Vermilion Municipal Court

Below are brief descriptions of newly enacted legislation in the State of Ohio which may be of interest to you. If you would like to obtain a copy of a recent Bill, please contact the Bill Room for the House at (614) 466-8207 for H.B. publications, or the Bill Room for the Senate at (614) 466-7168 for S.B. publications. For direct Internet access, visit the State of Ohio website at www.state.oh.us.

Category: Juvenile	Bill Number Sponsor: S.B. 181 Spada	Subject: Truancy	Status: Effective 9/4/00
Title: To require the parent, guardian, or legal custodian of a child to attend all juvenile proceedings regarding the child; to define "habitual truant" and "chronic truant," designate a chronic truant as a delinquent child, allow children alleged to be delinquent children based on chronic truancy to be held in adult facilities for up to three hours for processing and to specify when habitual and chronic truants can be held in detention homes or centers for delinquent children; to require a school district board of education or educational service center governing board to adopt intervention strategies addressing pupils' habitual truancy; to grant a juvenile court exclusive original jurisdiction over the failure of a responsible adult to cause a truant child's attendance at school, other Compulsory School Age Law violations, and parental education neglect; to provide that unruly child complaints of habitual truancy and delinquent child complaints of chronic truancy be filed jointly against the child and the person having care of the child; to authorize a juvenile court to impose specified orders against an habitually truant unruly child and the person having care of that child; to authorize a juvenile court to impose delinquent child dispositional orders against a chronically truant delinquent child and specified orders against the person having care of that child; to make the fine for permitting truancy permissive; to increase the maximum fine for permitting truancy; to permit a court to order the persons having care of a truant student to perform up to 70 hours of community service; to increase the maximum amount of the surety bond that may be required of the persons having care of a truant student; to make other changes in Compulsory School Age Law; to require the notification of school officials if a child who is 14 years of age or older is adjudicated a delinquent child for any of a list of specified acts; to prohibit sealing records of children found to be delinquent children for any of a list of specified acts; to provide specified law enforcement officials with access to sealed delinquent child records for specified purposes; to require the governing body of a community corrections facility to reimburse members of advisory boards advising those facilities for their actual and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their official duties and to repeal provisions specifying that the Department of Youth Services cannot change the purposes for which the Maumee and Mohican Youth Camps may be operated or significantly reduce their level of operations without the General Assembly's consent.

Category: Criminal	Bill Number Sponsor: S.B. 012 Mumper	Subject: Prisoner Internet Access	Status: Effective 6/8/00
Title: To prohibit prisoners in state, county, and municipal and privately operated correctional facilities from having access to the Internet except in specified circumstances.

Category: OMVI	Bill Number Sponsor: S.B.022	Subject: OMVI - Drunker Driving	Status: Effective 5/17/00
Title: To establish stricter penalties for a person who commits state OMVI and has a concentration of .17 of one per cent or more by weight of alcohol in the person's blood, a concentration of .17 of one gram or more by weight of alcohol per 210 liters of the person's breath, or a concentration of .238 of one gram or more by weight of alcohol per 100 milliliters of the person's urine, to increase to a felony of the third degree the penalty for a second or subsequent felony conviction of state OMVI, in certain circumstances to eliminate for state OMVI and for driving under suspension or revocation offenses the prohibition against imposing a term of imprisonment imposed for a misdemeanor consecutively to a prison term imposed for a felony, and to provide that when an organization or person renews the registration of a motor vehicle that displays special license plates bearing the International Symbol of Access the organization or person must present a signed statement from the person's personal physician or chiropractor or documentary evidence of specified vehicle alterations every fifth year, rather than every year.

Category: Local Government	Bill Number Sponsor: S.B. 137 Oelslager	Subject: Port Authorities	Status: Effective 5/17/00
To comprehensively revise the powers and duties of port authorities, to enhance the ability of port authorities and other political subdivisions to cooperate in the accomplishment of mutual objectives, to establish more consistency between the statutes governing port authorities established on or before July 9, 1982, and those established after that date, and to make other changes in the laws governing port authorities.

