OHIO LEGISLATIVE SERVICE COMMISSION
Office of Research Legislative Budget
www.lsc.ohio.gov and Drafting Office
H.B. 170 Bill Analysis
135th General Assembly
Click here for H.B. 170’s Fiscal Note
Version: As Introduced
Primary Sponsors: Reps. Grim and C. Thomas
Effective Date:
Shalanda Plowden, Research Analyst
SUMMARY
Extreme risk protection orders
 Provides a mechanism for the issuance by a court of an extreme risk protection order
(ERPO), as follows:
 Authorizes a family or household member of a respondent, a law enforcement
officer, or a Law enforcement agency to petition a common pleas court for the
issuance of an ERPO based on allegations that the subject of the petition poses a
significant danger of causing personal injury to self or others with a firearm.
 Requires the court to order an ERPO hearing not later than 14 days after the date of
the order and to notify the respondent of the hearing.
 Allows the court to schedule an ERPO hearing by telephone, pursuant to local court
rule, to reasonably accommodate a disability or to protect a petitioner.
 Generally requires personal service of process on a respondent, but allows for
service by publication or mail in certain instances.
 Allows the court to issue an ERPO that requires the subject of the order to surrender
all firearms and prohibits the subject from obtaining firearms during the pendency
of the order for a period of 180 days.
 Allows the court to issue an ex parte ERPO that lasts from the date of the order until
the ERPO hearing in cases where there is reasonable cause to believe that the
respondent poses a significant danger of causing personal injury to self or others in
the near future with a firearm.
 Requires the court that issues an ERPO or ex parte ERPO to forward a copy of the
order to a local law enforcement agency so that the order may be placed in various
law enforcement databases.
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 Requires the sheriff that has issued a concealed handgun license to a person subject
to an ERPO or an ex parte ERPO to revoke that license and prohibits the person
subject to the ERPO or ex parte ERPO from obtaining a concealed handgun license
during the pendency of the ERPO or ex parte ERPO.
 Allows the subject of an ERPO to petition in writing once every 180 days for the
court to terminate the ERPO upon a showing that the person does not pose a
significant danger of causing harm to self or others with a firearm.
 Allows a family or household member, a law enforcement officer, or a law
enforcement agency to move to renew an ERPO no sooner than 60 days before it is
set to expire.
Penalties
 Prohibits a person from having a firearm while subject to an ERPO, a third degree
misdemeanor for a first offense and a fifth degree felony for subsequent offenses.
 Prohibits a person from filing an ERPO that alleges that the respondent poses a
significant danger of causing personal injury to self or others by possessing a firearm if
the person knows that the allegation is false, and designates the offense as a fifth
degree felony.
 Prohibits a person who has been found guilty of having a firearm while under an ERPO
disability from knowingly acquiring, having, carrying, or using a firearm or dangerous
ordnance for a period of five years after the date the underlying ERPO expires.
Informational brochures, forms, and instructions
 Requires the Superintendent of the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation
to provide informational brochures, standard petitions, ERPO forms, and court staff
handbooks on the ERPO process.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ERPOs .............................................................................................................................................. 3
Who may seek an order .............................................................................................................. 3
Family or household member ................................................................................................ 4
Law enforcement officer or law enforcement agency ........................................................... 4
Contents of petition for an ERPO ................................................................................................ 4
Notice to those who may be at risk of violence .......................................................................... 5
Access to an ERPO process .......................................................................................................... 5
Service of process ........................................................................................................................ 6
Issuing an order ........................................................................................................................... 6
Contents of ERPO ........................................................................................................................ 8
Ex parte ERPO ................................................................................................................................. 8
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Contents of ex parte ERPO .......................................................................................................... 9
Personal service and service by publication or mail ..................................................................... 10
Service by publication or mail permitted .................................................................................. 10
Transmission of ERPO or ex parte ERPO to law enforcement databases..................................... 11
Effect on issuance and revocation of concealed handgun license ............................................... 11
Termination or expiration of an ERPO .......................................................................................... 12
Termination of an ERPO ............................................................................................................ 12
Expiration and renewal of an ERPO .......................................................................................... 12
Surrender of firearms ................................................................................................................... 13
Penalties ........................................................................................................................................ 15
Having a firearm while under extreme risk protection order disability ................................... 15
Filing an ERPO with false allegations......................................................................................... 15
Having weapons while under disability..................................................................................... 16
Informational brochures, forms, and instructions ....................................................................... 16
Instructions and standard petition ............................................................................................ 17
Informational brochure ............................................................................................................. 17
ERPO form ................................................................................................................................. 17
Court staff handbook ................................................................................................................ 17
Bill does not affect lawful search or seizure ................................................................................. 18
Title ............................................................................................................................................... 18
DETAILED ANALYSIS
ERPOs
The bill creates a process for a family or household member, law enforcement officer, or
law enforcement agency to petition a court for an extreme risk protection order (ERPO) to be
issued against an individual. For purposes of the bill, the person who petitions the court for the
ERPO is referred to as the “petitioner” and the person identified in the petition as the subject of
the ERPO is referred to as the “respondent.”1
Who may seek an order
Under the bill, a family or household member of the respondent, a law enforcement
officer, or a law enforcement agency may seek an ERPO against an individual by filing a petition
for an ERPO in the court of common pleas in the county where the petitioner or respondent
1 R.C. 2923.26(A)(3), (4), and (5) and (B).
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resides.2 If a petitioner files a petition for an ERPO, the petitioner may also file an application
for an ex parte ERPO.3
Family or household member
A family or household member under the bill refers to any of the following:4
 A person related by blood, marriage, or adoption to the respondent;
 A person in a dating relationship with the respondent;
 A person who has a child in common with the respondent, regardless of whether the
person has been married to the respondent or has lived with the respondent at any
time;
 A person who resides with the respondent or who has resided with the respondent
within the past year;
 A person who has a biological or legal parent-child relationship with the respondent,
including a stepparent, stepchild, grandparent, and grandchild of the respondent;
 A person who is acting or who has acted as the respondent’s legal guardian.
