OHIO LEGISLATIVE SERVICE COMMISSION
Office of Research Legislative Budget
www.lsc.ohio.gov and Drafting Office
H.B. 366 Bill Analysis
135th General Assembly
Click here for H.B. 366’s Fiscal Note
Version: As Passed by the House
Primary Sponsor: Rep. Ghanbari
Effective date:
Ashley F. Dean, Attorney
SUMMARY
Fight Organized Retail Crime and Empower Law Enforcement
(FORCE) Act
▪ Names the act the Fight Organized Retail Crime and Empower Law Enforcement (FORCE)
Act.
Organized Retail Theft Task force
▪ Establishes the Organized Retail Theft Task Force within the Organized Crime
Investigations Commission, to investigate retail theft activity, including cargo theft, and
any complaint received involving retail theft.
▪ Requires the Organized Crime Investigation Commission to appoint a director and
specified members of the Organized Retail Theft Task Force.
▪ Requires that the president or chief executive officer of the Ohio Council of Retail
Merchants must be a member of the Organized Retail Theft Task Force.
▪ Increases the fee for a sales tax vendor license from $25 to $50, and directs that additional
money to be used by the Organized Crime Investigations Commission exclusively to
support the operations of the Organized Retail Theft Task Force, minus 5% which may be
used for certain expenses of the Retail Theft Advisory Council.
Organized Retail Theft Advisory Council
▪ Creates the Organized Retail Theft Advisory Council within the office of the Attorney
General, to consist of the Attorney General or Attorney General’s designee, an assistant
attorney general, the president of the Ohio Council of Retail Merchants, and four loss
prevention representatives, a member of the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association,
and a member of the Ohio Grocers Association.
August 1, 2024
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▪ Requires the Organized Retail Theft Advisory Council to advise the Organized Crime
Investigations Commission on organized retail theft and recommend actions for the
commission to detect, deter, prevent, and prosecute organized retail theft.
▪ Requires the Organized Retail Theft Advisory Council to operate a secure retail theft web
portal that complies with applicable data privacy laws, to share real time crime
information and intelligence on organized retail theft between retail businesses and law
enforcement agencies.
Criminal mischief
▪ Increases the penalty for criminal mischief to a third degree felony if the property involved
is a retail pump or meter of an electric charging station.
Theft
▪ Specifies that an offender is guilty of grand theft, a fourth degree felony, if the offender
previously has been convicted of or pleaded guilty to a theft offense.
▪ Specifies that an offender is guilty of aggravated theft, a third degree felony, if the
offender two or more times previously has been convicted of or pleaded guilty to a theft
offense.
▪ Specifies that an offender is guilty of theft from a person in a protected class, a fourth
degree felony, if the offender previously has been convicted of or pleaded guilty to a theft
offense, and a third degree felony if the offender two or more times previously has been
convicted of or pleaded guilty to a theft offense.
Theft of mail
▪ Creates the crime of theft of mail, which is generally a fifth degree felony, but can escalate
as high as a first degree felony depending on the value of the mail stolen and other
specified circumstances.
Organized theft of retail property
▪ Creates the crime of organized theft of retail property, which prohibits a person from
doing any of the following:
 Knowingly committing theft of retail property with a retail value of $1,000 or more
from a retail establishment, manufacturer, distributor, or cargo transportation unit
for purposes of selling, delivering, or transferring that property to a retail property
fence or for purposes of selling, delivering, transferring, exchanging, or returning the
retail property for value;
 Receiving, purchasing, or possessing retail property with a retail value of $1,000 or
more if the person is employed by, or associated with an enterprise and the person
knows, believes, or has reasonable cause to believe that the property has been
obtained by theft;
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 Knowingly acting as an agent of an enterprise to steal retail property with a retail value
of $1,000 or more from a retail establishment, manufacturer, distributor, or cargo
transportation unit as part of an organized plan to commit theft;
 Knowingly recruiting, coordinating, organizing, supervising, directing, managing, or
financing an enterprise to commit any of the acts described in the three preceding dot
points.
