COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio House Democrats are calling for an investigation into potential hacking of the state's unemployment system.

Lawmakers said some of their constituents have told them their unemployment accounts were hacked. The state maintains the system was not hacked.

"Ohioans deserve the truth," said Rep. Lisa Sobecki, D-Toledo.

Sobecki and Rep. Jeffrey Crossman, D-Parma, said the state needs to investigate and overhaul the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

"The first step in fixing a problem is acknowledging that you have one,” Crossman said. “And when discussing Ohio's broken unemployment system, that seems to be perfectly appropriate here.”

Last month, Crossman and others on a special legislative unemployment committee heard testimony from a woman who said she had $900 taken from her state unemployment account and also had her bank account information changed.

ODJFS previously said it would not pay the woman back and perhaps she had her account accessed through a phishing email.​

In a statement released Wednesday, ODJFS Director of Communications Bill Teets said the department if committed to combatting all types of cybersecurity threats.

“We will continue to be vigilant in our cybersecurity and anti-fraud efforts and our efforts to help those who’ve been victimized,” Teets said. “We also remain committed to transparency on these issues.”

Teets also said lumping all cyber threats as “hacking” discounts that multiple layers of cybersecurity are required to protect the department’s systems, and that someone using login information to gain “front door” access to another person’s account is not the same as an entity using technology to take control of the department’s systems.

“Again, we do not have any indications that our systems have been hacked in this manner,” Teets said.

A spokesperson for Gov. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, made a similar statement.

"The idea that the state unemployment compensation network was hacked or breached is not true," the spokesperson said.

Crossman and Sobecki do not believe that. That is why they are putting forward a bill urging DeWine to activate the Ohio Cyber Reserve to investigate reported hacking in the state’s unemployment compensation network. The bill also requires state agencies, if breached, to pay for credit monitoring for anyone whose personal information was compromised and inform them of how to obtain the credit monitoring. Finally, it requires state agencies to conduct a cyber audit once every two years to assess risk and security levels.

"We have a serious problem in Ohio with the security of our unemployment system and the governor and director of ODJFS are not doing enough to address the problem,” Sobecki said. “If I was going to rate us out of 50 states, I would say the state of Ohio is probably at the very bottom.”

The spokesperson for the governor said the state has already provided credit monitoring when there have been breaches in other agencies and ODJFS has improved its security with the help of private companies.

Teets said ODJFS is finalizing a system in which victims of account takeovers may be made whole.

“That system will soon be entering the system-testing phase of deployment, and we will announce when victims can begin the process of seeking restitution,” Teets said.

Crossman and Sobecki are trying to find co-sponsors for the bill before introducing it next week. Sobecki said for her colleagues “it is time to put up or shut up.”