Laws of interest enacted during the 125^th General Assembly

HB 12  Concealed Carry of Handguns

Authorizes county sheriffs to issue licenses to carry concealed handguns to certain persons, creates the offenses of falsification to obtain a concealed handgun license, falsification of a concealed handgun license, and possessing a revoked or suspended concealed handgun license, increases the penalty for theft of a firearm and having weapons while under disability.

Effective date: April 8, 2004

HB 26  New Judge

Adds one additional judge for the general division of the Warren County Court of Common Pleas to be elected in 2004 and adds one additional judge to the Henry County Court of Common Pleas to be elected in 2004 as judge of the domestic relations division.

Effective date: August 8, 2003

HB 49  Citizens’ Reward Program

Permits a board of county commissioners to enter into an agreement of affiliation with a citizens' reward program. Requires the imposition of one dollar in additional court costs to assist in the funding of affiliated citizens' reward programs.

Effective date: April 6, 2004

HB 50  Hit and Run

Increases the penalty for failure to stop after an accident if the violation caused the death of a person.

Effective date: Oct. 21, 2003

HB 52  Vehicular Crimes

To expand the offenses of aggravated vehicular homicide, vehicular homicide, and vehicular assault to also prohibit causing death or serious physical harm as a proximate result of committing a reckless operation or speeding violation in a construction zone when the victim is any person in the construction zone and notice of the prohibitions was posted; to impose a five-year mandatory prison term for a conviction of aggravated vehicular homicide and a peace officer victim specification; to impose a three-year mandatory prison term for a conviction of aggravated vehicular homicide and a specification of three or more OVI-related violations; to increase the penalty for discharging a firearm upon or over a public road or highway.

Effective date: June 1, 2004

HB 86  New Judges

Adds one judge to the Erie County Court of Common Pleas, reallocates jurisdictional responsibilities of current judges of the Erie County Court of Common Pleas, creates the Domestic Relations-Juvenile-Probate Division of the Logan County Court of Common Pleas and adds one judge to the Logan County Court of Common Pleas to be elected in 2004.

Effective date: Nov. 13, 2003

HB 106  DYS Records Release to Schools

To require the Department of Youth Services to release certain records pertaining to a child discharged or released from its custody to the school district in which the child is entitled to attend school.

Effective date: Sept. 16, 2004

HB 159  New Judge

Adds one additional judge for the Fifth District Court of Appeals, creates the separate office of clerk of the Clermont County Municipal Court.

Effective date: July 10, 2003

HB 163  OMVI Laws

To provide an additional prison term or term of imprisonment for certain repeat OMVI or OMVUAC offenders.

Effective date: Sept. 23, 2004

HB 184  Criminal Sentencing

To permit the imposition of a sentence of life imprisonment without parole, life imprisonment with parole eligibility after serving 25 full years of imprisonment, or life imprisonment with parole eligibility after serving 30 full years of imprisonment when an offender is convicted of or pleads guilty to aggravated murder and is not charged with or convicted of an aggravating circumstance.

Effective date: March 23, 2005

HB 252  Prosecuting Attorney Removal

To regulate when motions for judgment on the pleadings, motions to dismiss, and motions for summary judgment may be filed in actions to remove a prosecuting attorney.

Effective date: Sept. 16, 2004

HB 369  Police and Service Animals

To expand the offense of "harassing a police dog or horse"; to enact the offense of "harassing a service dog."

Effective date: Nov. 26, 2004

HB 375  Parole Board Testimony

To require the Parole Board, at the request of the victim of a specified offense or certain other persons, to hold a full board hearing and to permit the victim of such an offense, the victim's representative, and the victim's immediate family to testify at that hearing.

Effective date: April 29, 2005

HB 401  Bad Checks

To increase the penalties for the offense of passing bad checks, to expand the offense to apply to electronic transactions, and to include in the offense a provision regarding stop payment orders on checks.

Effective date: May 16, 2005

HB 473  SORN Change of Address

To revise the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Law's "change of address" requirements relative to persons who do not have knowledge of a change in residence, school, institution of higher education, or place of employment address sufficiently in advance of the change to comply with the requirements' deadlines and persons whose residence address change is not to a fixed address.

Effective date: April 29, 2005

HB 525  Expanded DNA collection

To require DNA specimen collection from delinquent children and criminal offenders for all felonies; to make other changes relating to the collection and use of DNA specimens; to extend for one year the period of time for certain inmates to request DNA testing; to clarify the applicability of the provisions of Chapter 5120. of the Revised Code to offenders who committed their offense prior to July 1, 1996, and to those who committed their offense on or after that date; to specify who collects DNA specimens from juvenile offenders when the juvenile is not committed to the Department of Youth Services or other specified facilities; and to give the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction rule-making authority over the collection of a DNA specimen from an offender whose supervision is transferred to Ohio from another state.

