OHIO LEGISLATIVE SERVICE COMMISSION
Office of Research Legislative Budget
www.lsc.ohio.gov and Drafting Office
H.B. 245 Bill Analysis
135th General Assembly
Click here for H.B. 245’s Fiscal Note
Version: As Introduced
Primary Sponsors: Reps. King and Williams
Effective date:
Sarah A. Maki, Attorney
SUMMARY
 Creates the offense of “unlawful adult cabaret performance” that prohibits a person,
with knowledge of its character and content, from recklessly engaging in an adult
cabaret performance in a location other than an adult cabaret.
 Provides that the penalty for a violation of the offense is a first degree misdemeanor or
a fourth or fifth degree felony depending of the circumstances of the offense.
DETAILED ANALYSIS
Unlawful adult cabaret performance
Offense
The bill creates the offense of “unlawful adult cabaret performance” that prohibits a
person, with knowledge of its character or content, from recklessly engaging in an adult cabaret
performance in a location other than an adult cabaret.1
Penalty
The bill provides that the penalty for a violation of the offense is as follows:2
 A first degree misdemeanor, if the performance occurs in the presence of a juvenile;
 A fifth degree felony, if the performance involved is obscene;
 A fourth degree felony, if the performance involved is obscene and if the performance
occurs in the presence of a juvenile who is under 13 years of age.
1 R.C. 2907.39(B)(2) and 4301.25(A)(1).
2 R.C. 2907.39(C)(2).
November 9, 2023
Office of Research and Drafting LSC Legislative Budget Office
Definitions
The bill uses the following definitions:
 “Adult cabaret” means a nightclub, bar, juice bar, restaurant, bottle club, or similar
commercial establishment, whether or not alcoholic beverages are served, that
regularly features any of the following:3
 Persons who appear in a state of nudity or semi-nudity;
 Live performances that are characterized by the exposure of specified anatomical
areas or specified sexual activities;
 Films, motion pictures, video cassettes, slides, or other photographic reproductions
that are distinguished or characterized by their emphasis upon the exhibition or
description of specified sexual activities or specified anatomical areas.
 “Adult cabaret performance” means a performance in a location other than an adult
cabaret that is harmful to juveniles or obscene and that features topless dancers; go-go
dancers; exotic dancers; strippers; performers or entertainers who exhibit a gender
identity that is different from the performer’s or entertainer’s gender assigned at birth
using clothing, makeup, prosthetic or imitation genitals or breasts, or other physical
markers; or other similar performers or entertainers who provide entertainment that
appeals to a prurient interest, regardless of whether or not the performance is for
consideration.4
 “Harmful to juveniles” means that quality of any material or performance describing or
representing nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement, or sado-masochistic abuse in
any form to which all of the following apply:5
 The material or performance, when considered as a whole, appeals to the prurient
interest of juveniles in sex;
 The material or performance is patently offensive to prevailing standards in the
adult community as a whole with respect to what is suitable for juveniles;
 The material or performance, when considered as a whole, lacks serious literary,
artistic, political, and scientific value for juveniles.
 When considered as a whole, and judged with reference to ordinary adults or, if it is
designed for sexual deviates or other specially susceptible group, judged with reference
to that group, any material or performance is “obscene” if any of the following apply:6
3 R.C. 2907.39(A)(3).
4 R.C. 2907.39(A)(4).
5 R.C. 2907.01(E) and 2907.39(A)(17).
6 R.C. 2907.01(F) and 2907.39(A)(17).
P a g e |2 H.B. 245
As Introduced
Office of Research and Drafting LSC Legislative Budget Office
 Its dominant appeal is to prurient interest;
 Its dominant tendency is to arouse lust by displaying or depicting sexual activity,
masturbation, sexual excitement, or nudity in a way that tends to represent human
beings as mere objects of sexual appetite;
 Its dominant tendency is to arouse lust by displaying or depicting bestiality or
extreme or bizarre violence, cruelty, or brutality;
 Its dominant tendency is to appeal to scatological interest by displaying or depicting
human bodily functions of elimination in a way that inspires disgust or revulsion in
persons with ordinary sensibilities, without serving any genuine scientific,
educational, sociological, moral, or artistic purpose;
 It contains a series of displays or descriptions of sexual activity, masturbation, sexual
excitement, nudity, bestiality, extreme or bizarre violence, cruelty, or brutality, or
human bodily functions of elimination, the cumulative effect of which is a dominant
tendency to appeal to prurient or scatological interest, when the appeal to such an
interest is primarily for its own sake or for commercial exploitation, rather than
primarily for a genuine scientific, educational, sociological, moral, or artistic
purpose.
HISTORY
Action Date
Introduced 07-17-23
ANHB0245IN-135/ts
P a g e |3 H.B. 245
As Introduced


Statutes affected:
As Introduced: 2907.39, 4301.25