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As Introduced
136th
General Assembly
Regular
Session
H. B. No. 468
2025-2026
Representatives McNally, Rader
Cosponsors: Representatives Brennan,
Lett, Upchurch
A
BILL
To
amend section 4511.01 of the Revised Code
to
designate certain OEPA and PUCO vehicles as public safety vehicles
that are exempt from certain traffic laws and to make an
appropriation.
BE
IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:
Section
1.
That
section 4511.01 of the Revised Code be amended to read as follows:
Sec.
4511.01.
As
used in this chapter and in Chapter 4513. of the Revised Code:
(A)
"Vehicle" means every device, including a motorized bicycle
and an electric bicycle, in, upon, or by which any person or property
may be transported or drawn upon a highway, except that "vehicle"
does not include any motorized wheelchair, any electric personal
assistive mobility device, any low-speed micromobility device, any
personal delivery device as defined in section 4511.513 of the
Revised Code, any device that is moved by power collected from
overhead electric trolley wires or that is used exclusively upon
stationary rails or tracks, or any device, other than a bicycle, that
is moved by human power.
(B)
"Motor vehicle" means every vehicle propelled or drawn by
power other than muscular power or power collected from overhead
electric trolley wires, except motorized bicycles, electric bicycles,
road rollers, traction engines, power shovels, power cranes, and
other equipment used in construction work and not designed for or
employed in general highway transportation, hole-digging machinery,
well-drilling machinery, ditch-digging machinery, farm machinery, and
trailers designed and used exclusively to transport a boat between a
place of storage and a marina, or in and around a marina, when drawn
or towed on a street or highway for a distance of no more than ten
miles and at a speed of twenty-five miles per hour or less.
(C)
"Motorcycle" means every motor vehicle, other than a
tractor, having a seat or saddle for the use of the operator and
designed to travel on not more than three wheels in contact with the
ground, including, but not limited to, motor vehicles known as
"motor-driven cycle," "motor scooter,"
"autocycle," "cab-enclosed motorcycle," or
"motorcycle" without regard to weight or brake horsepower.
(D)
"Emergency vehicle" means emergency vehicles of municipal,
township, or county departments or public utility corporations when
identified as such as required by law, the director of public safety,
or local authorities, and motor vehicles when commandeered by a
police officer.
(E)
"Public safety vehicle" means any of the following:
(1)
Ambulances, including private ambulance companies under contract to a
municipal corporation, township, or county, and private ambulances
and nontransport vehicles bearing license plates issued under section
4503.49 of the Revised Code;
(2)
Motor vehicles used by public law enforcement officers or other
persons sworn to enforce the criminal and traffic laws of the state;
(3)
Any motor vehicle when properly identified as required by the
director of public safety, when used in response to fire emergency
calls or to provide emergency medical service to ill or injured
persons, and when operated by a duly qualified person who is a member
of a volunteer rescue service or a volunteer fire department, and who
is on duty pursuant to the rules or directives of that service. The
state fire marshal shall be designated by the director of public
safety as the certifying agency for all public safety vehicles
described in division (E)(3) of this section.
(4)
Vehicles used by fire departments, including motor vehicles when used
by volunteer fire fighters responding to emergency calls in the fire
department service when identified as required by the director of
public safety.
Any
vehicle used to transport or provide emergency medical service to an
ill or injured person, when certified as a public safety vehicle,
shall be considered a public safety vehicle when transporting an ill
or injured person to a hospital regardless of whether such vehicle
has already passed a hospital.
(5)
Vehicles used by the motor carrier enforcement unit for the
enforcement of orders and rules of the public utilities commission as
specified in section 5503.34 of the Revised Code
;
(6)
Vehicles used by the public utilities commission's hazardous
materials transportation enforcement section for the enforcement of
orders and rules of the public utilities commission or when
responding to hazardous material emergencies;
(7)
Vehicles used by the environmental protection agency environmental
emergency response unit when responding to hazardous material
emergencies or other pollution incidents that affect human health or
the environment
.