▪ Specifies that organized theft of retail property is generally a third degree felony, but can
escalate as high as a first degree felony depending on the value of the retail property
stolen and other specified circumstances.
▪ Provides that when determining whether the retail value of retail property equals or
exceeds $1,000, the value of all retail property stolen from the retail establishment or
retail establishments by the same person or persons within any 12-month period will be
aggregated.
▪ Provides that a prosecution for a violation of organized theft of retail property does not
preclude a prosecution for theft, receiving stolen property, or criminal simulation based
on the same conduct.
▪ Provides that if an offender is convicted of or pleads guilty to organized theft of retail
property and is also convicted of or pleads guilty to a violation of theft, receiving stolen
property, or criminal simulation based on the same conduct, the two or more offenses
will be considered as allied offenses of similar import.
Counterfeiting
▪ Expands the offense of counterfeiting to also prohibit the following:
 Directly or indirectly using a scanning device to access, read, obtain, memorize, or
store, temporarily or permanently, information encoded on an access device without
the permission of the authorized user, the financial institution issuing the authorized
user’s access device, or a merchant.
 Directly or indirectly using an encoding machine to place information encoded on an
access device onto a different access device without permission from the authorized
user of the access device, the financial institution issuing the authorized user’s access
device, or a merchant.
Corrupt activity
▪ Amends the definition of “organized retail theft” for purposes of the Corrupt Activities
Law, to mean conduct constituting the offense of organized theft of retail property or
conduct that constitutes a violation of any law of any state other than Ohio that is
substantially similar to the offense of organized theft of retail property.
▪ Provides that if a pattern of corrupt activity involves one or more incidents of organized
retail theft, the retail establishment, manufacturer, distributor, cargo transportation unit,
online marketplace, or group of those entities whose retail property was allegedly stolen
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may contact the prosecuting attorney and request that the charge be aggregated with
other known thefts of retail property.
▪ Provides that if a prosecuting attorney declines a request from a retail establishment or
retail establishments to aggregate multiple thefts of retail property, the prosecuting
attorney must promptly inform the establishment or establishments and provide a basis
for the refusal.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Fight Organized Retail Crime and Empower Law Enforcement (FORCE) Act ................................. 4
Organized Retail Theft Task Force .................................................................................................. 4
Organized Retail Theft Advisory Council......................................................................................... 5
Secure retail theft web portal ..................................................................................................... 6
Definitions – organized theft of retail property .......................................................................... 6
Criminal mischief............................................................................................................................. 7
Theft ................................................................................................................................................ 7
Theft of mail .................................................................................................................................... 7
Organized theft of retail property .................................................................................................. 8
Definitions – organized theft of retail property .......................................................................... 9
Counterfeiting ............................................................................................................................... 10
Definitions – counterfeiting ...................................................................................................... 11
Corrupt activity ............................................................................................................................. 11
DETAILED ANALYSIS
Fight Organized Retail Crime and Empower Law Enforcement
(FORCE) Act
The bill names the act the Fight Organized Retail Crime and Empower Law Enforcement
(FORCE) Act.1
Organized Retail Theft Task Force
The bill establishes an Organized Retail Theft Task Force within the Organized Crime
Investigations Commission, to investigate organized retail theft activity, including cargo theft.