Category: Retirement	Bill Number Sponsor: S.B. 190 Blessing	Subject: STRS	Status: Effective 7/13/00
To increase certain benefits paid by the State Teachers Retirement System (STRS), to require STRS to establish a defined contribution plan that members can select as an alternative to its existing defined benefit plan, to permit STRS and Ohio's other state retirement systems to establish excess benefit arrangements under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, to require the Ohio Retirement Study Council to review semiannually the investment programs of Ohio's state retirement systems and to review at least once every ten years each system's actuarial valuations and investigations.

Category: Traffic	Bill Number Sponsor: S.B. 207 Armbruster	Subject: Railroad Crossings	Status: Awaiting Governors Action
To increase from a minor misdemeanor to a misdemeanor of the first degree the offense of obstruction of a street, road, or highway by a railroad; to establish a fine of $1,000 that must be imposed for such an offense; to create the offense of obstructing a public street, road, or highway by abandoning a locomotive and to establish a fine of $5,000 that must be imposed for such an offense; to require that fines for any such violation be paid to the county or municipal corporation in which the violation occurred; to specify that each county or municipal corporation within which an instance of obstruction of a public street, road, or highway occurs that is not caused by the abandonment of a locomotive may charge the railroad company with only one violation arising from that instance; and generally to require the fines to be used for railroad highway grade crossing improvements.

Category: General Government	Bill Number Sponsor: S.B. 242Oelslager	Subject: Vehicle Registration	Status: Effective 9/14/00
To permit the renewal of motor vehicle and watercraft registrations by electronic means.

Category: OMVI	Bill Number Sponsor: H.B. 080 Coughlin	Subject: Vehicle Forfeiture	Status: Effective 6/8/00
To require the criminal forfeiture to the state of the motor vehicle a person was operating at the time the person committed a third state or local OMVI offense within a six-year period, rather that the impoundment of the motor vehicle for 180 days.

Category: Criminal	Bill Number Sponsor: H.B. 364 Coughlin	Subject: Theft in Office	Status: Effective 9/14/00
To provide that a series of offenses an offender commits under the theft in office statute in the offender's same employment, capacity, or relationship to another may be tried as a single offense, and that, if the series of offenses is so tried, the value of the property or services for purposes of a prosecution is the aggregate value of all property or services involved.

Category: General Government	Bill Number Sponsor: H.B. 488 Terwilliger	Subject: Electronic Records	Status: Effective 9/14/00
To enact the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act by providing for regulation of electronic records and electronic signatures; to provide for consumer electronic transactions and security procedures between parties; and to provide for the use of electronic records and signatures by state agencies.

Category: General Government	Bill Number Sponsor: H.B. 544 Peterson	Subject: Planning Commissions	Status: Effective 6/14/00
To authorize a regional or county planning commission to send certain notices by electronic mail as well as regular mail, to require a regional or county planning commission to send notice to all townships at least thirty days before a public hearing on the adoption or amendment of its rules, to make changes to the composition of county planning commissions, to extend the period of time over which property owners may pay special assessments for county road improvements and the maturity of related bonds from ten to twenty years, to state that the procedures for adopting resolutions in the Township Limited Home Rule Government Law apply only to resolutions adopted pursuant to that Law, to increase the maximum fines for violating county and township zoning regulations from $100 to $500, to temporarily permit the transfer of surplus moneys in a township artificial lighting fund to another township fund, to authorize certain county appointing authorities to count prior service with a regional council of government for the purpose of determining years of service in the accrual of earned vacation leave and for the purpose of determining the credit for unused sick leave when an employee transfers, and to declare an emergency.

Category: Court Cost	Bill Number Sponsor: H.B. 018 Willamowski	Subject: Traffic Fines	Status: House Transportation and Public Safety
To impose an additional one dollar fine for state moving violations and to require that the additional fine money be used to maintain and upgrade public safety equipment used by police officers

Category: Criminal	Bill Number Sponsor: H.B. 030 DePiero	Subject: Victim Notification	Status: House Criminal Justice
To require notification of a victim and victim's family if an offender applies for the sealing of the offender's conviction record.

Category: Traffic	Bill Number Sponsor: H.B. 054 Williams	Subject: License Plate Display	Status: House Transportation and Public Safety
To require that motor vehicles carry only one license plate, to be displayed on the rear of the vehicle.

Category: Traffic	Bill Number Sponsor: H.B. 054 Williams	Subject: License Plate Display	Status: House Transportation and Public Safety
To require that motor vehicles carry only one license plate, to be displayed on the rear of the vehicle.

