OHIO LEGISLATIVE SERVICE COMMISSION
Office of Research Legislative Budget
www.lsc.ohio.gov and Drafting Office
H.B. 238 Bill Analysis
135th General Assembly
Click here for H.B. 238’s Fiscal Note
Version: As Passed by the House
Primary Sponsors: Reps. Fowler Arthur and Klopfenstein
Effective date:
Kelly Bomba, Attorney
TABLE OF CONTENTS
OCCUPATIONAL REGULATION REVIEW................................................................................... 2
General Assembly review ............................................................................................................... 2
LSC review ....................................................................................................................................... 3
Renewal of occupational licensing boards ..................................................................................... 3
Continuing education – prohibited topics ...................................................................................... 4
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE ............................................................................................ 5
Agricultural commodity tester ........................................................................................................ 5
ARCHITECTS BOARD ........................................................................................................................ 6
Architects Board.............................................................................................................................. 6
CASINO CONTROL COMMISSION ........................................................................................... 6
Key employee license application fee............................................................................................. 6
“Key employee” definition .......................................................................................................... 7
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE ............................................................................................... 7
Division of Industrial Compliance ................................................................................................... 7
Division of Real Estate and Professional Licensing ......................................................................... 8
Division of Industrial Compliance ................................................................................................... 9
Backflow technicians ................................................................................................................... 9
Boiler and pressure vessel inspectors ......................................................................................... 9
Steam engineers and boiler operators........................................................................................ 9
Manufactured home installers .................................................................................................... 9
Division of Real Estate and Professional Licensing ................................................................ 10
Real estate broker education .................................................................................................... 10
Real estate broker and salesperson eligible courses ................................................................ 10
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Real estate appraisers ............................................................................................................... 11
OHIO PEACE OFFICER TRAINING COMMISSION .................................................................... 11
Jail support staff ............................................................................................................................ 11
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY ......................................................................................... 12
Private investigation and security services licenses ................................................................. 12
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY – BUREAU OF MOTOR VEHICLES ....................................... 13
Motor vehicle sales and auction licenses ..................................................................................... 13
STATE RACING COMMISSION ............................................................................................... 14
Retained and eliminated licenses ................................................................................................. 14
Regulatory restriction reduction exemption ................................................................................ 15
OCCUPATIONAL REGULATION REVIEW
 Expands the definition of “occupational licensing board” for purposes of the General
Assembly’s statutorily required review of those boards to include boards that issue
certifications and business licenses that require an applicant to satisfy a personal
qualification.
 Expands the scope of the Legislative Service Commission’s (LSC) statutorily required
review of occupational regulations to include business licenses that require an applicant
to satisfy a personal qualification.
 Clarifies that LSC shall continue to issue reports regarding all occupations subject to
regulation by the state, including business licenses that require the applicant to satisfy a
personal qualification, after January 1, 2025.
 Renews for six years the occupational licensing boards reviewed this biennium by the
House State and Local Government committee.
 Prohibits an occupational licensing board from adopting, providing, approving for credit,
counting for credit, or requiring completion of continuing education curriculum or
coursework, seminars, webinars, or online instruction that promote specified concepts
related to protected class membership.
General Assembly review
The bill expands the definition of “occupational licensing board” for purposes of the
General Assembly’s statutorily required review of those boards to include boards that issue
certifications and business licenses that require an applicant to satisfy a personal qualification.
A “certification” is a voluntary program in which a private organization or the state grants
nontransferable recognition to an individual who meets personal qualifications established by
the private organization or state law. “Personal qualification” means criteria related to an
applicant’s personal background and characteristics including completion of an approved
educational program, satisfactory performance on an examination, work experience, other
evidence of attainment of requisite skills or knowledge, moral standing, criminal history, and
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completion of continuing education. However, the term “personal qualification” does not
include a requirement that an owner or controlling persons of a business submit to a criminal
records check or meet requirements related to criminal history or moral standing, unless that
owner or controlling person is the applicant.1
Under continuing law, The House of Representatives and the Senate must review one-
third of the state’s occupational licensing boards each biennium – including all boards that are
scheduled to expire at the end of the biennium. An occupational licensing board is triggered for
expiration following the sixth year after it was created or last renewed by an act of the General
Assembly. Under current law, an “occupational licensing board” for purposes of the General
Assembly’s review is a board, commission, committee, council, or any other similar public body,
agency, division, or office of state government that issues one or more occupational licenses.
Current law defines an “occupational license” as a nontransferable authorization in law that an
individual must possess to perform a lawful occupation for compensation based on meeting
personal qualifications established by law.2
LSC review
Similarly, the bill expands the scope of the Legislative Service Commission’s (LSC)
statutorily required review of occupational regulations to include business licenses that require
an applicant to satisfy a personal qualification. The bill also clarifies that LSC must continue to
issue reports regarding all occupations subject to regulation by the state, including business
licenses that require the applicant to satisfy a personal qualification, after January 1, 2025.3
Current law requires LSC, over a six-year period including calendar years 2019 through
2024, to publish a biennial report comparing one-third of the state’s occupational regulations
with the general state policy outlined in continuing law. For purposes of the law governing LSC’s
review, the term “occupational regulation” is defined as a statute or rule that controls an
individual’s practice of a trade or profession.4
Renewal of occupational licensing boards
The bill renews until December 31, 2030, the occupational licensing boards that were
reviewed by the House State and Local Government Committee during the 135th General
Assembly.5 Those boards are as follows:
 The Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission;
 The State Cosmetology and Barber Board;
1 R.C. 101.62.
2 R.C. 101.62 and R.C. 101.63 and 4798.01, not in the bill.
3 R.C. 103.27.
4 R.C. 103.27 and R.C. 103.26, not in the bill.
5 Section 4.
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 The Accountancy Board;
 The Department of Agriculture;
 The Architects Board;
 The Ohio Landscape Architects Board;
 The Ohio Casino Control Commission;
 The following divisions within the Department of Commerce:
 Division of Financial Institutions;
 Division of Real Estate and Professional Licensing;
 Division of Industrial Compliance; and
 Division of Unclaimed Funds.