The task force may investigate based on any complaint filed or information the task force receives
that gives reason to believe organized retail theft has occurred and continues to occur in one or
more counties. The task force director and members of the task force must be appointed in the
1 Section 6.
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same manner as an organized crime task force established under existing law, and the president
or chief executive officer of the Ohio Council of Retail Merchants is required to be a member.2
Continuing law requires that, unless a statutory exception applies, any person engaged in
making retail sales subject to sales tax is required to have a vendor’s license. Application for a
vendor’s license must be made to the county auditor of each county in which the applicant
desires to engage in business, and each applicant must pay a license fee of $25 to the county
treasury for each fixed place of business in the county that will be the situs of retail sales. The bill
increases this fee from $25 to $50, and specifies that the county auditor must transmit $25 of
each license fee to the Treasurer of State for deposit into the State Treasury to the credit of the
Organized Crime Commission Fund. The bill directs that this money is to be used by the Organized
Crime Investigations Commission exclusively to support the operations of the Organized Retail
Theft Task Force, except that 5% of the money may be used for the administrative expenses of
the Organized Retail Theft Advisory Council and the operation of the retail theft web portal (both
described in “Organized Retail Theft Advisory Council,” below).3
Organized Retail Theft Advisory Council
The bill creates the Organized Retail Theft Advisory Council within the office of the
Attorney General, to consist of the Attorney General or the Attorney General’s designee, an
assistant attorney general appointed by the Attorney General, the president or chief executive
officer of the Ohio Council of Retail Merchants, two loss prevention representatives from retail
businesses with more than 250 employees, two loss prevention representatives from retail
businesses with less than 250 employees, a member of the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys
Association, and a member of the Ohio Grocers Association. The Attorney General must appoint
the loss prevention representatives to the Advisory Council after consulting with statewide trade
and professional organizations that represent the interests of retail businesses and loss
prevention, and the organizations are allowed to nominate persons to be considered for
appointment as council members.4
The Advisory Council must advise the Organized Crime Investigations Commission On
Organized Retail Theft and recommend actions for the Commission to detect, deter, prevent, and
prosecute organized retail theft, and must meet at least quarterly with the Attorney General or
the Attorney General’s designee. The assistant attorney general appointed to the Advisory
Council must serve as liaison to the Organized Retail Theft Task Force. Members of the Advisory
Council will not be compensated, but will be reimbursed for actual and necessary expenses
incurred in performing their official duties. The Organized Crime Investigations Commission may
provide the Advisory Council with technical and clerical employees as necessary to accomplish
its responsibilities mentioned under the bill.5
2 R.C. 177.02(B)(2) and (3).
3 R.C. 177.02(D)(4), 177.011(D), and 5739.17.
4 R.C. 177.04(A) and (B).
5 R.C. 177.04(C) and (F).
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In addition to the duties described above, the bill allows the Advisory Council to engage
in the following activities:6
1. Compiling and disseminating to retail businesses and law enforcement agencies
innovative methods of detecting, deterring, preventing, and prosecuting organized retail
theft;
2. Conducting training conferences to educate retail businesses and law enforcement
agencies regarding current and emerging crime trends;
3. Consulting with national, state, and local law enforcement agencies and retail
associations concerning organized retail theft;
4. Educating the public on the problems associated with organized retail theft.
Secure retail theft web portal
The bill requires the Advisory Council to operate a secure retail theft web portal that
complies with applicable data privacy laws, to share real time crime information and intelligence
on organized retail theft between retail businesses and law enforcement agencies to enhance
the identification of offenders and the targeting of criminal enterprises. The Council may utilize,
or coordinate operations with, commercially operated retail theft information sharing services. 7
Definitions – organized theft of retail property
As used in the creation of the Advisory Council described above, the bill defines the
following term:8
▪ “Cargo theft” means the unlawful taking of any cargo including goods, chattels, money,
or baggage that constitutes a commercial shipment of freight moving in any of the
following:
 Commerce;
 A pipeline system;
 A railroad car;
 A motor truck or other vehicle;
 A tank or storage facility;
 A station house, platform, or depot;
 A vessel or wharf;
 An aircraft, airport terminal, airport, aircraft terminal, or air navigation facility;
6 R.C. 177.04(E).
7 R.C. 177.04(D).
8 R.C. 177.02(A)(1).
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 An intermodal container, intermodal chassis, trailer, container freight station, freight
distribution facility,