Category: Criminal/OMVI	Bill Number Sponsor: H.B. 109 Ford	Subject: OMVI License Suspension	Status: House Criminal Justice
Relative to the length of a license suspension for refusing to submit to a blood alcohol test following an auto accident that results in serious physical hard or death to a person and for refusing to submit to the test following a combination of four or more prior refusals and alcohol-related motor vehicle convictions.

Category: Criminal/Traffic	Bill Number Sponsor: H.B. 113 Damschroder	Subject: Seat Belt Use	Status: House Transportation and Public Safety
To require all passengers in an automobile to wear a seat belt, and to revise the amounts of and liability for a seat belt violations.

Category: Criminal	Bill Number Sponsor: H.B. 133 Patton	Subject: Cocaine Definition	Status: House Criminal Justice
To eliminate the distinction between powdered cocaine and crack cocaine in the Drug Abuse Law.

Category: Child Support	Bill Number Sponsor: H.B. 169 Beatty	Subject: Child Support Checks	Status: House State Government
To prohibit the imposition of fees for cashing support checks by an entity under contract with the state to collect and disburse support, and to declare an emergency.

Category: Criminal	Bill Number Sponsor: H.B. 187 Flannery	Subject: Firearm Background Checks	Status: House Criminal Justice
To require the Superintendent of the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation to establish a database of relevant information regarding a certain mentally ill persons subject to hospitalization by court order and mentally retarded persons subject to institutionalization by court order for purposes of performing instant mental competence records checks of potential purchasers of firearms from federally licensed firearms dealers and to establish procedures for requesting and performing those mental competence records checks.

Category: Criminal	Bill Number Sponsor: S.B. 028 Espy	Subject: Sex Offenses	Status: Senate Judiciary-Civil Justice
To increase from "under 16" to "under 18" years of age the relevant age of the victim for certain sex offense prohibitions and penalties.

Category: Traffic	Bill Number Sponsor: S.B. 051 Wachtmann	Subject: Speed Limits	Status: Senate Highways and Transportation
To increase from 55 to 65 miles per hour the speed at which motor vehicles weighing more than 8,000 pounds when empty and noncommercial buses are permitted to travel on certain freeways in this state.

Category: Traffic	Bill Number Sponsor: S.B. 080 Harris	Subject: Boating Speed	Status: Senate Energy, Natural Resources & Environment.
To limit the prohibition against operating a vessel at greater than idle speed or at a speed that creates a wake within three hundred feet of certain dock and harbor areas to vessels operating on Lake Erie or the Ohio River.

Category: Criminal	Bill Number Sponsor: H.B. 007 Manning	Subject: Illegal Drugs	Status: Effective 8/7/01
To provide a comprehensive mechanism to assist in combating the illegal manufacture or production of methamphetamine.

Category: Criminal	Bill Number Sponsor: S.B. 003 Hottinger	Subject: Sex Offender Registration	Status: Awaiting Governor's action
To apply the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Law to persons adjudicated delinquent children for committing a sexually oriented offense while 14 years of age or older and to clarify that sex offender registration information held by a county sheriff is a public record.

Category: General Government	Bill Number Sponsor: S.B. 005 Wachtmann	Subject: Annexation	Status: Awaiting Governor's action
To revise the laws governing municipal annexations.

Category: General Government	Bill Number Sponsor: S.B. 031 Oelslager	Subject: Vehicle Registration	Status: Effective 9/19/01
To prohibit the display of Social Security numbers on motor vehicle certificates of registration.

Category: Civil/Court Administration	Bill Number Sponsor: S.B. 059 Amstutz	Subject: Vehicle Titling	Status: Awaiting Governor's action
To make changes in the titling processes for motor vehicles, watercraft, outboard motors, off-highway motorcycles, and all-purpose Vehicles.

Category: Traffic	Bill Number Sponsor: S.B. 080 Harris	Subject: Boating Speed	Status: Awaiting Governor's action
To limit the prohibition against operating a vessel at greater than idle speed or at a speed that creates a wake within three hundred feet of certain dock and harbor areas to vessels operating on Lake Erie or the Ohio River.

