How to Find Ohio Legislative and Committee Staff Contacts

By the GovBuddy team · Last reviewed September 4, 2026

Quick Answer

Finding the right Ohio legislative staff contact starts with knowing which category of staff you are looking for. For outreach purposes, Ohio legislative staff can be understood in four broad categories: nonpartisan Legislative Service Commission (LSC) staff who draft bills, staff committees, and prepare fiscal notes; House and Senate majority and minority caucus staff who serve leadership and policy functions; personal legislative aides assigned to individual member offices; and chamber staff such as the Clerk's office. Each category has different reporting lines, different responsibilities on a bill, and different ways their contact information is published. The Ohio House Member Directory, the Ohio Senate directory, and LSC's staff pages are the official starting points. This guide walks through each staff category, what they do, and where to find and verify their contact information.

Table of contents

1. Why Ohio staff structure matters for outreach
2. Nonpartisan LSC staff
3. House and Senate caucus staff
4. Personal legislative aides in member offices
5. Chamber staff and committee-specific staff
6. Where the official contact information lives
7. Verifying that a staff contact is current

Why Ohio staff structure matters for outreach

The most common mistake made by organizations new to Ohio legislative advocacy is treating “legislative staff” as a single group. In Ohio, different staff structures handle different parts of the legislative process. LSC staff may both draft legislation and staff the committee where it is heard, while caucus staff advise leadership and personal legislative aides support individual member offices and constituent communication.

Each of these staff roles has a specific responsibility. Approaching the wrong one wastes their time and slows your outreach. Approaching the right one with relevant, well-supported information can help ensure that the appropriate staff have the data, methodology, and context they need when analyzing legislation and its potential impacts.

Nonpartisan LSC staff

The Ohio Legislative Service Commission is the nonpartisan, all-purpose legislative service agency for the General Assembly. Created by statute in 1953 and codified in the Ohio Revised Code at Chapter 103, LSC is governed by a 14-member commission of legislators. The commission appoints a Director who hires and supervises the LSC staff.

LSC staff is organized into two main offices, plus administrative and support divisions:

• Office of Research and Drafting (ORD). ORD attorneys and research associates draft bills, resolutions, and amendments; prepare bill analyses; staff standing committees during hearings; and respond to research requests from members. ORD is organized into subject-matter groups, each overseen by a division chief.
• Legislative Budget Office (LBO). LBO budget analysts and economists prepare fiscal notes and local impact statements for bills, provide fiscal analyses of the state budget, and assist committees on appropriation-related bills. Like ORD, LBO is organized into subject-matter groups.

In practical terms, LSC assigns staff to each standing committee. Each LSC staff person assigned to a committee is available to assist the chairperson and any member on matters relating to any bill pending before the committee. Staff assistance may involve explaining legislation, drafting amendments, preparing substitute bills, preparing fiscal notes and local impact statements, and performing various research tasks for the committee.

LSC does not advocate. Their role is nonpartisan drafting, analysis, and research. Advocacy organizations engaging with LSC staff should provide substantive information (data, methodology, source citations) rather than advocacy arguments. The LSC brochure and the LSC “Staff Roles” pages published at lsc.ohio.gov are the authoritative summaries of what each division and each role does.

House and Senate caucus staff

Both chambers have majority and minority caucus staff structures that are separate from LSC and from individual member offices. These staff serve caucus leadership and provide policy, legal, and communications support.

Ohio House majority caucus staff includes leadership staff, lawyers, policy advisors, budget staff, aides, and assistants who support the Speaker, caucus leadership, and members. Comparable structures exist on the minority side.

Ohio Senate majority caucus staff and Senate minority caucus staff have analogous structures, adapted to Senate size and organization.

Caucus staff are the appropriate contacts for questions about caucus policy priorities, leadership scheduling, and the political positioning of a bill within a caucus. They are not the appropriate first contact for questions about the technical drafting of a bill (that is LSC's role) or for constituent communications from a specific district (that is the member's personal office).

Ohio caucus staff structures change over time as leadership changes. Any specific staff assignment should be verified against a current source rather than relied on from a prior General Assembly.

Personal legislative aides in member offices

Each member of the Ohio House and Ohio Senate has one or more personal staff members, commonly titled legislative aide or senior legislative aide. These aides work directly for the member and support the member's day-to-day operations. According to the Ohio House job postings page, aides assist members by answering constituent requests, engaging in research, drafting communications outreach material, and helping with other administrative services.

For advocacy organizations, the personal legislative aide is often the correct first contact for:

• Constituent inquiries from a district the member represents.
• Requests for a meeting with the member.
• Providing background material intended for the member personally.
• District-specific data or impacts related to a bill the member has authored or is considering.

For more specialized questions, other staff may also be appropriate:

• Independent technical or legal analysis of a bill (LSC).
• Fiscal impact discussions (LSC's Legislative Budget Office).
• Committee scheduling (chamber Clerk or committee-specific staff).

Personal legislative aides may also assist with research, policy development, and legislative work for the member, particularly when the question relates directly to legislation the member has sponsored or is considering.

Personal legislative staff can change during a General Assembly, so contacts should be re-verified before outreach.

