COLUMBUS Residency bill signed into law by Gov. Taft

COLUMBUS -- Local governments would generally be prohibited from requiring their full-time employees to live in any specific area of the state under a bill signed into law Friday by Republican Gov. Bob Taft.
The new law, sponsored by state Sen. Timothy J. Grendell, a Chesterland Republican, will take effect 90 days after it's filed with the secretary of state's office.
The GOP-dominated Legislature approved the new law earlier this month.
Its supporters say there's no need for the residency requirements for government workers such as police officers and firefighters with the modern freeway system and with the prevalence of mobile telephones and pagers.
But critics say residency requirements are a matter of local control.
According to the Ohio Municipal League, 125 cities and 13 villages across the state have some requirement for municipal employee residency in their charters.
The new law provides some exceptions to an outright prohibition on residency requirements. The measure would permit citizens, through initiative, or the legislative authority of a local government to require local-government employees to live either in the county where the political subdivision is located or in an adjacent county.
Supporters of the new law say they expect the measure to be challenged in the courts.