Category: Civil	Bill Number Sponsor: S.B. 097 Nein	Subject: Uninsured/Underinsured Motorists	Status: Awaiting Governor's action
To revise the Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Coverages Law.

Category: Criminal	Bill Number Sponsor: H.B. 008	Subject: Pornography	Status: Senate Judiciary-Criminal Justice
To expand the definition of "material" in the Sex Offense Laws to include any image appearing on a computer monitor or similar display device or recorded on a computer disk, magnetic tape, or similar data storage device and to create exemptions and an affirmative defense to certain offenses.

Category: Court Costs	Bill Number Sponsor: H.B. 040 Sulzer	Subject: Traffic Fines	Status: House Transportation & Public Safety
To impose an additional court cost of $1 in cases involving a person who is convicted of or pleads guilty to a motor vehicle speeding violation, to create the Spinal Cord Injury and Head Injury Cure Research Fund, and to require the additional court cost to be deposited into that fund.

Category: Criminal/ Traffic	Bill Number Sponsor: H.B. 113 Damschroder	Subject: Seat Belt Use	Status: Recommended by House Transportation & Public Safety
To prohibit generally the operation of an automobile unless the driver, all front sear passengers, and all rear seat passengers under age 18 are wearing a seat belt; to revise the amounts of fines and the liability for seat belt violations.

Category: Criminal	Bill Number Sponsor: H.B. 220 Ford	Subject: Blood Alcohol Concentration Information	Status: House Criminal Justice
To require a health care provider to supply the results of a test of a person's blood, breath, or urine to specific officers if they indicate a prohibited blood, breath, or urine alcohol concentration and if either the person operated a vehicle that was in an accident within the two hours preceding the test or the provider knows or has reasonable cause to believe that the person operated a motor vehicle within that two-hour period.

Category: Criminal	Bill Number Sponsor: H.B. 225 Brickman	Subject: Firearms; Concealed Weapons	Status: House Criminal Justice
To permit the carrying of concealed weapons and to repeal the offenses of improperly handling firearms in a motor vehicle and improperly handling firearms in a watercraft.

Category: Traffic	Bill Number Sponsor: H.B. 270 Damschroder	Subject: Blood Alcohol Level .08	Status: Recommended by House Transportation & Public Safety
To reduce the prohibited concentrations of alcohol in a person's blood, breath, or urine for purposes of the state OMVI law, implied consent law, and watercraft law effective October 1, 2003

Category: Court Administration	Bill Number Sponsor: H.B. 271 Stapleton	Subject: Community Service	Status: House Criminal Justice
To authorize courts to impose periods of community service upon offenders who fail to pay judgment for court costs relating to the criminal action.

Category: Traffic	Bill Number Sponsor: H.B. 280 Barrett	Subject: Mobile Phone Usage	Status: House Transportation & Public Safety
To prohibit any person from operating certain vehicles while engaging in any activity that impairs the ability of the person to control fully the vehicle, prohibits any person from operating a moving vehicle and simultaneously using a mobile telephone that is not capable of being operated in a hands free manor other than to report an emergency, prohibits without exception any person with a temporary instruction permit from operating a moving vehicle and simultaneously using a mobile telephone, and requires the State Highway Patrol to compile monthly data and statistics on motor vehicle accidents in which mobile telephone use was a material factor.

Category: Traffic	Bill Number Sponsor: H.B. 281 Barrett	Subject: Mobile Phone Use Penalty	Status: House Transportation & Public Safety
To require a fine of two times the usual amount if a person commits a moving traffic violation while using a hand-held mobile telephone other than to report an emergency, and to require the State Highway Patrol to compile monthly data and statistics on motor vehicle accidents in which mobile telephone use was a material factor.

Category: Traffic/Criminal	Bill Number Sponsor: S.B. 104 Randy	Subject: License Suspension	Status: Senate Judiciary-Criminal Justice
To require a suspension of the driver's license of a person who causes a motor vehicle to leave the premises of a retail gasoline establishment without full payment for gasoline dispensed into the motor vehicle's fuel tank or another container.

Category: Criminal	Bill Number Sponsor: S.B. 133	Subject: Gross Sexual Imposition	Status: Senate Judiciary-Criminal Justice
To expand gross sexual imposition to prohibit a person who has supervisory or disciplinary authority over a person in custody or in an institution from having, or causing, sexual contact with the other person.