Religious education, OVI penalties, drones and more: Major bills passed by Ohio lawmakers before year’s end

Dec. 21—The Ohio General Assembly ended its legislative session this month with a flurry of last-minute activity, passing bills impacting many different aspects of Ohioans’ lives.

Republican supermajorities in both the House and the Senate put the GOP in the drivers seat to pass legislation, tempered by conflict between leadership of the two chambers.

Here is a summary of notable legislation passed by Ohio lawmakers in lame duck session that will become law if signed by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine.

—Parents Bill of Rights/Religious education: A divisive bill that passed was House Bill 8, which contained the “Parents Bill of Rights Act” and a bill to mandate public school districts to allow students to attend third-party religious instruction during the school day.

The Parents Bill of Rights framework originally sought to establish a mandatory line of communication between public schools and students’ parents, but the bill received significant backlash from LGBTQ+ students and advocates over a provision that requires school officials to report significant changes in a student’s mental health to the student’s parents.

The bill was amended to include a requirement that Ohio’s public school districts to adopt a policy to allow students to leave class in the middle of the day to attend third-party religious instruction, which polarized Democrats, who argued that the law would disrupt students’ school days and burden teachers.

The final bill was approved 24-to-7 in the Senate, with one Republican objector, and 57-to-31 in the House.

—Expanded school expulsion powers: A bill to give school districts greater control over how to punish students who pose “imminent and severe endangerment” to others passed both chambers Wednesday night despite Democrats’ concern that the bill vests too much power in superintendents.

—Disbanding villages: A bill carried by local Reps. Tom Young, R-Washington Twp., and Adam Mathews, R-Lebanon, sets up a once-a-decade county audit for villages to determine if that village provides at least five out of 10 essential services to its residents and produces at least one candidate for the village’s elected positions of government.

Under House Bill 331, villages that fail the audit will be subject to a vote among its residents to dissolve the village’s government entirely. The bill passed with bipartisan approval.

—Drivers license suspensions: Ohio lawmakers compromised on a measure to limit the circumstances in which Ohioans can have their license suspended as a form of punishment.

Under House Bill 29, which passed both chambers with bipartisan support, Ohioans will be at significantly less risk of license suspension for drug offenses, failing to pay court fines, failing to pay child support, and school truancy.

—Hospital security: Lawmakers agreed on a measure to address hospital violence and require hospitals to begin tracking incidents of violence.

House Bill 452, passed with bipartisan support, would require hospitals to establish a security plan for preventing workplace violence and managing aggressive behaviors, along with a workplace violence incident reporting system. The bill is sponsored by state Rep. Andrea White, R-Kettering, and state Rep. Rachel Baker, D-Cincinnati.

—New powers for Ohio AG: Lawmakers approved a bill that will give Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost new authority to reject statewide, citizen-proposed ballot initiatives based on their title.

The new power was folded into House Bill 74. It comes just months after Yost was unanimously told by the Ohio Supreme Court that he overstepped his authority when he rejected a proposed citizen amendment to broaden voter-rights based on its title.

—Penalties for OVI, vehicular homicide: Ohio law will soon be updated to increase the minimum criminal fine for OVI infractions by $190; allow courts to more immediately mandate car breathalyzers for OVI offenders; increase the mandatory minimum prison time for aggravated vehicular homicides that were caused by a person under the influence of alcohol or drugs; and increase the maximum fine for an OVI-related aggravated vehicular homicide to $25,000.

The changes come under House Bill 37, which cleared both chambers with overwhelming bipartisan support.

—Public records of public employees: With Wednesday’s approval of House Bill 265, police and firefighters will soon have their work schedules shielded from public records laws.

The bill was amended following a Dayton Daily News report to keep those records accessible to journalists, given that public employee timesheets and payroll records have been used by this news outlet and others to investigate concerns such as public employees misreporting their time, working a second job while on the clock, or taking excessive vacation time or overtime.

—”Grooming” a criminal offense: Ohio officially codified a new criminal offense of ‘grooming.’

