The State of Ohio this week passed five bills into law, including the Business Fairness Act, and one authorizing the state to use blockchain and distributed ledger technology.
Governor Mike DeWine signed the bills into law including House Bill 177, sponsored by Representatives Rick Carfagna and Mark Fraizer, which allows the government to use distributed ledger technology and blockchain. This technology can be used for record-keeping among other uses and is meant to both increase privacy and security and save taxpayer dollars.
The language of the bill is simple, explaining that “a governmental entity may utilize distributed ledger technology, including blockchain technology, in the exercise of its authority.”
The bill passed through the Financial Institutions and Technology Committee in the state Senate, a committee that is charged with providing legislative oversight for Ohio’s banking, finance and technology industries. As well as the state House Technology and Innovation Committee.
A detailed analysis of the bill explained:
“Distributed ledger technology” is not defined in the bill. Generally, a distributed ledger is a completely decentralized digital database that is shared and maintained by each individual computer on a network. Put another way, distributed ledger technology is a very specific kind of recordkeeping technology in which each user has an up-to-date copy of a digital database, and there is no centrally kept “official” version. A distributed ledger is useful for recording certain types of information, such as transactions or changes in ownership without the need for a central authority to verify the information.”
Ohio is not alone in pursuing blockchain technology. Wyoming is well known for pushing aggressively forward with distributed ledger technology while creating a jurisdiction that garnered greater interest from blockchain startups.
The Ohio Senate passed the bill without any no votes and the House registered just 2 ‘nays.”