Chamber staff and committee-specific staff

The Ohio House Clerk's office and the Ohio Senate Clerk's office handle the procedural mechanics of each chamber, including bill introductions, journals, and floor procedures. The House Clerk is publicly listed and identifiable through the Ohio House website.

Standing committees are staffed primarily through LSC assignment, but committee chairs may also have committee-specific staff and administrative support depending on committee size and workload. The committee page on the Ohio House or Ohio Senate website is the starting point for committee membership, hearing schedules, and other committee-level information.

The Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review (JCARR), the Capitol Square Review and Advisory Board, and the Controlling Board are examples of statutory entities that may include legislator members and may draw on LSC staff or dedicated staff, depending on the entity.

Where the official contact information lives

Three official sources are the starting point for Ohio legislative staff contact information:

• Ohio House Member Directory. Published at ohiohouse.gov/members/directory. Provides the official list of House members and links to individual member pages with current office contact information. Member office email addresses and legislative aide information may also appear in official House publications, newsletters, press releases, or other member-office materials, so staff-level details should be verified against a current official source.
• Ohio Senate Directory. Published at the Ohio Senate website. Provides analogous member-level contact information for senators. Legislative aide information may also appear in official Senate materials, but is not uniformly displayed in the directory.
• Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Published at lsc.ohio.gov. Provides division-level descriptions of LSC staff roles, along with contact points for the Office of Research and Drafting and the Legislative Budget Office.

Committee pages on the ohiohouse.gov or ohiosenate.gov websites are useful starting points for committee membership, hearings, schedules, and other committee information. Specific staff assignments may need to be verified through LSC, the committee or chamber office, or another current official source. Caucus staff directories are not always fully published in a single place; specific caucus staff contacts may need to be verified through the caucus leadership office or through published legislative directories.

Nonofficial published directories, including those from long-standing Ohio legislative news services and stakeholder associations, sometimes publish more granular staff-level contact lists. These are useful reference points, but they may lag behind official sources and should always be checked against the current official directory before use.

Reach the right Ohio offices with GovBuddy Connect

Ohio's staff structure spans LSC, caucuses, personal member offices, chamber staff, and committee-specific staff. Keeping track of who does what, and keeping contact information current, is meaningful work at any scale.

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Verifying that a staff contact is current

Ohio legislative staff information changes across General Assembly cycles, and within a General Assembly when members change offices or staff turn over. A few habits keep outreach lists reliable:

Check against official sources before every significant outreach. For member-level contacts, this means checking the ohiohouse.gov or ohiosenate.gov directory. For LSC staff, this means checking lsc.ohio.gov. If the information in your records conflicts with current official information, reconfirm the contact before relying on it. A staff member's absence from a particular public directory or member page does not by itself establish that the person has left or changed roles.

Confirm caucus staff assignments through the caucus leadership office. Caucus staff assignments and titles change with leadership changes. A caucus staff contact from the previous General Assembly may still be in Ohio politics, but the role may have shifted.

Refresh contact records at the start of each General Assembly. Odd-numbered years bring a new General Assembly. Member offices are reconstituted, caucus staff structures are refreshed, and committee assignments are reset. Contact records built for the prior General Assembly should be re-verified before the new session's committee work begins.

Do not rely on scraped or automated contact lists. Ohio publishes its member directory openly, but staff-level contact lists can become outdated as staff assignments change. Human-verified directories, maintained by teams that watch for updates, are the more reliable base for outreach at scale.

Frequently asked questions

Who prepares Ohio fiscal notes?

The LSC Legislative Budget Office prepares fiscal analyses for legislation that appears to affect state or local government revenues or expenditures. These analyses estimate how legislation could increase or decrease governmental revenues or expenditures. LBO also handles the local-impact-statement requirements that apply to qualifying legislation.

Who should I contact for a policy question about a specific Ohio bill?

That depends on the question. For technical drafting or fiscal questions, the LSC staff assigned to the committee handling the bill is the appropriate first contact. For policy positioning or caucus considerations, caucus policy staff are the appropriate contact. For district-specific concerns from a constituent, the member's personal legislative aide is the appropriate contact.

Are Ohio legislative staff email addresses public?

Member office email addresses are published through official Ohio House and Senate materials. Personal legislative aide names and contact information may also appear in official publications, newsletters, press releases, or other member-office materials, but are not uniformly displayed in the member directories. Caucus and LSC staff contact information is generally accessible through the respective official web pages, though the level of directory granularity varies.

How often should I refresh my Ohio staff contact list?

At minimum, refresh at the start of each new General Assembly. During a General Assembly, contact records should be spot-checked against the official directory whenever a specific outreach depends on the staff contact being current.

Sources

• Ohio House Member Directory, Ohio House of Representatives
• Ohio Legislative Service Commission, including the LSC About page, Staff Roles page, and LSC Brochure
• Chapter 9: Staff Services Available to the General Assembly, Ohio Legislative Service Commission
• A Guidebook for Ohio Legislators, 136th General Assembly, Ohio Legislative Service Commission
• Ohio Revised Code, Chapter 103 (Legislative Service Commission authority)
• Ohio House Job Postings, Ohio House of Representatives (legislative aide role description)