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Checked against the record · Ohio 9th District 2026

Did Derek Merrin create Ohio's eight-year driver's license option?

Matches stated direction. The option became law in 2021 through a Senate bill sponsored by Senator Williams, after Merrin's own House bill for it stopped after committee.

Derek Merrin

Driver licensing: an eight-year renewal option

Matches stated direction

What they say

His campaign says that in 2021 he changed the law to let Ohioans choose an eight-year driver's licence instead of a four-year one.

“In 2021, Merrin successfully changed the law providing Ohioans an option to choose an eight-year driver’s license rather than a four-year license, significantly reducing needed visits to the BMVs throughout Ohio.”

Source: Derek Merrin for Congress

What the record shows · Apr 12, 2021

The option exists. Revised Code section 4507.09 was amended by Senate Bill 68 of the 133rd General Assembly, effective April 12, 2021; that bill was sponsored by Senator Williams and amends all eight Code sections his own bill named. His bill, H.B. 372 of the 133rd, was reported by committee and went no further.

Sources: Ohio Laws and Administrative Rules, Ohio General Assembly, Ohio General Assembly

Limit: The change he describes did happen, in the year he gives, and he had filed a bill for it. It was carried by another member's bill, and the record does not show whose drafting the enacted language was.

Keep reading

More from this race

  • Derek Merrin: every check on the record
  • Ohio 9th District 2026: the full record
  • Did Derek Merrin pass the Theft Victims' Restitution Act?
  • Did Derek Merrin pass the Ballot Uniformity and Transparency Act?
  • Did Derek Merrin reform Ohio's Board of Revision law?
  • Did Derek Merrin cut taxes on Ohio mortgage lenders?
  • Did Derek Merrin pass the Epinephrine Accessibility Act?
  • Did Derek Merrin pass the Down Syndrome Non-Discrimination Act?

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