Section 111.43 - Protection of confidential address(A) A program participant may request that a governmental entity, other than a board of elections, use the address designated by the secretary of state as the program participant's address. Except as otherwise provided in division (D) of this section and in section 111.44 of the Revised Code, if the program participant requests that a governmental entity use that address, the governmental entity shall accept that address. The program participant may provide the program participant's address confidentiality program authorization card as proof of the program participant's status.(B) If a program participant's employer, school, or institution of higher education is not a governmental entity, the program participant may request that the employer, school, or institution of higher education use the address designated by the secretary of state as the program participant's address. The program participant may provide the program participant's address confidentiality program authorization card as proof of the program participant's status.(C)(1) The office of the secretary of state shall, on each day that the secretary of state's office is open for business, place all of the following that the secretary of state receives on behalf of a program participant into an envelope or package and mail that envelope or package to the program participant at the mailing address the program participant provided to the secretary of state for that purpose: (a) First class letters, flats, packages, or parcels delivered via the United States postal service, including priority, express, and certified mail;(b) Packages or parcels that are clearly identifiable as containing pharmaceutical agents or medical supplies;(c) Packages, parcels, periodicals, or catalogs that are clearly identifiable as being sent by a governmental entity;(d) Packages, parcels, periodicals, or catalogs that have received prior authorization from the office of the secretary of state for forwarding under this section.(2) Except as provided in divisions (C)(1)(a) to (d) of this section, the office of the secretary of state shall not forward any packages, parcels, periodicals, or catalogs received on behalf of a program participant.(3) The secretary of state may contract with the United States postal service to establish special postal rates for the envelopes or packages used in forwarding a program participant's mail under this section(4)(a) Upon receiving service of process on behalf of a program participant, the office of the secretary of state shall immediately forward the process by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the program participant at the mailing address the program participant provided to the secretary of state for that purpose. Service of process upon the office of the secretary of state on behalf of a program participant constitutes service upon the program participant under rule 4.2 of the Rules of Civil Procedure.(b) The secretary of state may prescribe by rule the manner in which process may be served on the secretary of state as the agent of a program participant.(c) Upon request by a person who intends to serve process on an individual, the secretary of state shall confirm whether the individual is a program participant but shall not disclose any other information concerning a program participant.(D) Division (A) of this section does not apply to a municipal-owned public utility. The confidential addresses of participants of the address confidentiality program that are maintained by a municipal-owned public utility are not a public record and shall not be released by a municipal-owned public utility or by any employee of a municipal-owned public utility.Amended by 134th General Assembly File No. TBD, HB 93,§1, eff. 4/29/2022.Amended by 132nd General Assembly, HB 49,§101.01, eff. 9/29/2017.Added by 131st General Assembly, HB 359,§1, eff. 9/8/2016.