COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP): Ohio lawmakers have decided not to eliminate a state prison watchdog agency after its director agreed to step down.

Legislation was expected to be approved Wednesday that would have abolished and replaced the Correctional Institution Inspection Committee.

An amendment was added to the unrelated bill that proposed replacing CIIC with a committee that could perform prison inspections only with specific approval from the House speaker and Senate president.

The Columbus Dispatch reports that Republican lawmakers backed off after the agency’s director, Joanna Saul, agreed to quit.

Saul on Tuesday criticized the Senate for a “lack of transparency.”

The independent, bipartisan group inspects and reports on adult and juvenile prisons and investigates issues including staffing and prison violence.