Bills, bills, bills

Lael Ingram and Kat Swift|January 6, 2022

The room here it happens: The Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio is where many legislations regarding our lives as citizens are made.

  • Ohio legislators constantly have plenty of bills in motion and it’s hard to keep up with them all. Luckily, the Chatterbox is here to help. Here are some of the most important bills in circulation right now:
  • The Ohio House of Representatives passed a bill allowing adults 21 or older to carry concealed weapons without a license or permit. The current Ohio law requires all people applying for a conceal and carry permit to go through a background check and receive eight hours of training before obtaining their license. The proposed bill would allow any citizen over 21 to carry a concealed weapon without receiving prior examination or meeting any specific requirements.
  • House Bill 99, which has not undergone a final house vote, would allow teachers in Ohio to carry firearms in the classroom. Teachers would have the right to carry concealed weapons in classrooms as long as they complete 20 hours of initial training along with four additional hours annually.
  • House bill 109 focuses on protests and police interactions with protestors. This bill says that protesters could face up to 180 days in jail if their protests are deemed as illegal or riots. The bill also states that police officers could sue protesters if they are hurt and it creates a fifth-degree assault charge called riot assault.
  • House bill 454, a transgender healthcare bill, would prohibit the use of puberty blockers, hormones and gender reassignments surgeries for trans youth under the age of 18. This could not be overridden even by parental consent of these treatments for their children. This bill would also require teachers to inform parents when a child claims that their gender is different than their assigned sex at birth.