COLUMBUS (WTOL) - Sen. Randy Gardner applauded Gov. John Kasich’s signing of Senate Bill 231, known as Sierah’s Law, on Wednesday.
The law creates a violent offender registry in Ohio. Sierah Joughin was killed in 2016 at the hands of a Delta man who previously was convicted of abduction.
“Sierah’s Law is now part of Sierah Joughin’s incredible legacy. Her life was always about making other lives better. Now, her name can be forever associated with making Ohio lives safer," Gardner said. "This was a long legislative journey. We would not have succeeded without the courage, strength and perseverance of Sierah’s mom, Sheila, and her supportive family. I admire them and I am grateful for them.”
The bill was sponsored by Gardner after he learned of shortcomings in Ohio law that could provide better access to information for law enforcement and the public.
With the registry, anyone would be able to go to their nearby sheriff’s office and request the name, picture, crimes and address of nearby violent offenders.
The governor vetoed Amended Substitute House Bill 228, widely known as the “Stand Your Ground” bill, which would have forced prosecutors to prove a shooter acted in self-defense.
“New policies are needed to better safeguard those in crisis, their families, their co-workers, their classmates, their educators, law enforcement officers and the general public from the harm that we have seen happen far too many times when those in crisis have unrestricted access to firearms and have exhibited signs of causing harm,” Kasich wrote Wednesday afternoon.
He urged the incoming General Assembly to “to conduct a prolonged, thoughtful, and transparent review of state laws regarding the sale, possession, and use of firearms in order to send the next governor a bill that is not only consistent with the right to bear arms and the right of all Ohioans to robust due process protections, but that also keeps firearms out of the hands of those individuals who would use them to harm themselves or others.”
Other bills that Kasich did sign into law are the following:
- Am. Sub. H.B. 7 (Cupp) Grants qualified civil immunity to certain medical providers and emergency medical technicians who provide emergency medical services as a result of a disaster and through its duration.
- Sub. S.B. 20 (Hackett) Requires an additional prison term of six years for an offender who is convicted of felonious assault and a specification charging that the victim suffered permanent disabling harm and was less than ten years old at the time of the offense, regardless of whether the offender knew the victim's age.
- Am. Sub. H.B. 38 (Greenspan) Provides that purposely causing the death of a first responder or military member is aggravated murder and requires an offender serve a mandatory prison term for certain types of attempted aggravated murder when the victim is a first responder or military member.
- Am. H.B. 137 (Kent) Makes peace officers mandatory reporters of child abuse or neglect and expands the types of peace officers authorized to receive reports of child abuse and neglect.
- Am. H.B. 158 (Perales, Craig) Permits persons who quit work to accompany the person's spouse on a military transfer to be eligible for unemployment compensation benefits.
- Am. H.B 338 (Ginter) Modifies the law governing medical examinations for school bus drivers.
- Sub. H.B. 489 (Dever) Revise’s the laws governing credit unions, provides some regulatory relief to state banks and credit unions, provides data analytics to be conducted on publicly available information regarding banks, credit unions, and consumer finance companies, requires registration of mortgage loan servicers, and requires a specified notice be given to a debtor for certain debt collection.
- Sub. H.B. 491 (Edwards) Requires the State Board of Education to issue a substitute license to specified pupil services personnel, makes changes regarding the circumstances in which school treasurers may be held liable for a loss of public funds, requires school districts to adopt a policy for assignments completed in connection with a suspension, revises school resource officer training course requirements, permits the Counselor, Social Worker, and Marriage and Family Therapist Board to temporarily approve certain counselor education programs, and extends alternative high school graduation pathways through the class of 2020.
- Sub. H.B. 531 (Schuring) Raises the amount of sports events grants that may be awarded in a fiscal year to $5 million dollars.
- Sub H.B. 494 (Antani) Clarifies status of franchisees for social insurance and tax programs, and establishes the women-owned business enterprise program.
- Am Sub S.B. 86 (Hackett) Designates multiple memorial highways and bridges, creates and amends multiple nonstandard license plates, to create multiple special designations, and designates John Glenn's childhood home as a state historic site.
- Sub S.B. 119 (Hackett, Hottinger) Address opioid prescribing and addiction treatment.
- Am Sub S.B. 158 (Wilson) Develops best practices and educational opportunities to combat elder fraud and exploitation, modifies the membership of the elder abuse commission, and to fine and require full restitution from offenders who are found guilty of certain fraud-related crimes against the elderly.
- Am Sub H.B. 464 (Lipps, Antonio) Provides recognition of stroke centers and establishment of protocols for assessment, treatment, and transport to hospitals of stroke patients.
- Sub S.B. 259 (Hackett) Revises the laws regulating physician assistants, dentists, dental hygienists, and expanded function dental auxiliaries.
- Sub S.B. 263 (Huffman, Wilson) Enacts the Notary Public Modernization Act, creates the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System Utilization Study Committee, limits the circumstances under which a clerk of court may issue salvage certificates of title until January 1, 2021, makes changes to the law related to motor vehicle salvage data collection, and revises Ohio law regarding oil and gas land professionals.
- Sub S.B. 273 (Hackett) Enacts for the Revised Code a definition of the term "insurance rating agency"
- Am Sub H.B. 480 (Hill) Establishes requirements governing multi-parcel auctions and to amend Ohio's foreclosure procedures.
- Sub H.B. 454 (Patterson, Arndt) Requires a township to offer compensation to responsive owners of certain unused cemetery lots and rights.
- Sub H.B. 402 (Hill) Revises state regulation of telephone companies.
- Sub H.B. 291 (Wiggam) Authorizes insurance in lieu of bonds for local officers/employees.
- Am Sub S.B. 51 (Skindell, Eklund) Authorizes the creation of a special improvement district to facilitate Lake Erie shoreline improvement.
- Sub H.B. 286 (LaTourette) Creates the Palliative Care and Quality of Life Interdisciplinary Council.
- Sub H.B. 271 (McColley, Rezabek) Authorizes an alleged aggrieved party to provide a notice of an alleged accessibility law violation in advance of filing a civil action and establishes the circumstances under which an alleged aggrieved party is entitled to attorney's fees in a civil action based on the violation.
- Sub H.B. 156 (Schuring) Address vision care insurance limits.
- Sub H.B. 131 (Gavarone, Reineke) Modifies the laws governing the practice of physical therapy.
- Sub H.B. 119 (Henne, McColley) Address eligibility and benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance program and the Medicaid program and the use of the term substance abuse disorder in statutes regarding the Board of Nursing.
- Sub H.B. 92 (Schaffer) Requires public indecency before minors offenders to register as a sex offender.
- Sub H.B. 41 (Pelanda) Modifies the law concerning challenges to voter registrations, the appointment of observers, absent voting, and changes the manner in which counties may use reimbursements for voting machine acquisitions.
- Am Sub H.B. 58 (Brenner, Slaby) Requires the Department of Education to include supplemental instructional materials in cursive handwriting in the English language arts model curriculum.
