COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio House of Representatives on Wednesday passed legislation that would, among other things, abolish a state rule restricting corporate political spending.

The 57-33 vote came after heated Democratic objections that scrapping the rule would give corporations greater leeway to dump money into Ohio political races on candidates' behalf.

Under the rule, corporations have to identify themselves in political ads and disclose money they spend in support of Ohio candidates. It also bars political spending made independently of campaigns by foreign-owned corporations and companies that recently received government contracts.

Then-Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner implemented the rule in 2011 following the U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, which held that independent corporate and union political spending can't be restricted. Brunner's rule includes no enforcement mechanism, and to date no one has been punished for violating it.

Regardless of whether the rule stays in place, state law will continue to ban direct contributions by corporations and unions to political campaigns in Ohio.

Wednesday's vote came two days after the House Finance and Appropriations Committee quietly added Republican-crafted language to delete the rule. GOP lawmakers said doing so promotes corporations' First Amendment rights and "levels the playing field" for campaign donors.

During floor debate Wednesday, House Democrats protested the proposed change in House Bill 483, which now heads to the Senate for consideration.

State Rep. Fred Strahorn, a Dayton Democrat, warned against "hiding behind the Constitution and the First Amendment to suggest that we should allow unlimited amounts of money in our elections system."

Brunner said in an interview that lifting her rule would make it easier for national political interests to operate state-based Super PACs, political action committees that can spend unlimited amounts in support of political candidates.

"Repealing this may actually be opening the floodgates to state Super PACs," Brunner said.

However, Secretary of State spokesman Matt McClellan said Brunner’s rule hasn’t done much to impact corporate campaign spending in Ohio.

Unlike most administrative rules, there’s no state law that supports the corporate spending rule. As a result, McClellan said, the state doesn't have the authority to enforce it.

The secretary of state's website lists eight corporations that have reported independent expenditures since November of 2012. McClellan said each of them filed on a voluntary basis.

Legislative Republicans previously tried to eliminate the rule in 2012, when they passed House Bill 194. Lawmakers later repealed that bill to forestall a statewide referendum on the legislation.

The House Finance and Appropriations Committee adopted the amendment on Monday with very little explanation of what the change would do. The House GOP synopsis of the amendment provided to the public simply stated that it "Voids administrative rule 111-3-05."

