At the end of last year, the 135th General Assembly was called one of the most unproductive in a half a century based on the total number of bills it had passed.
But Ohio lawmakers passed a bevy of bills in 2024. They ran the gamut, from regulations on trans people's bathroom use, to changing a key part of the process to put issues before voters, to giving more power to universities in student athletes' deals, to allowing Ohioans to shoot feral hogs.
Veto and overrides to start the year
Some members of the legislature started the year at odds with Gov. Mike DeWine over his veto of House Bill 68, a ban on gender transition care for minors and on trans youth playing on girls' sports teams. In turning back the plan, DeWine had floated an alternative of a set of rules to track this kind of treatment, which didn’t sit well with his fellow Republicans such as Rep. Gary Click (R-Vickery).
"I think it’s disingenuous to come in after ten days and rewrite the whole thing and you come sign my version after I’ve been working on this thing for three years," Click said.
Republican lawmakers overrode the veto, opponents of the law sued, and in August, the legislation was upheld.
The Senate also overrode a veto from the budget DeWine signed in July, on a provision to ban municipalities from banning flavored tobacco and vaping products. The House had overriden the veto in December 2023.
DeWine stepped into the legislative process again in the spring. He ordered lawmakers to come back in a special session to change the deadline so President Joe Biden's name could be on the fall ballot as the Democratic nominee. DeWine also wanted lawmakers to ban foreign money from being used in ballot issue campaigns.
“I’ve waited. I’ve been patient. And my patience has run out," DeWine said.
Republicans claimed foreign funds were part of the dark money fueling an upcoming issue to change the redistricting process. The ban they passed included a provision preventing green card holders from donating. Again, a lawsuit put it on hold for a while.
Bills opposed by LGBTQ+ Ohioans passed
Before leaving for a long summer break, the House passed another bill affecting trans kids, this time preventing them from using bathrooms that don’t correspond with the genders on their birth certificates.
When lawmakers came back after the November election, they got busy passing bills that had been on the back burner, including that bathroom bill, which hadn’t passed the Senate. It did, and DeWine signed it into law the day before Thanksgiving.
On the last day of the lame duck session in December, lawmakers passed House Bill 8, the “Parents’ Bill of Rights”. Opponents call it a "don’t say gay" bill, saying it would require school employees to out students to their parents.
As if the bill wasn't controversial enough, another provision was added to it - a bill requiring K-12 school districts to adopt policies to allow release for religious instruction programs like the Christian-based LifeWise.
Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio (D-Lakewood), who is openly gay, said she thought the prevalence of anti LGBTQ legislation boils down to something simple.
“I think a lot of it is based on misinformation and a little bit of fear," Antonio said.
Other notable bills passed late in 2024
Legislators also passed a bill to make it easier for schools to expel students who pose a threat. House Minority Leader Allison Russo (D-Upper Arlington) said she fears it could hurt Black students who are already disproportionately affected by expulsions even more.
“The bill doesn’t seem to have enough safeguards to address that issue," Russo said.
Lawmakers also passed a bill that makes it harder for citizens to bring issues to the ballot by giving the attorney general, in this case Dave Yost, the right to reject issues based on just their titles. His fellow Republican, Senate President Matt Huffman (R-Lima), supported it.
“I think the attorney general already would give an opinion about that but he doesn’t have the final word," Huffman said.
Legislators also passed a bill to limit how drones could be used.
Ohio will have a new felony level crime on the books – sextortion. Lawmakers passed a bill, named after Braden Markus, an Olentangy High School student who died by suicide after being coerced into texting inappropriate photos to someone who demanded money.
One new bill requires the state to provide released inmates with ID’s and certifications for trades they’ve learned so they can use those to get jobs.
Another bill would grant limited driving privileges to people whose licenses have been revoked for failure to pay child support.
And lawmakers approved a ballot issue for voters to decide in May, to allow the renewal of a $2.5 billion infrastructure bond program.
State lawmakers also took on feral hogs which had been wreaking havoc in some rural areas of Ohio. The legislators passed a bill to make it illegal to import them, and also allowed a landowner to shoot them without a license if the hogs come onto their property.
In a bill stuffed with last-minute additions - the so-called Christmas tree bill - police will now be able to charge $75 an hour to provide bodycam footage to the public and media. That's a provision that was added late into the last bill that passed at 2:15 am. There are questions about public accountability and how that law would be applied but there wasn't testimony from stakeholders to bring those issues up before the legislature passed it.
Lawmakers also used that same bill to clarify laws governing name, image and likeness deals for college athletes, adding provisions of House Bill 660 into that Christmas tree bill. Because of this new measure, universities will now be able to directly pay student athletes instead of involving third parties.
