Enact the Paid Parental Leave Act

As Introduced

136th
General Assembly

Regular
Session
H. B. No. 231

2025-2026

Representatives Williams, Miller, M.

Cosponsors: Representatives Deeter,
Fischer, Gross

A
BILL

To
amend section 5747.98 and to enact section 5747.74 of the Revised
Code
to
create an income tax credit for employers that provide paid parental
leave and to name this act the Paid Parental Leave Act.

BE
IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:

Section
1.
That
section 5747.98 be amended and section 5747.74 of the Revised Code be
enacted to read as follows:

Sec.
5747.74.
(A)
As used in this section:

(1)
"Qualifying employee" means an employee who experiences the
birth, adoption, or stillbirth of a child, provided the employee is
one of the following to the child:

(a)
A parent, as listed on the birth certificate, of the newly born
child;

(b)
A parent, as listed on the fetal death certificate, of the stillborn
child;

(c)
A legal guardian of the newly adopted child who resides in the same
household as that child.

(2)
"Qualifying employer" means a taxpayer or a pass-through
entity who is registered and authorized to use the e-verify federal
employment verification program jointly administered by the United
States department of homeland security and the social security
administration under 8 U.S.C. 1324a, or any of its successor
programs, and that offers a minimum of fifty-six days of parental
leave benefits to employees.

(3)
"Parental leave benefits" means compensation paid to a
qualifying employee while the employee is on leave for a period
following the birth, stillbirth, or adoption of a child, provided
that the compensation is equal to the compensation the employee would
have received if the employee had worked for the qualifying employer
in the employee's job for that period and is paid as part of a policy
of the employer for parental leave that does not deduct time from the
employee's other paid leave time.

(4)
"Stillborn" has the same meaning as in section 124.136 of
the Revised Code.

(B)
There is hereby allowed a nonrefundable credit against a taxpayer's
aggregate tax liability for a taxpayer who is a qualifying employer,
or who owns a direct or indirect interest in a qualifying employer,
that paid parental leave benefits to a qualifying employee. The total
credit available with respect to an employee for each birth,
adoption, or stillbirth shall equal the lesser of the amount of
parental leave benefits paid to the employee or three hundred dollars
for each day of parental leave benefits paid.

In
the case of a taxpayer who is a qualifying employer, the credit shall
be claimed for the taxable year in which the parental leave benefits
are paid. If a taxpayer holds a direct or indirect equity interest in
a qualifying employer that paid parental leave benefits, the taxpayer
shall claim the taxpayer's distributive or proportionate share of the
credit for the taxpayer's taxable year that includes the last day of
the entity's taxable year.

The
total amount of parental leave benefits paid by a qualifying employer
and eligible for the credit allowed under this section per taxable
year shall not exceed fifty four thousand dollars.

(C)
The credit shall be claimed in the order required under section
5747.98 of the Revised Code. Any credit amount in excess of the
aggregate amount of tax due under section 5747.02 of the Revised
Code, after allowing for any other credits preceding the credit in
that order, may be carried forward for three taxable years, but the
amount of the excess credit allowed in any such year shall be
deducted from the balance carried forward to the next year.

(D)
On or before September 1, 2026, and on the first day of each
September thereafter, the tax commissioner shall issue a report
regarding the credit authorized under this section to the
chairpersons of the standing committees of the house of
representatives and senate that deal primarily with taxation. The
report shall include, for the preceding taxable year, the total
number of taxpayers that claimed a credit under this section and the
total value of all credits earned and all credits claimed.

(E)
The tax commissioner may require a taxpayer to furnish any
information necessary to support a claim for a credit under this
section, including the taxpayer's parental leave policy. The
commissioner may adopt any rules necessary to administer this
section. Notwithstanding any provision of section 121.95 of the
Revised Code to the contrary, a regulatory restriction contained in a
rule adopted under this section is not subject to sections 121.95 to
121.953 of the Revised Code.

