OHIO LEGISLATIVE SERVICE COMMISSION
Office of Research Legislative Budget
www.lsc.ohio.gov and Drafting Office
S.B. 37 Bill Analysis
135th General Assembly
Click here for S.B. 37’s Fiscal Note
Version: As Reported by House Homeland Security
Primary Sponsors: Sens. Blessing and Ingram
Effective Date:
Margaret E. Marcy, Attorney
SUMMARY
Driver’s license suspensions
Drug offenses
▪ Removes the possible penalty of a driver’s license suspension for a drug abuse offense
unless the offender used a vehicle to further the commission of the offense or, as retained
from current law, the offense occurs under the same circumstances as an OVI-offense .
Failure to pay a court fine or appear
▪ Eliminates the option of submitting a valid and unexpired driver’s license, in lieu of bail or
another form of security, as a guarantee that the licensee will appear in court.
▪ Specifies that a person can enter into a payment plan with the clerk of court in order to
avoid an arrest warrant for failure to appear or failure to pay a fine.
▪ Requires, rather than authorizes as under current law, a court to issue a supplemental
citation to a person who fails to appear in court, and delays issuance of a summons or
arrest warrant by the court for failure to appear until 30 days after the supplemental
citation is issued.
▪ Authorizes the supplemental citation to be sent through electronic means to the
offender.
 This analysis was prepared before the report of the House Homeland Security Committee appeared in
the House Journal. Note that the legislative history may be incomplete.
December 11, 2024
Office of Research and Drafting LSC Legislative Budget Office
Failure to pay child support
▪ Authorizes a person who is in default on child support payments to present evidence that
a driver’s license suspension would effectively prevent that person from paying child
support or the arrearage due under the child support order.
▪ Authorizes a child support enforcement agency to consider that evidence in determining
whether to notify the Registrar to terminate a driver’s license suspension on the person
in default.
▪ Delays the implementation of a driver’s license suspension on a person who is in default
on child support payments for 30 days after the child support enforcement agency sends
notice to the person.
▪ Authorizes a person whose driver’s license is suspended for failure to pay child support
to file a motion with a court with jurisdiction over the child support order for limited
driving privileges in all circumstances, not just when the motion is made during contempt
proceedings as under current law.
Truancy
▪ Removes a driver’s license suspension or a denial of the opportunity to obtain a driver’s
license as possible penalties for a student who is habitually truant from school.
▪ Authorizes a student whose license currently is suspended or who currently is denied the
opportunity to obtain a license because of the student’s habitual truancy to apply to have
the suspension or denial removed.
Proof of financial responsibility penalties
▪ Regarding the imposition of increased penalties for multiple violations of the offense of
operating a motor vehicle without proof of financial responsibility, reduces the lookback
period from five years to one year within which repeat violations must occur.
▪ Eliminates the suspension of motor vehicle registration rights and impoundment of a
motor vehicle’s certificate of registration and license plates as penalties for operating a
motor vehicle without proof of financial responsibility, but retains a driver’s license
suspension as a penalty.
▪ Eliminates the $50 financial responsibility noncompliance fee when a person fails to
voluntarily surrender the person’s license, certificate of registration, or license plates.
▪ Increases from 15 days to 45 days the grace period, starting at the date the Registrar mails
notification of the pending suspension order, during which a person may present the
Registrar proof of financial responsibility in order to avoid a driver’s license suspension.
▪ Reduces the amount of time from either three or five years down to one year that a
person whose license was suspended for failure to provide proof of financial responsibility
must continually file such proof after the offense (a.k.a., an SR-22 form).
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▪ Eliminates the additional criminal penalties and license suspension imposed on a person
who operates a motor vehicle without proof of financial responsibility while the person is
within the period of continually filing an SR-22 form.
Random Selection Verification Program
▪ Requires the Registrar to remove any remaining driver’s license suspensions associated
with the Financial Responsibility Random Verification Program (which was repealed
through H.B. 62 of the 133rd General Assembly).
▪ Prohibits the Registrar from charging any reinstatement fees for the reinstatement of a
driver’s license associated with the program.
Law enforcement and EMS training
Training course for chiefs of police and sergeants
▪ Requires the training course for chiefs of police to be conducted at locations determined
by the Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission and in a manner prescribed by the
Commission.
▪ Sets eight hours as the maximum exemption for a chief who submits evidence of previous
training or qualification in the exempted topics.
▪ Specifies that a “newly appointed” chief is one who has never held the full-time position
before.
▪ Allows the Commission to establish and conduct police officer training courses to be
offered to law enforcement officers at or above the rank of sergeant.
Vacant police positions and training schools
▪ Allows a police department to fill a vacant position in the classified civil service without a
competitive examination if the department presents evidence that competition is
impracticable and the position can best be filled by a person holding a specialized
certification, possessing peculiar and exceptional qualifications, or having completed the
department’s police cadet training program.
▪ Allows the municipal police chief to conduct training schools for prospective law
enforcement officers that align with Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy standards and
cadet qualifications, and places the prospective officers in the unclassified civil service.
EMS training
▪ Establishes a process by which a person may request the State Board of Emergency
Medical, Fire, and Transportation Services to add new training or continuing education
topics for EMS personnel.
