Ohio Code 1347.09 – Disputing information
(A)(1) If any person disputes the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of personal information that pertains to him and that is maintained by any state or local agency in a personal information system, he may request the agency to investigate the current status of the information. The agency shall, within a reasonable time after, but not later than ninety days after, receiving the request from the disputant, make a reasonable investigation to determine whether the disputed information is accurate, relevant, timely, and complete, and shall notify the disputant of the results of the investigation and of the action that the agency plans to take with respect to the disputed information. The agency shall delete any information that it cannot verify or that it finds to be inaccurate.
Terms Used In Ohio Code 1347.09
- Local agency: means any municipal corporation, school district, special purpose district, or township of the state or any elected officer or board, bureau, commission, department, division, institution, or instrumentality of a county. See Ohio Code 1347.01
- Person: includes an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, and association. See Ohio Code 1.59
- Personal information: means any information that describes anything about a person, or that indicates actions done by or to a person, or that indicates that a person possesses certain personal characteristics, and that contains, and can be retrieved from a system by, a name, identifying number, symbol, or other identifier assigned to a person. See Ohio Code 1347.01
- state: means the state of Ohio. See Ohio Code 1.59
- System: includes both records that are manually stored and records that are stored using electronic data processing equipment. See Ohio Code 1347.01
(2) If after an agency’s determination, the disputant is not satisfied, the agency shall do either of the following:
(a) Permit the disputant to include within the system a brief statement of his position on the disputed information. The agency may limit the statement to not more than one hundred words if the agency assists the disputant to write a clear summary of the dispute.
(b) Permit the disputant to include within the system a notation that the disputant protests that the information is inaccurate, irrelevant, outdated, or incomplete. The agency shall maintain a copy of the disputant’s statement of the dispute. The agency may limit the statement to not more than one hundred words if the agency assists the disputant to write a clear summary of the dispute.
(3) The agency shall include the statement or notation in any subsequent transfer, report, or dissemination of the disputed information and may include with the statement or notation of the disputant a statement by the agency that it has reasonable grounds to believe that the dispute is frivolous or irrelevant, and of the reasons for its belief.
(B) The presence of contradictory information in the disputant’s file does not alone constitute reasonable grounds to believe that the dispute is frivolous or irrelevant.
(C) Following any deletion of information that is found to be inaccurate or the accuracy of which can no longer be verified, or if a statement of dispute was filed by the disputant, the agency shall, at the written request of the disputant, furnish notification that the information has been deleted, or furnish a copy of the disputant’s statement of the dispute, to any person specifically designated by the person. The agency shall clearly and conspicuously disclose to the disputant that he has the right to make such a request to the agency.