Sec.
5747.98.
(A)
To provide a uniform procedure for calculating a taxpayer's aggregate
tax liability under section 5747.02 of the Revised Code, a taxpayer
shall claim any credits to which the taxpayer is entitled in the
following order:

Either
the retirement income credit under division (B) of section 5747.055
of the Revised Code or the lump sum retirement income credits under
divisions (C), (D), and (E) of that section;

Either
the senior citizen credit under division (F) of section 5747.055 of
the Revised Code or the lump sum distribution credit under division
(G) of that section;

The
dependent care credit under section 5747.054 of the Revised Code;

The
credit for displaced workers who pay for job training under section
5747.27 of the Revised Code;

The
campaign contribution credit under section 5747.29 of the Revised
Code;

The
twenty-dollar personal exemption credit under section 5747.022 of the
Revised Code;

The
joint filing credit under division (G) of section 5747.05 of the
Revised Code;

The
earned income credit under section 5747.71 of the Revised Code;

The
nonrefundable credit for education expenses under section 5747.72 of
the Revised Code;

The
nonrefundable credit for donations to scholarship granting
organizations under section 5747.73 of the Revised Code;

The
nonrefundable credit for tuition paid to a nonchartered nonpublic
school under section 5747.75 of the Revised Code;

The
nonrefundable vocational job credit under section 5747.057 of the
Revised Code;

The
nonrefundable job retention credit under division (B) of section
5747.058 of the Revised Code;

The
enterprise zone credit under section 5709.66 of the Revised Code;

The
credit for beginning farmers who participate in a financial
management program under division (B) of section 5747.77 of the
Revised Code;

The
credit for parental leave benefits under section 5747.74 of the
Revised Code;

The
credit for commercial vehicle operator training expenses under
section 5747.82 of the Revised Code;

The
nonrefundable welcome home Ohio (WHO) program credit under section
122.633 of the Revised Code;

The
credit for selling or renting agricultural assets to beginning
farmers under division (A) of section 5747.77 of the Revised Code;

The
credit for purchases of qualifying grape production property under
section 5747.28 of the Revised Code;

The
small business investment credit under section 5747.81 of the Revised
Code;

The
nonrefundable lead abatement credit under section 5747.26 of the
Revised Code;

The
opportunity zone investment credit under section 5747.86 of the
Revised Code;

The
enterprise zone credits under section 5709.65 of the Revised Code;

The
research and development credit under section 5747.331 of the Revised
Code;

The
credit for rehabilitating a historic building under section 5747.76
of the Revised Code;

The
nonrefundable Ohio low-income housing tax credit under section
5747.83 of the Revised Code;

The
nonrefundable affordable single-family home credit under section
5747.84 of the Revised Code;

The
nonresident credit under division (A) of section 5747.05 of the
Revised Code;

The
credit for a resident's out-of-state income under division (B) of
section 5747.05 of the Revised Code;

The
refundable motion picture and broadway theatrical production credit
under section 5747.66 of the Revised Code;

The
refundable credit for film and theater capital improvement projects
under section 5747.67 of the Revised Code;

The
refundable jobs creation credit or job retention credit under
division (A) of section 5747.058 of the Revised Code;

The
refundable credit for taxes paid by a qualifying entity granted under
section 5747.059 of the Revised Code;

The
refundable credits for taxes paid by a qualifying pass-through entity
granted under division (I) of section 5747.08 of the Revised Code;

The
refundable credit under section 5747.80 of the Revised Code for
losses on loans made to the Ohio venture capital program under
sections 150.01 to 150.10 of the Revised Code;

The
refundable credit for rehabilitating a historic building under
section 5747.76 of the Revised Code;

The
refundable credit under section 5747.39 of the Revised Code for taxes
levied under section 5747.38 of the Revised Code paid by an electing
pass-through entity.

(B)
For any credit, except the refundable credits enumerated in this
section and the credit granted under division (H) of section 5747.08
of the Revised Code, the amount of the credit for a taxable year
shall not exceed the taxpayer's aggregate amount of tax due under
section 5747.02 of the Revised Code, after allowing for any other
credit that precedes it in the order required under this section. Any
excess amount of a particular credit may be carried forward if
authorized under the section creating that credit. Nothing in this
chapter shall be construed to allow a taxpayer to claim, directly or
indirectly, a credit more than once for a taxable year.

Section
2.
That
existing section 5747.98 of the Revised Code is hereby repealed.

Section
3.
The
amendment or enactment by this act of sections 5747.74 and 5747.98 of
the Revised Code applies to taxable years beginning on or after
January 1, 2025.

Section
4.
This
act shall be known as the Paid Parental Leave Act.