Ohio Code 4501.021 – Management of bureau records
(A) Notwithstanding sections 149.33 to 149.34 of the Revised Code, the registrar of motor vehicles shall determine the methods for obtaining, collecting, recording, and maintaining the records of the bureau of motor vehicles and of deputy registrars that pertain to driver’s or commercial driver’s licenses, identification cards, and vehicle registrations, including photographic or digitalized images, and electronic or digitalized signatures. The registrar may choose methods including paper, film, digital or other electronic media, or any other media that reasonably allows for recording, maintaining, and retrieving the records in a reliable manner.
Terms Used In Ohio Code 4501.021
- Electronic: includes electrical, digital, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, or any other form of technology that entails capabilities similar to these technologies. See Ohio Code 4501.01
- Motor vehicle: means any vehicle, including mobile homes and recreational vehicles, that is propelled or drawn by power other than muscular power or power collected from overhead electric trolley wires. See Ohio Code 4501.01
- Person: includes an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, and association. See Ohio Code 1.59
- State: includes the territories and federal districts of the United States, and the provinces of Canada. See Ohio Code 4501.01
- Vehicles: means everything on wheels or runners, including motorized bicycles, but does not mean electric personal assistive mobility devices, low-speed micromobility devices, vehicles that are operated exclusively on rails or tracks or from overhead electric trolley wires, and vehicles that belong to any police department, municipal fire department, or volunteer fire department, or that are used by such a department in the discharge of its functions. See Ohio Code 4501.01
(B) The registrar of motor vehicles may dispose of all records of the bureau of motor vehicles pursuant to section 149.34 of the Revised Code.
The disposal of all records shall not take place when the registrar has received notice that a court case or other legal action is pending involving such records.
Any surplus from the sale of such records, after paying the cost of administering the destruction or sale of such records, shall be paid into the state treasury.
(C) Each deputy registrar shall retain in the deputy registrar’s office a file containing copies of all records and transactions performed for the bureau. Copies of motor vehicle registration applications shall be retained for a period of eighteen months from the date of the record or transaction, whichever is later; copies of driver’s license or identification card applications shall be retained for a period of four years from the date of the record or transaction, whichever is later; and all other records shall be retained for a period of three years from the date of the record or transaction, whichever is later. The retained records shall be available for public examination, but no person may make copies of the records for sale or distribution.