COLUMBUS, Ohio — A bill introduced in the Ohio Senate would make it a criminal offense for certain registered sex offenders to be present on school grounds, preschool property, or child care center premises in Ohio.
Senate Bill 422, introduced by Senators Schaffer and Brenner, applies to tier II and tier III sex offenders — the two higher classifications under Ohio’s sex offender registry system. Under the bill, any person 18 or older convicted of a qualifying sexually oriented offense and classified at either tier level would be prohibited from knowingly being present on covered premises.
Violations would carry escalating penalties. A first offense would be a first-degree misdemeanor. A second offense would be a fifth-degree felony. Each subsequent offense would be a fourth-degree felony.
The bill establishes a narrow set of affirmative defenses available to offenders who are parents or guardians of a child attending the school or facility. Those defenses include picking up or dropping off their child before or after school or school-sponsored activities, retrieving a child during a medical emergency, and attending a parent-teacher conference held outside regular school hours. An offender who’s been convicted twice under the new law would be barred from asserting those defenses.
The bill addresses voting access, providing that registered electors who cannot enter a polling place located on covered premises may vote outside regular school hours, by absentee ballot, or by any other method permitted under Ohio law.
Sheriffs would be required to formally notify tier II and tier III offenders of the restrictions at the time of their next registry contact.
Schools would be required to provide reasonable off-site or remote alternatives for parents prohibited from campus under the law.
The bill has been introduced and referred to committee. No hearing date has been scheduled.