OHIO LEGISLATIVE SERVICE COMMISSION
Office of Research Legislative Budget
www.lsc.ohio.gov and Drafting Office
S.B. 32* Bill Analysis
135th General Assembly
Click here for S.B. 32’s Fiscal Note
Version: As Reported by House Civil Justice
Primary Sponsor: Sen. Schaffer
Effective Date:
Aida S. Montano, Research Analyst
SUMMARY
Immunity for self or other defense extended to for-profit
corporation
▪ Specifies that the immunities currently provided for nonprofit corporations for any of the
following also apply to a for-profit corporation that leases its property to the nonprofit
corporation or permits its property to be used by the nonprofit corporation for any
purpose:
 Injury, death, or loss to person or property allegedly caused by or related to a
concealed handgun licensee bringing a handgun onto the premises or to an event of
the nonprofit corporation;
 Injury, death, or loss to person or property allegedly caused by or related to a decision
to permit a licensee to bring, or prohibit a licensee from bringing, a handgun onto the
premises or to an event of the nonprofit corporation.
▪ Generally grants civil immunity to a person for certain injuries allegedly caused by the
person acting in self-defense or defense of another during the commission, or imminent
commission, of an offense of violence to protect the members or guests of a nonprofit
corporation under certain circumstances.
▪ Specifies that a person who approaches or enters a nonprofit corporation’s premises or
event with intent to commit an offense of violence is presumed liable for any injury,
death, or loss to person or property resulting from an act of self-defense or defense of
another against that person.
* This analysis was prepared before the report of the House Civil Justice Committee appeared in the House
Journal. Note that the legislative history may be incomplete.
December 18, 2024
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Community action agencies
▪ Exempts a nonprofit agency or organization, which has been designated as a community
action agency by the Community Services Division of the Department of Development,
from the requirements of Ohio Open Meetings Law and specifies that the agency is not a
state agency or public office.
▪ Requires a nonprofit agency or organization designated as a community action agency to
be incorporated under Ohio’s nonprofit incorporation laws.
▪ Requires that the written operating procedures of a community action agency specify:
(1) the methods by which the board may conduct meetings using virtual electronic
technology, and (2) that the board may provide notice.
Clerks of the courts of common pleas and municipal courts
▪ Requires elected clerks of the common pleas court or municipal court to determine the
best means and methods for storing, maintaining, and retrieving all papers delivered to
the clerk in writing or in electronic form, in compliance with Superintendence Rule 26.
▪ Provides that such clerks are responsible for implementing the means and methods for
the storage, maintenance, and retrieval of those delivered papers.
▪ Clarifies that a clerk of a common pleas court appointed in a charter county performs
duties pursuant to the county charter.
▪ Provides that in the performance of official duties, an appointed clerk of a municipal court
is under the direction of the court.
▪ Removes provisions granting municipal court clerks other powers and duties as
prescribed by the court.
Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair
(CROWN) Act
▪ Prohibits public K-12 schools and public preschools from discriminating against a student
with respect to any program or activity because of traits associated with a student’s race,
including hair texture and protective hair styles, such as braids, locks, and twists.
▪ Allows a student alleging a public school or public preschool has discriminated against the
student based on traits associated with the student’s race to sue in any court having
jurisdiction.
Property foreclosure sales
▪ Requires that for all property foreclosure sales, including tax sales, the officer that makes
the sale must deliver the excess funds to the clerk of court not later than 45 days after
the confirmation of sale.
▪ Authorizes the clerk in certain circumstances to send notification of excess funds by
posting the notice to the judgement debtor on the clerk’s website, sending a text message
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to the judgement debtor, or posting the notice in a conspicuous place in the court where
the foreclosure action commenced.
▪ Increases the timeline in tax foreclosure sales of when the clerk must give the excess
funds to the county treasurer to hold for the owner from 60 days to 90 days from the day
the final notice is provided.
▪ Requires the clerk of court in tax foreclosure sales to follow the same notice requirements
relating to excess funds as required under other foreclosure sales.
Auctioneer continuing education exemption
▪ States that the continuing education requirements for licensed auctioneers and auction
firm managers established under current law do not apply to a licensed auctioneer who:
 Was licensed as an apprentice auctioneer under law repealed by H.B. 321 of the 134th
General Assembly on September 13, 2022; and
 Completed the apprenticeship prior to that date.
