The Ohio Statehouse, Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Graham Stokes for the Ohio Capital Journal. Republish photo only with original story.)

The Ohio lawmakers have come back to the Statehouse for the start of lame duck, the period of time after the election before the end of the General Assembly. 

There are lots of bills that could see movement as the lawmakers work to get legislation across the finish line before the end of the year.

The Ohio Senate is scheduled to be in session Wednesday, Nov. 20, Dec. 4, Dec. 11 and Dec. 18.

The Ohio House is scheduled to be in session Dec. 4, Dec. 10, Dec. 11 and Dec. 18. There are two if needed sessions scheduled for Dec. 3 and Dec. 19.

Bathroom bill 

Before the lawmakers went on break, Republican lawmakers in the Ohio House passed a bill that would ban transgender students from using the bathroom and locker rooms that match up with their gender identity. 

House Bill 183 (the bathroom ban bill) was woven into Senate Bill 104 as an amendment on the House floor and then S.B. 104 passed in the House. 

State Sen. Jerry Cirino introduced S.B. 104, which revises the College Credit Plus Program.

The bathroom ban would require Ohio K-12 schools and colleges to mandate students can only use the bathroom or locker room that aligns with their gender assigned at birth. 

It would not prevent a school from having single-occupancy facilities and it would not apply to someone helping a person with a disability or a child younger than 10 years old being assisted by a parent, guardian or family member. 

The American Medical Association officially opposes policies preventing transgender individuals from accessing basic human services and public facilities consistent with gender identity.

The amended S.B. 104 now heads back to the Senate to concur. If the Senate concurs, the bill will head to Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s desk.

Senate Bill 83 

The massive higher education bill known as Senate Bill 83 has been stalled in the Ohio House for nearly a year. 

The bill quickly moved through the Senate after it was introduced in March 2023 and passed in the House Higher Education Committee a couple weeks before Christmas, but it has never made its way on to a House session agenda. 

Before the lawmakers went on break over the summer, Cirino said he had no interest in talking to House Speaker Jason Stephens, R-Kitts Hill, about his bill anymore. Cirino told reporters he already had an hour-long meeting with Stephens about the bill last December. 

S.B. 83 has already gone through nearly a dozen revisions and Cirino previously said he would re-introduce the bill in the next General Assembly like he originally wrote it — if the bill doesn’t pass before the end of the year. 

The bill would ban mandatory diversity, equity and inclusion training unless it is required to comply with state and federal law, professional licensure requirements or receiving accreditation or grants. 

A retrenchment provision would prevent unions from negotiating on tenure and universities could fire tenured professors for a broad list of reasons including reduction in student population. However, faculty with 30-35 years of tenure would be protected.

S.B. 83 defines controversial beliefs or policy as “any belief or policy that is the subject of political controversy, including issues such as climate policies, electoral politics, foreign policy, diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, immigration policy, marriage, or abortion.”

The bill would allow students to “reach their own conclusions about all controversial beliefs or policies and shall not seek to indoctrinate any social, political or religious point of view.”

Religious religious time 

A set of companion bills would require school districts to make a policy to let students be excused from school to go to released time religious instruction.

Ohio law currently permits school district boards of education to make a policy to let students go to a released time course in religious instruction, so these bills aim to bolster the law by requiring such a policy. 

House Bill 445 was introduced earlier this year by state Rep. Gary Click, R-Vickery, and Al Cutrona, R-Canfield, (who is now a state senator). The bill had a third hearing Tuesday afternoon.

Sen. Michele Reynolds, R-Canal Winchester, introduced Senate Bill 293 this summer. 

Earlier this fall, Westerville City Schools Board of Education voted to end their religious release time policy that allowed LifeWise Academy to take public school students off-campus for Bible classes during school hours.

Headquartered in Hilliard, LifeWise is a non-denominational program that teaches the Bible to students who have their parents’ permission under released time for religious instruction laws.

Feral pigs 

A bill would declare open season for feral pigs, prohibit feeding garbage to pigs and ban bringing any hogs into Ohio that have been fed garbage. 

House Bill 503 passed unanimously in the House in June and had its first hearing in the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee Tuesday.  

Reps. Bob Peterson, R-Sabina, and Don Jones, R-Freeport, introduced the bill in April and say Ohio’s feral swine could cost the state millions in damages to crops, natural vegetation, water and soil. 

Parents’ Bill of Rights

A bill would force educators to out a students’ sexuality to their parents.

State Reps. D.J. Swearingen, R-Huron, and Sara Carruthers, R-Hamilton, introduced H.B. 8 last year. It passed in the House and has had four hearings in the Senate Education Committee.

The bill would also require public schools to inform parents about sexuality content materials ahead of time and give them the option to request alternative instructions.

Hemp bills

There are a few bills floating around the Statehouse related to hemp products.

State Sen. Kirk Schuring, R-Canton, and Steve Huffman, R-Tipp City, introduced Senate Bill 278 which would ban selling adult-use hemp products to people under 21.

Huffman recently introduced a bill that would ban the sale of intoxicating hemp products in Ohio. Senate Bill 326 had its first committee hearing Tuesday.

House Bill 642 — introduced by State Rep. Sara Carruthers, R-Hamilton — would require the Ohio Director of Agriculture to issue recommendations for adult-use hemp products.

Follow OCJ Reporter Megan Henry on X.