Columbus, OH – On Tuesday, The Buckeye Institute testified (see full text below or download a PDF) before the Ohio House Transportation Committee on the policy in Ohio House Bill 814, which sets up a process to end the burdensome E-Check program 

In his testimony, Greg R. Lawson, a senior research fellow at The Buckeye Institute, called for an end to E-Check in the affected counties—Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Medina, Portage, and Summit—noting that the region has “demonstrated a 40 percent reduction in air pollutants over the past five years.”

As Lawson testified, E-Check’s testing requirements are time-consuming and expensive, and “lower-income residents, more likely to rely on older vehicles for daily transportation, inevitably bear the brunt of the program’s burdensome mandates.” E-Check is an “unnecessary burden” and should be eliminated.

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Checking Off E-Check

Interested Party Testimony
Ohio House Transportation Committee
Ohio House Bill 814

Greg R. Lawson
Senior Research Fellow
The Buckeye Institute
June 9, 2026

As Prepared for Delivery

Chairman Willis, Vice Chair Daniels, Ranking Member Grim and members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify regarding Ohio House Bill 814.

My name is Greg R. Lawson, and I am a senior research fellow at The Buckeye Institute, an independent research and educational institution—a think tank—whose mission is to advance free-market public policy in the states.

House Bill 814 is a very simple piece of legislation. It requires the director of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to determine whether pollutants in geographic areas subject to E-Check meet the Federal Clean Air Act’s National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) and, if so, to submit a request to discontinue the state’s E-Check program. Upon approval, the director must then immediately terminate E-Check in an orderly fashion.

As this Committee is aware, Ohio’s E-Check program now applies to only seven northeast Ohio counties. But in April, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that the region had met federal ozone emissions requirements after demonstrating a 40 percent reduction in air pollutants over the past five years. Having achieved such significant improvement in air quality, it is now time for Ohio to move on from E-Check.

The program’s biennial testing requirements are time-consuming and expensive. Vehicles that fail initial tests may require unexpected costly repairs. And lower-income residents, more likely to rely on older vehicles for daily transportation, inevitably bear the brunt of the program’s burdensome mandates. Given the current financial pressures from rising property taxes, gas and food costs, and generally high inflation, Ohio should eliminate E-Check’s unnecessary burden sooner rather than later.

Thank you for your time and attention. I will be happy to answer any questions the Committee may have.

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