DETAILED ANALYSIS
Immunity for self or other defense extended to for-profit
corporation
Background
Existing law, unchanged by the bill, provides that, subject to specified exceptions, a
concealed handgun licensee may carry a concealed handgun anywhere in Ohio if the licensee
also carries a valid license when in actual possession of a concealed handgun. The exceptions are:
(1) in any of nine specified categories of places (e.g., in specified circumstances, in a law
enforcement station, school safety zone, courthouse, D liquor permit premises, institution of
higher education, place of worship, government facility, or place prohibited under federal law),
(2) in a manner prohibited under the offense of “carrying concealed weapons” or “improperly
handling firearms in a motor vehicle,” (3) in violation of a private employer’s rule, policy, or
practice concerning or prohibiting the presence of firearms on the employer’s premises or
property, in specified circumstances, or (4) in violation of a sign properly posted by the owner or
person in control of private land or premises, or by the private person or entity lessee on
government land or premises, that prohibits persons from carrying firearms or concealed
firearms on the land or premises.1 An armed forces active duty member carrying specified types
of documentation has the same right to carry a concealed handgun in Ohio as a concealed
handgun licensee and is subject to the same restrictions.2
Existing law provides immunity from civil liability for certain entities for injury, death, or
loss to person or property allegedly caused by or related to a concealed handgun licensee
1 R.C. 2923.126(A) to (C).
2 R.C. 2923.126(D)(2).
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bringing a handgun onto the entity’s premises or property. The entities for which this immunity
is provided are private employers, political subdivisions, institutions of higher education, and
nonprofit corporations – the immunity also applies with respect to events organized by such
corporations but it does not apply for those employers, institutions, and corporations that acted
with malicious purpose. Private employers, institutions of higher education, and nonprofit
corporations also are provided immunity for injury, death, or loss to person or property allegedly
caused by or related to the employer’s, institution’s, or corporation’s decision to permit a
licensee to bring a handgun onto the premises or property of the private employer – the
immunity for private employers also expressly extends to a decision to prohibit a licensee from
bringing a handgun onto the premises or property.3
Operation of the bill
Immunity extended to for-profit corporation
The bill specifies that the immunities currently provided for nonprofit corporations, as
described above in “Background,” also apply to any for-profit corporation that leases its
property to the nonprofit corporation or permits its property to be used by the nonprofit
corporation for any purpose. The immunities are from civil liability for injury, death, or loss to
person or property allegedly caused by or related to: (1) a concealed handgun licensee bringing
a handgun onto the premises or to an event of the nonprofit corporation, unless the nonprofit
corporation acted with malicious purpose, or (2) a decision to permit a licensee to bring a
handgun onto the premises or to an event of the nonprofit corporation.4
The bill does not expressly state whether the immunity described in (1) would, or would
not, apply to the involved for-profit corporation if the nonprofit corporation acts with malicious
purpose, or whether the immunity described in (2) would, or would not, apply to either involved
corporation if the involved for-profit corporation permits that conduct by a licensee, without
knowledge of or agreement by the involved nonprofit corporation, while the property is being
used by the nonprofit corporation.
Immunity provided for persons
The bill enacts a new immunity provision that specifies that no person is liable in a “tort
action” (see below) for injury, death, or loss to person or property allegedly caused by the
person’s act of self-defense or defense of another when performed during the commission, or
imminent commission, of an “offense of violence” (a defined term5) to protect the members or
guests, including the person’s self, of a nonprofit corporation under the existing immunity
provisions for a nonprofit corporation as described above in “Background,” against the
commission, or imminent commission, of that offense of violence, unless the person’s act
constitutes willful or wanton misconduct.6 As used in this provision, “tort action” means a civil
