule has not been withdrawn. Subsequent filings pertaining to pending grandfathered rules need not be executed electronically. The only other situation in which a paper filing will be accepted is in the event of a system failure, or if the system is taken down for maintenance, and the LSC Director exercises statutory authority to allow an agency to file on paper.

Substitute Senate Bill 265 of the 124th General Assembly, effective September 17, 2002, regulates the incorporation of a text or other material into an administrative rule by reference. To comply with this legislation, the electronic rule-filing system was modified to allow for the electronic filing of material subject to the new requirements. The requirements of S.B. 265 apply to rules that are originally filed, revised, or filed for five-year-review with no changes, on or after October 17, 2002.