Law enforcement officer or law enforcement agency
A law enforcement officer under the bill refers to a sheriff, deputy sheriff, constable,
police officer of a township or joint police district, municipal police officer, or state highway
patrol trooper. A law enforcement agency is a municipal or township police department, county
sheriff’s office, or the state highway patrol.5
Contents of petition for an ERPO
A petition for an ERPO must contain all of the following:6
 An allegation that the respondent poses a significant danger of causing personal injury
to self or others by having in the respondent’s custody or control, purchasing,
possessing, or receiving a firearm, with an affidavit made under oath stating the specific
statements, actions, or facts that give rise to a reasonable fear of future dangerous acts
by the respondent;
 An inventory list including the number, types, and locations of every firearm the
petitioner believes to be in the respondent’s ownership, possession, custody, or control;
2 R.C. 2923.26(B)(1).
3 R.C. 2923.26(B)(2).
4 R.C. 2923.26(A)(3).
5 R.C. 2923.26(A)(6) and (7).
6 R.C. 2923.26(C) and (E).
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 A list of any protection order issued under Ohio law to which the respondent is subject
and of which the petitioner is aware;
 A list of any pending lawsuit, complaint, petition, or other legal action between the
parties;
 If the petitioner is a law enforcement officer or agency, an attestation that the officer or
agency has provided the notice outlined in “Notice to those who may be at risk
of violence,” below, or an attestation of the steps that will be taken to provide the
notice.
The court must verify the terms of any existing order governing the parties, but must
not delay a grant of relief because an action is pending between the parties. A petition for an
ERPO may be granted whether or not an action between the parties is pending.7
Notice to those who may be at risk of violence
The bill requires a law enforcement officer or agency who files a petition for an ERPO to
make a good faith effort to provide notice to a family or household member or third party who
may be at risk of violence. The notice must state that the petitioner intends to petition the
court for an ERPO or has already filed the petition, and must include referrals to appropriate
resources, including mental health, domestic violence, and counseling resources. The petitioner
must attest in the petition to having provided this notice, or attest to the steps that will be
taken to provide the notice.8
Access to an ERPO process
Under the bill, the petitioner’s address may be omitted from documents filed with the
court if the petition for an ERPO states that disclosure of the address would risk harm to the
petitioner or any member of the petitioner’s family or household. If the petitioner’s address is
not disclosed, the petitioner must designate an alternate address at which the respondent may
serve notice of any motions. If the petitioner is a law enforcement officer or agency, the
address of record must be the address of the law enforcement agency.9
The court must not charge a fee to an ERPO petitioner for filing an ERPO petition or for
filing an ex parte ERPO and cannot charge the petitioner for service of process. Additionally, the
court must provide the necessary certified copies and forms and provide materials free of
charge to explain the process of filing a petition for an ERPO. No petitioner may be required to
post a bond to obtain relief under the bill.10
7 R.C. 2923.26(D).
8 R.C. 2923.26(E).
9 R.C. 2923.26(F).
10 R.C. 2923.26(G) and (H).
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Service of process
When the court receives a petition for an ERPO, the court must order a hearing to be
held no later than 14 days after the date the petition is filed. The court may schedule a hearing
by telephone pursuant to local court rule, to reasonably accommodate a disability, or in
exceptional circumstances, to protect a petitioner from potential harm so long as the court has
reasonable assurances of the petitioner’s identity. Additionally, the court may issue an ex parte
ERPO if issuance of that order is consistent with the requirements in “Ex parte ERPO,”
below.11
In any event, the court must issue a notice of the date, time, and location of the hearing
to the respondent, and must cause a copy of the notice and hearing to be forwarded, on or
before the next judicial day, to a local law enforcement agency for service on the respondent.
As in “Who may seek an order,” above, a law enforcement agency is a municipal or
township police department, county sheriff’s office, or the state highway patrol.12
The local law enforcement agency must personally serve the petition and notice of the
hearing on the respondent not less than five judicial days prior to the hearing. If the petitioner
who filed the petition for an ERPO also filed an application for an ex parte ERPO with respect to
the same respondent, the agency must service the notice and petition as specified under “Ex
parte ERPO,” below. Service of ERPO notices, petitions, and ex parte orders takes
precedence over other service of documents by the local law enforcement agency unless those
documents are also of an emergency nature. If the local law enforcement agency cannot serve
the documents on the respondent within the time period specified, the court must set a new
hearing date and either require the local law enforcement agency to attempt personal service
again, or permit service by mail or publication as specified in “Service by publication or
mail permitted,” below. The court cannot require more than two attempts at personal
service and must permit service by publication or mail after two attempts unless the petitioner
requests additional time for personal service. If the court issues an order that permits service
by publication or mail, the court must set the hearing date not