Earlier this month, the Ohio General Assembly passed House Bill 397, which makes changes to R.C. 1509.28, Ohio’s statutory unitization law. Notably, House Bill 397 imposes timing requirements upon the Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management in setting unitization hearings and issuing unit orders. Once House Bill 397 becomes effective, the Division must hold a hearing on an operator’s application no later than sixty days after the date the operator filed its application. However, if the Division finds the application to be “materially incomplete” prior to the hearing date, the Division may continue the hearing if, after giving notice to the operator, the operator fails to correct the application within 3 business days of receiving such notice. Additionally, under House Bill 397, the Division must issue a unit order no later than sixty days after the unitization hearing. House Bill 397 goes into effect on July 21, 2022.