3 R.C. 2923.126(C)(2).
4 R.C. 2923.126(C)(2)(d).
5 R.C. 2901.01, not in the bill.
6 R.C. 2307.221(B).
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action for damages for injury, death, or loss to person or property other than a civil action for
damages for a breach of contract or another agreement between persons; “tort action” includes,
but is not limited to, a product liability claim, an asbestos claim, an action for wrongful death,
and an action based on derivative claims for relief.7
Additionally, the bill creates a presumption that a person who approaches or enters a
nonprofit corporation’s premises or event with intent to commit an offense of violence is liable
for any injury, death, or loss to person or property resulting from an act of self-defense or defense
of another against that person, unless the person’s defensive action constitutes willful or wanton
misconduct.8
The bill specifies that nothing in this provision may be construed to affect any rights to
bring a civil action under the provision of existing law that pertains to the bringing of a civil action
by a person injured by a criminal act (see below) or any other R.C. section and that the provision
does not affect, and may not be construed as affecting, any immunities from civil liability or
defenses established by another R.C. section or available at common law, to which the person
may be entitled under circumstances not covered by that provision.9
The provision of existing law referred to in the bill that pertains to the bringing of a civil
action by a person injured by a criminal act, unchanged by the bill, specifies that, subject to a few
specified exceptions, anyone injured in person or property by a criminal act has, and may recover
full damages in, a civil action unless specifically excepted by law, may recover the costs of
maintaining the civil action and attorney’s fees if authorized by any provision of the Rules of Civil
Procedure or another R.C. section or under Ohio common law, and may recover punitive or
exemplary damages if authorized by any R.C. section.10
Community action agencies
The Open Meetings Law requires public officials, with certain exceptions, to take official
action and to conduct all deliberations upon official business only in open meetings unless the
subject matter is specifically excepted by law.11 The bill exempts any nonprofit agency or
organization that has been designated as a community action agency by the Community Services
Division of the Department of Development from the requirements of the Open Meetings Law.12
The bill specifies that a community action agency is not a state agency or public office.13
7 R.C. 2307.221(A), by reference to R.C. 2307.60, not in the bill.
8 R.C. 2307.221(E).
9 R.C. 2307.221(C) and (D).
10 R.C. 2307.60, not in the bill.
11 R.C. 121.22.
12 R.C. 121.22(D)(22) and by reference to R.C. 122.69, not in the bill.
13 R.C. 122.66(D).
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Incorporation under Nonprofit Corporation Law
Under current law, “community action agency” means a community-based and operated
private nonprofit agency or organization that includes or is designed to include a sufficient
number of projects or components to provide a range of services and activities having a
measurable and potentially major impact on the causes of poverty in the community or those
areas of the community where poverty is a particularly acute problem and is designated as a
community action agency by the Community Services Division of the Department of
Development.14 The bill requires a community services agency to be incorporated under the
Nonprofit Corporation Law.15
Written policies on operating procedures
Continuing law requires the board of directors of a community action agency to adopt
written policies describing the operating procedures to be used by the board to conduct its
meetings, to vote on all official business it considers, and to provide notice of its meetings. The
bill requires those written operating procedures to specify: (1) the methods by which the board
may conduct meetings using virtual electronic technology, and (2) that the board may provide
notice of its meetings by any means deemed appropriate to the board.16
Clerk of the court of common pleas
Keeping records
Current law requires the clerk of the court of common pleas to keep records as indicated
by the Rules of Superintendence for the Courts of Ohio. The bill provides that this requirement is
subject to the provision described in the following paragraphs.17
In furtherance of the performance of the duties enjoined upon the clerk by statute,
common law, and the Rules of Superintendence for the Courts of Ohio, an elected clerk of the
court of common pleas is responsible for determining the best means and methods for storing,
maintaining, and retrieving all papers delivered to the clerk in writing or in electronic form, in
compliance with Superintendence Rule 26. Once determined, such elected clerk is responsible
for implementing the means and methods for storage, maintenance, and retrieval.18
In a court in which the clerk of the court of common pleas is appointed in a charter county,
the clerk must perform the duties pursuant to the county charter.19
14 R.C. 122.66(D).
15 R.C. 122.66(D) and by reference to R.C. Chapter 1702.
16 R.C. 122.70(H)(3).
17 R.C. 2303.12(B)(1).
18 R.C. 2303.12(B)(2)(a).
19 R.C. 2303.12(B)(2)(b).
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Powers and duties
Under current law, the clerk of the court of common pleas must exercise the powers
conferred and perform the duties enjoined upon the clerk by statute and the common law; and
in the performance of of