Ohio lawmakers pass slew of bills on last day of session
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — The Ohio House of Representatives held a final session Wednesday before going on break for several weeks, passing some notable bills out of that chamber and sending them to the Senate for that chamber’s consideration.
24-Hour Waiting Period for Abortions
Lawmakers voted to advance House Bill 347, also the “SHE WINS Act.” Sponsored by Representatives Josh Williams (R-Sylvania Twp.) and Mike Odioso (R-Green Twp.), H.B. 347 would require an abortion provider to meet with a patient at least 24 hours before an abortion procedure. Doctors would be required to provide patients with specific medical information and obtain informed consent before an abortion can be performed.
House Speaker Rep. Matt Huffman (R-Lima) was asked recently whether the bill would face legal challenges under the 2023 constitutional amendment legalizing abortion access in Ohio. He said the bill is “essentially good medical practice.”
“If somebody wants to get an abortion, this isn’t going to stop them or really even delay them, so I don’t think it flies in the face of the constitution,” Huffman said. “It may be that a Franklin County judge will say so; I guess we’ll see.”
Minority Leader Rep. Dani Isaacsohn (D-Cincinnati) said the reproductive rights amendment should have already settled the issue.
“Ohioans already made clear how they feel about this issue,” Isaacsohn said. “Instead of respecting the will of the voters, the majority in the legislature is obsessed over and over again with trying to ignore what Ohioans said they wanted.”
Targeting Public Drag
Representatives also advanced a bill that opponents claim is effectively a statewide ban on public drag performances. House Bill 249, also called the “Indecent Exposure Modernization Act” and sponsored by Williams and Rep. Angie King (R-Celina), would prohibit obscene, adult performances anywhere minors might be present.
Opponents, like Dwayne Steward, CEO of Equality Ohio, argue the language of the bill is so vague that it could be used by local authorities to shut down anything from drag shows to Pride parades.
“In plain English, this bill gives government the unacceptable power to police what people wear,” Steward said in a statement. “Drag is just the beginning. Runners, hikers, and gym-goers wear sports bras every day. Dancers, cheerleaders, and athletes wear underlayers that are occasionally visible. This bill takes regular, everyday activities and turns them into potential crimes, based on whether somebody else might be offended by what other people are wearing. Attacks against drag performers and transgender people, like so many bills that restrict LGBTQ+ visibility, have multiple consequences that endanger fundamental freedoms and safety.”
Huffman said he doesn’t believe the bill would criminalize drag performances, and pushed back on the suggestion that the legislature should be focused on other issues.
“It essentially is prohibiting certain displays of nudity to children,” he said. “There are going to be public drag shows, I would assume. We deal with many, many issues. We deal with criminal justice, we deal with utility issues, agriculture, go down the list of our 27 committees and we can’t just do one thing at a time.”
Isaacsohn, meanwhile, called the bill another example of the legislature putting cultural issues ahead of affordability.
“You would be hard-pressed to go around Ohio and hear that this is what most families are talking about,” Isaacsohn said. “The legislature is talking about drag shows while families are worried about how they pay their gas bill, how they pay their electric.”
H.B. 249 passed with a vote of 63-30. Six members chose not to vote.
Finding Missing Persons
One of the bipartisan bills advanced by representatives is House Bill 217, also called the
“Andy Chapman Act,” inspired in part by a decades-old Columbus tragedy.
Andrew Chapman disappeared from Columbus’ west side in 2006. His family has been pushing for legislation that would centralize data on missing individuals so investigators and families might find closure when loved ones disappear and the case goes cold.
The bill’s sponsors, Rep. Christine Cockley (D-Columbus) and Rep. Kevin Ritter (R-Marietta), credited the family for their work in getting the bill to the House floor.
“Today is a really big day for those Ohioans with missing loved ones,” Cockley said. “I think of Aimee Chapman and her parents who are joining us today, all of their efforts for the past 20 years is finally coming together into a bill that’s going to help so many more Ohioans.”
H.B. 217 would require Ohio law enforcement agencies to enter critical information about a missing person — including such things as DNA, dental records and physical descriptions — into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System or “NameUs,” a database operated by the U.S. Department of Justice. Supporters said centralizing all that information is key to giving investigators and families the clues they need to find missing people or identify their remains.
“It’s important to us that we utilize the modern tools that we have to bring some closure, whether it is a reunion or simply closure on identification, we want to make sure we’re using all the tools we have to bring that to them,” Ritter said. “But it’s half the process. We’re headed to the Senate next, and hopefully we get through the Senate.”