 The Department of Public Safety;
 The Department of Public Safety Bureau of Motor Vehicles;
 The State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Surveyors;
 The Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services;
 The State Racing Commission;
 The Secretary of State.6
Continuing education – prohibited topics
The bill prohibits an occupational licensing board from adopting, providing, approving
for credit, counting for credit, or requiring completion of continuing education curriculum or
coursework, seminars, webinars, or online instruction that promotes any of the following
concepts:
 An individual of a protected class is inherently superior or inferior to another protected
class, and members of a protected class should be discriminated against solely or partly
because of the individual’s membership in a protected class.
 An individual, by virtue of the individual’s membership in a protected class, is inherently
racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously.
 An individual’s moral standing or worth is necessarily determined by the individual’s
membership in any protected class.
6See the House State and Local Government Committee Occupational License Review Report (PDF),
which can be found by conducting a keyword search for “OLR report” on the General Assembly’s
website: http://www.legislature.ohio.gov.
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 An individual, by virtue of the individual’s membership in any protected class, bears
responsibility for the actions committed in the past by other members of the same
protected class.
 Meritocracy or traits such as hard work ethic are racist or sexist, or were created by
individuals of a particular protected class to oppress members of another protected
class.
For purposes of the bill’s prohibition, “protected class” means an individual’s race, color,
religion, sex, military status, national origin, disability, age, or ancestry, as those terms are used
in Ohio’s Civil Rights Law. “Occupational licensing board” means a board, commission,
committee, council, or any other similar public body, agency, division, or office of state
government that issues one or more occupational licenses, excluding the Supreme Court with
respect to governing the practice of law. An “occupational license” is a nontransferable
authorization in law that an individual must possess to perform a lawful occupation for
compensation based on meeting personal qualifications established by law.7
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
 Eliminates the requirement that an agricultural commodity tester be certified by the
Director of Agriculture and replaces it with a requirement that a tester do both of the
following:
 Successfully complete training based on a USDA manual on grain inspecting; and
 Successfully complete three hours of continuing education every five years.
 Requires a licensed agricultural commodity handler to submit to the Director a list of
names of individuals who complete the training and continuing education and requires
the Director to maintain the list along with records of the handler’s license.
Agricultural commodity tester
The bill eliminates the requirement that an agricultural commodity tester be certified by
the Director of Agriculture and replaces it with a new requirement that a tester complete
periodic training. Under current law, an agricultural commodity tester is a person who operates
a moisture meter and other quality testing devices to determine the quality of an agricultural
commodity (generally corn, soybeans, or wheat). For initial certification and renewal, a person
must pass an examination on commodity testing and pay a $25 application fee. In lieu of the
examination for renewal, current law allows a person to complete training approved by the
Director.
The bill requires an agricultural commodity tester to do both of the following:
7 R.C. 4743.06, by reference to R.C. 4112.02 and 4798.01, not in the bill.
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1. Successfully complete three hours of training based on the USDA’s “Inspecting Grain
Practical Procedures for Grain Handlers” manual and approved by the Director of
Agriculture; and
2. Successfully complete three hours of continuing education every five years.
A licensed agricultural commodity handler must submit to the Director a list of names of
individuals who complete the training and continuing education. The Director must maintain
the list along with records of the handler’s license.8
ARCHITECTS BOARD
 Prohibits the Architects Board from charging a fee to obtain an initial certificate of
qualification to practice architecture.
Architects Board
The bill prohibits the Architects Board from charging a fee to obtain an initial certificate
of qualification to practice architecture. Under current law, the Architects Board must adopt a
rule establishing the fee. The Board has set the application fee for an individual seeking a
traditional license at $50. An applicant licensed or registered in another jurisdiction seeking an
Ohio certificate through reciprocal recognition of the other license or registration currently
must pay $250. The bill removes the requirement that the Board establish the fee in rule.9
CASINO CONTROL COMMISSION
 Requires the Ohio Casino Control Commission to set the key employee license
application fee at no more than $1,750 for in-state applicants and no less than $5,000
for out-of-state applicants.
Key employee license application fee
The bill specifies the fee amount for a key employee license application. Under current
law, the Ohio Casino Control Commission is required to set the fee amount by rule in an
amount “to cover all actual costs generated by each licensee and all background checks.”10 At
the time of writing this analysis, the Commission has adopted a rule stating that the key
employee license application fee is $2,000.11 The bill alters the fee structure to require that the
8R.C. 926.12, 926.19, and 926.30, repealed and reenacted; Ohio Administrative Code (O.A.C.) 901:7-2-
11.
9 R.C. 4703.16 and O.A.C. 4703-1-04.
10 R.C. 3772.13(F).
11 O.A.C. 3772-5-03(A).
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