The Representative's Corner

Left to right: Rep. Brennan’s intern Miles DeMille, Rep. Brennan’s legislative aide McKenna Dugan, Rep. Brennan, Lieutenant Governor Jon Husted, Governor Mike DeWine, and Rep. Adam Bird. 

Going back to my years as a member of Parma City Council I have been concerned about the integrity of donation collection bins. I was always skeptical about whether or not the donations of clothing and other articles were actually benefiting charitable causes. My research on the sketchy outfits that placed many of them was a work in futility. My concern was that legitimate charities were being “boxed-out” by seeming for-profit actors.

In recent years you may have noticed that these donation receptacles have been proliferating everywhere you go. As a result, as you can imagine, my concerns have grown. That is why when I was elected to the Ohio General Assembly two year ago, I joined forces with Rep. Adam Bird, a fellow public school educator from the Cincinnati who shared my concerns. With the help of the Ohio Attorney General’s office, Goodwill Industries, the Ohio Association of Foodbanks, and others, we crafted House Bill (H.B.) 184. 

The Ohio Attorney General’s office corroborated what my gut told me all along - that some for-profit entities have been found to place donation bins that are nearly identical to their non-profit counterparts. In fact, Corey Jordan, the Attorney General’s Director of Policy and Legislation, explained that the bins in question are “deceptive to the public who might otherwise think twice about donating items to a for-profit entity when they intended their donation for a charitable purpose.”

Our bipartisan bill requires that donation collection bins display visible information regarding the beneficiary organization, including where the donated goods end up, contact information for the entity, and how to access the financial agreement between any professional solicitor and the benefiting charity. Benefitting organizations seeking to place bins will also have to file an application with the Attorney General who will vet them as legitimately benefitting charities.

H.B. 184 will establish transparency requirements and enforce compliance, ensuring that donations genuinely serve their intended charitable purposes, including veterans’ organizations, Special Olympics, Goodwill, and other legitimate charities and that donations reach those who genuinely need them.

The bill also includes language that will prohibit charitable solicitors from utilizing robocalls to solicit donations and that any entities soliciting via phone keep records of their scripts and recordings of calls for review by the Attorney General’s office.

The Ohio House of Representatives passed our bill by a vote of 89-1, while the Senate passed it 28-0. We were very pleased that Governor Mike DeWine signed the bill into law on December 19 and look forward to its enforcement. 

My counterpart and I contend that the deceptive practices undermine trust in the charitable sector. Ohioans can now rest assured that when they seek to donate items to charity that they are, in fact, benefiting a charity. It is high time we outed for-profit operators who deceive the public by giving the impression that their bins are furthering a charitable cause. This is a big win for our legitimate charitable organizations and those they serve. I am honored to have worked with Rep. Bird on this important bipartisan legislation. This bill is another example of how, when Democrats and Republicans work together, good policies that benefit all Ohioans result.