Feminine hygiene products
▪ Prohibits county and municipal correctional facilities and state correctional institutions
housing female inmates from denying inmates access to feminine hygiene products.
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▪ Requires county and municipal correctional facilities and state correctional institutions
housing female inmates to provide inmates experiencing a menstrual cycle with an
adequate supply of feminine hygiene products at no cost to the inmates.
▪ Requires county and municipal correctional facilities and state correctional institutions
housing female inmates to have a policy that allows access to feminine hygiene products
while providing sanitary disposal methods.
▪ Requires county and municipal correctional facilities and state correctional institutions
housing female inmates to provide a designated area with containers for disposal of
feminine hygiene products.
▪ Requires county and municipal correctional facilities and state correctional institutions
housing female inmates to provide inmates experiencing menstruation a minimum of one
shower per day with access to hot water for washing, except when experiencing an
emergency.
Private vendor specialty license plate program
▪ Authorizes the Registrar of Motor Vehicles to enter into a contract, via a competitive
selection process, with a vendor to operate a special license plate program that will
operate alongside the current statutory process for establishing and issuing specialty
license plates.
▪ Requires the vendor, under the contract, to design and market specialty license plates
required to be issued under current law and new specialty license plates established
under the program.
▪ Stipulates that the contract between the private vendor and the Registrar must contain
certain provisions, including:
 A requirement that the private vendor use electronic infrastructure that is compatible
with infrastructure used by the Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV);
 Terms governing the security of the information exchanged between the Registrar,
the private vendor, and any other third parties;
 Terms allowing a motor vehicle owner or lessee to select the combination of letters
and numbers appearing on a license plate and various design features for a specialty
license plate;
 Provisions allowing the vendor to enter into an agreement to create new license
plates not currently offered by the BMV; and
 An allowance for the Registrar (or any deputy registrar) to collect the following fees
and contribution that are in addition to any applicable motor vehicle registration taxes
and fees:
❖ A fee deposited in the Public Safety − Highway Purposes Fund to compensate the
Registrar for costs associated with program administration and license plate
design and production;
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❖ A fee deposited in the Public Safety Specialty License Plate Contract Fund (created
by the bill) to compensate the private vendor for the performance of its duties
under the contract; and
❖ A contribution deposited in the Drug Law Enforcement Fund, which is used to
make grants to local governments to defray expenses related to local drug task
forces.
▪ Limits the contract between the Registrar and the private vendor to two years, but allows
the contract to be extended for additional two-year periods.
▪ Exempts the private vendor from an existing general prohibition against charging a fee
for online motor vehicle registrations unless specified conditions exist.
▪ Requires the Registrar to submit each specialty license plate created under the program
to the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review (JCARR) for approval, and requires JCARR
to approve or disapprove of any proposed specialty license plate.
▪ Prohibits the Registrar from restricting the background color, color combinations, or color
alphanumeric license plate numbers of a specialty license plate proposed by the private
vendor except for purposes of public safety.
Stopping for on-track equipment at a railroad crossing
▪ Requires a vehicle operator to stop for on-track equipment that may be approaching a
railroad crossing.
▪ Requires school vehicle operators, hazardous materials transporters, and certain
construction equipment operators to stop, watch, and listen for on-track equipment that
may be approaching a railroad crossing in the same manner as for trains.
▪ Applies existing penalties to the requirements specified above.
▪ Generally authorizes a court to order an offender to attend and successfully complete a
remedial safety training or presentation regarding rail safety in lieu of a fine or jail term
for failing to stop appropriately at a railroad crossing.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Driver’s license suspensions ........................................................................................................... 6
Drug offenses .............................................................................................................................. 6
Failure to pay a court fine or fee ................................................................................................. 8
License as bond ...................................................................................................................... 8
Failure to pay child support......................................................................................................... 8
Truancy ...................................................................................................................................... 10
Proof of financial responsibility penalties .................................................................................... 10
SR-22 form ................................................................................................................................. 11
Random Verification Program reinstatement ........................................................................... 11
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Law enforcement and EMS training ............................................................................................. 12
Training for chiefs of police ....................................................................................................... 12
Training for the rank of sergeant and above ............................................................................ 12
Fill vacant police position in classified civil service without exam ........................................... 12
Training schools for prospective law enforcement officers ...................................................... 14
Training of EMS personnel ........................................................................................................ 14
Feminine hygiene products .......................................................................................................... 15
Providing feminine hygiene products ....................................................................................... 15
Access to and disposal of feminine hygiene products .............................................................. 15
Access to shower ....................................................................................................................... 16
Definitions ................................................................................................................................. 16
Private vendor specialty license plate program ........................................................................... 17
Authority under the contract .................................................................................................... 18
Contract terms........................................................................................................................... 18
JCARR approval of designs ........................................................................................................ 19
Third party online registration exemption ................................................................................ 19
Stopping for on-track equipment at a railroad crossing............................................................... 20
Vehicles required to stop every time ........................................................................................ 20
Penalties .................................................................................................................................... 21
Alternative rail safety course .................................................................................................... 21
DETAILED ANALYSIS
Driver’s license suspensions
Drug offenses
Under current law, many drug offenses carry a possible penalty of a driver’s license
suspension.1 The bill removes the general authorization for a court to impose a driver’s l