A 23-member committee will tackle the question of whether e-mails about government business sent through private e-mail accounts are considered public records.

A recent Dispatch examination found that state legislators and other government officials regularly use their private e-mail accounts to conduct public business. Those officials have varying opinions about whether such e-mails are public and subject to records-retention policies.

"It needs to be defined, because the new technology drives these questions," said Rep. Larry Wolpert, R-Hilliard, a co-chairman of the Privacy and Public Records Access Committee. "As a legislator, I want to know what I can and cannot do, and right now it's gray."

The committee, which was set up by the legislature and includes public-records experts and business officials, along with legislators, will recommend in September a variety of changes to public-records laws and policies, particularly those related to personal information.

A number of state lawmakers carry PDAs to send and receive e-mail. Some of the hand-held digital devices are linked to their state e-mail accounts, while others operate almost exclusively through private accounts such as Yahoo or AOL.

When The Dispatch recently requested e-mails for two days in mid-March from a handful of legislators, staff members and statewide officials, some did not think the request included e-mails from private accounts. Some did not think such e-mails were public. Even most of those who said they were willing to hand over public e-mails from private accounts were unable to locate them because they already had been deleted.

Cleveland lawyer David L. Marburger, who represents the Ohio Coalition for Open Government and news-media clients, says that using private e-mail accounts to conduct public business breaks state law because it removes public records from the control of the government.

Sen. David Goodman, R-New Albany, the other committee co-chairman, said he often tells people who want to reach him quickly to e-mail him on his personal account, which goes to his BlackBerry.

"I'm going to be hard-pressed as I go through my personal e-mail to find what is a public record and how to maintain it," he said.

However, Goodman said, state law should err on the side of openness.

"We should not use private e-mail accounts to circumvent public access," he said. "But we should keep it as simple and direct as possible so we don't have well-intentioned people making mistakes."

Wolpert compared it to times when constituents or other officials call him at home or on his cell phone.

"Are those numbers public record, too? How do you determine, if I get 100 calls a day, how many are actually related to a constituent? That whole world is still fuzzy with me."

Rep. Stephen Dyer, D-Green, a former newspaper reporter and member of the records committee, said e-mail from his state account automatically goes to his BlackBerry, where he also gets e-mail from a Yahoo account.

He said he's careful not to mix campaign business with his state account, but people send e-mail to both addresses. He said he's not sure how much of his Yahoo account would be a public record.

"If you're doing public business, I'd weigh it toward being a public record," he said. "I think it's an issue that needs to be looked at."

jsiegel@dispatch.com