On December 9, Ohio State Representatives Jeffrey A. Crossman and Paula Hicks-Hudson announced the introduction of the Ohio False Claims Act. The law is modeled off the highly successful federal False Claims Act which incentivizes whistleblowers to report government contracting fraud.
Ohio is one of the few states which has not enacted its own False Claims Act. The qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act empower whistleblowers who have firsthand knowledge of false or fraudulent claims to report them to the appropriate government officials. Whistleblowers whose information helps lead to a successful enforcement action are entitled to monetary awards, which are often in the millions of dollars.
The federal False Claims Act dates back to the Civil War but was modernized in 1986. Since then, whistleblowers have helped the government recover over $64 billion. The law has been described by the U.S. Assistant Attorney General as “the most powerful tool the American people have to protect the government from fraud.”
According to the press release announcing the introduction of the bill, “The Ohio False Claims Act would:
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