House Bill 322, approved with bipartisan support, makes it illegal for an adult to engage in a pattern of conduct with a minor under 16 years old that would make a reasonable person believe the adult is trying entice, coerce or prepare the minor to engage in sexual activity.

Violating the law would constitute a minimum of a second degree misdemeanor, which carries the potential for up to 90 days in jail. However, the punishment can increase in a variety of scenarios. For example, if a victim is under 13 years of age, or if the offender used alcohol or drugs in the act, it would be a fifth degree felony.

—Regulating drones: Ohio House Bill 77 will regulate use of unmanned aerial vehicles — UAVs, or drones — in state law.

The bill would make “operating a UAV in a manner that knowingly endangers any person or property or that purposely disregards others’ rights or safety” a criminal offense, punishable by a $500 fine and/or six months in jail.

It would also make it illegal to operate a UAV in a manner that disrupts law enforcement or emergency services; or to use a UAV to photograph, record or loiter over or near a critical facility — such as major utilities or a police station — “with purpose to further another criminal offense” or “with purpose to destroy or tamper with the facility.”

The bill also authorizes local governments to establish their own ordinances on private drone use in or above parks or other public property.

—Mental health in schools: Following passage of amended Senate Bill 234, Ohio will soon require new school ID cards, planners and electronic portals to include information about the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, which can be reached by dialing 988 in all states.

Institutions of higher education will also be required to provide information to new students regarding the state’s existing process for establishing mental health “power of attorney,” as White likened it, for newly-independent students in case of a debilitating mental health episode.

—Group homes: Group homes for foster children will face additional reporting requirements and state oversight after a bill designed to address problems in Montgomery County cleared the Statehouse.

Among other things, the bill — sponsored by White and state Rep. Phil Plummer, R-Butler Twp. — sets up reporting requirements to the state when a child under the care of a group home receives emergency medical care or when law enforcement officers have investigative interactions with the foster child.

The bill also tells the Ohio Department of Children and Youth to divide the state into regions, determine the ideal number of group homes in each region, and establish incentives to help draw group homes into those regions, potentially cutting down on the over-saturation Montgomery County has experienced in recent years.

—Anti-SLAPP bill: Ohio lawmakers passed Senate Bill 237, meant to address the practice of deep-pocketed plaintiffs bringing expensive lawsuits against others that aren’t likely to win because of the First Amendment, but can be costly for defendants. Such suits are often referred to as strategic lawsuits against public participation, or SLAPP suits.

Under the bill, a defendant would be able to bring a motion to dismiss the case and provide evidence to the judge that proves that the lawsuit is baseless. If the judge agrees that the complaint is baseless, the case would be thrown out. If the judge allows the case to continue, everything would continue as usual.

—Open enrollment for military families: Ohio lawmakers passed legislation allowing military families to enroll in nearly any Ohio public school regardless of where they live.

The measure, Senate Bill 208, requires Ohio’s public schools to allow open enrollment for military families with some exceptions — such as if the district is at capacity.

—Hospital transparency: Lawmakers unanimously passed House Bill 173, which will require all Ohio hospitals to maintain a public list of the prices hospitals charge for standard items or services.

—Maternal, infant health: A bill meant to spend $35 million to improve infant and maternal mortality rates and developmental outcomes in Ohio was gutted by the Senate in the final weeks of lame duck and passed without its fiscal appropriations.

Bill sponsor Rep. Andrea White, R-Kettering, told this outlet that she’s “disappointed that a lot of the great, move-the-needle policies are not in the final version” of House Bill 7, but noted that she’s optimistic her original spending requests will be included in Gov. Mike DeWine’s proposed budget in 2025.

The remaining provisions of H.B. 7 set to become law include a few procedural regulations, including one placing reporting requirements on the state’s efforts to modernize and spread the word about its food stamp program for women, infants and children (WIC), given that only 41% of Ohio moms and young children who qualify for WIC actually receive the benefits, White said.

—Ballot issue: One measure lawmakers passed will go to Ohio voters instead of the governor’s desk. House Joint Resolution 8 puts a statewide ballot initiative on the May 2025 ballot to ask voters for the permission to issue $2.5 billion in bonds to fund bridges, roads and other capital projects over a 10 year period.

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