Effective date: May 16, 2005

HB 536  Theft of anhydrous ammonia

To make the penalty for theft of anhydrous ammonia a felony of the third degree.

Effective date: April 15, 2005

SB 5  Sex Offender Notification

Modifies the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Law by adopting most of the recommendations of the Governor's Sex Offender Registration and Notification Task Force, generally conforms the Law to federal guidelines, provides a penalty for failing to send a notice of intent to reside, clarifies that habitual sex offenders in another jurisdiction are habitual sex offenders under Ohio law, clarifies the Law's community notification provisions as applied to multi-resident buildings, specifies that convictions in courts of foreign nations are sexually oriented offenses under the law, and makes other changes in that Law.

Effective date: July 31, 2003

SB 8  Electronic Stalking

Expands menacing by stalking to prohibit the posting of a computer-related message with intent to urge or incite a person to illegally stalk another, specifically includes electronic communication and telecommunication as a pattern of conduct under the crime, and clarifies the nature of the mental distress that constitutes an element of the crime.

Effective date: Aug. 29, 2003

SB 11  Inmate DNA Testing/Post-Conviction Changes

Establishes a mechanism for the DNA testing of certain inmates serving a prison term for a felony or under a sentence of death. Makes substantive changes to post-conviction law contained in ORC §2953.21.

Effective date: Oct. 29, 2003 

SB 50  Domestic Violence

Enhances the penalty for domestic violence for certain repeat offenders, expands the authority for the issuance of a criminal domestic violence temporary protection order, makes other changes regarding criminal domestic violence temporary protection orders, civil domestic violence protection orders or consent agreements, and victims' bill of rights, and enhances the penalty for violating a protection order while committing a felony offense.

Effective date: Jan. 8, 2004

SB 53  National Crime Prevention and Privacy Compact

Ratifies the National Crime Prevention and Privacy Compact, enacts the Compact into law, and enters Ohio as a party to the Compact.

Effective date: April 7, 2004

SB 57  Crowd Control

Increases the penalty under specified circumstances for failure to disperse and misconduct at an emergency.

Effective date: Dec. 23, 2003

SB 58  Drug Offenses

To increase the penalties for certain drug offenses if the offense is committed in the vicinity of a school or in the vicinity of a juvenile and to expand the offense of endangering children to prohibit allowing children to be within the vicinity of certain drug offenses.

Effective date: Aug. 11, 2004

SB 66  Children’s Advocacy Centers

To permit counties to establish Children's Advocacy Centers to perform and provide certain functions, activities, and services that are agreed upon with the public children services agency, relative to reports of child sexual abuse or other types of abuse of a child.

Effective date: May 6, 2005

SB 71  Jury Duty

To change the penalties for failure to attend as required by a notice for jury service and to serve as a juror, to change the circumstances under and methods by which jury service may be postponed, to provide protections for employees and small employers when employees are summoned for jury service, to eliminate the cap on juror compensation, to shorten the period of jury service after which a juror may be discharged, to allow the commissioners of jurors to establish an electronic notification system to allow jurors to be notified electronically that the juror shall attend in person the term or part of the term specified in the notice, and to make other changes to the jury selection procedures.

Effective date: May 18, 2005

SB 146  Computer Hacking

To expand "disrupting public services" to specifically prohibit the use of a computer or the Internet so as to disrupt, interrupt, or impair any police, fire, educational, commercial, or governmental function; to expand "criminal mischief" to specifically include certain conduct related to computer hacking or the introduction of a computer contaminant; to increase the penalty for "unauthorized use of computer, cable, or telecommunication property" when committed under certain specified circumstances and when the value of the involved property, services, or victim's loss is at least $10,000; to specifically include "computer hacking" within the scope of "criminal mischief" and "unauthorized use of computer, cable, or telecommunication property."

Effective date: Sept. 23, 2004

SB 160  Child Enticement

To specifically identify vessels as places that are within the offense of criminal child enticement.

Effective date: April 11, 2005

SB 178  MR/DD Victims of Crime Task Force

Implements the recommendations of the MR/DD Victims of Crime Task Force, including enacting mechanisms for taking and using in a criminal proceeding depositions of a victim who is mentally retarded or developmentally disabled.

Effective date: Jan. 30, 2004