(F)
"School bus" means every bus designed for carrying more
than nine passengers that is owned by a public, private, or
governmental agency or institution of learning and operated for the
transportation of children to or from a school session or a school
function, or owned by a private person and operated for compensation
for the transportation of children to or from a school session or a
school function, provided "school bus" does not include a
bus operated by a municipally owned transportation system, a mass
transit company operating exclusively within the territorial limits
of a municipal corporation, or within such limits and the territorial
limits of municipal corporations immediately contiguous to such
municipal corporation, nor a common passenger carrier certified by
the public utilities commission unless such bus is devoted
exclusively to the transportation of children to and from a school
session or a school function, and "school bus" does not
include a van or bus used by a licensed child care center or type A
family child care home to transport children from the child care
center or type A family child care home to a school if the van or bus
does not have more than fifteen children in the van or bus at any
time.
(G)
"Bicycle" means every device, other than a device that is
designed solely for use as a play vehicle by a child, that is
propelled solely by human power upon which a person may ride, and
that has two or more wheels, any of which is more than fourteen
inches in diameter.
(H)
"Motorized bicycle" or "moped" means any vehicle
having either two tandem wheels or one wheel in the front and two
wheels in the rear, that may be pedaled, and that is equipped with a
helper motor of not more than fifty cubic centimeters piston
displacement that produces not more than one brake horsepower and is
capable of propelling the vehicle at a speed of not greater than
twenty miles per hour on a level surface. "Motorized bicycle"
or "moped" does not include an electric bicycle.
(I)
"Commercial tractor" means every motor vehicle having
motive power designed or used for drawing other vehicles and not so
constructed as to carry any load thereon, or designed or used for
drawing other vehicles while carrying a portion of such other
vehicles, or load thereon, or both.
(J)
"Agricultural tractor" means every self-propelling vehicle
designed or used for drawing other vehicles or wheeled machinery but
having no provision for carrying loads independently of such other
vehicles, and used principally for agricultural purposes.
(K)
"Truck" means every motor vehicle, except trailers and
semitrailers, designed and used to carry property.
(L)
"Bus" means every motor vehicle designed for carrying more
than nine passengers and used for the transportation of persons other
than in a ridesharing arrangement, and every motor vehicle,
automobile for hire, or funeral car, other than a taxicab or motor
vehicle used in a ridesharing arrangement, designed and used for the
transportation of persons for compensation.
(M)
"Trailer" means every vehicle designed or used for carrying
persons or property wholly on its own structure and for being drawn
by a motor vehicle, including any such vehicle when formed by or
operated as a combination of a "semitrailer" and a vehicle
of the dolly type, such as that commonly known as a "trailer
dolly," a vehicle used to transport agricultural produce or
agricultural production materials between a local place of storage or
supply and the farm when drawn or towed on a street or highway at a
speed greater than twenty-five miles per hour, and a vehicle designed
and used exclusively to transport a boat between a place of storage
and a marina, or in and around a marina, when drawn or towed on a
street or highway for a distance of more than ten miles or at a speed
of more than twenty-five miles per hour.
(N)
"Semitrailer" means every vehicle designed or used for
carrying persons or property with another and separate motor vehicle
so that in operation a part of its own weight or that of its load, or
both, rests upon and is carried by another vehicle.
(O)
"Pole trailer" means every trailer or semitrailer attached
to the towing vehicle by means of a reach, pole, or by being boomed
or otherwise secured to the towing vehicle, and ordinarily used for
transporting long or irregular shaped loads such as poles, pipes, or
structural members capable, generally, of sustaining themselves as
beams between the supporting connections.
(P)
"Railroad" means a carrier of persons or property operating
upon rails placed principally on a private right-of-way.
(Q)
"Railroad train" means a steam engine or an electric or
other motor, with or without cars coupled thereto, operated by a
railroad.
(R)
"Streetcar" means a car, other than a railroad train, for
transporting persons or property, operated upon rails principally
within a street or highway.
(S)
"Trackless trolley" means every car that collects its power
from overhead electric trolley wires and that is not operated upon
rails or tracks.
(T)
"Explosives" means any chemical compound or mechanical
mixture that is intended for the purpose of producing an explosion
that contains any oxidizing and combustible units or other
ingredients in such proportions, quantities, or packing that an
ignition by fire, by friction, by concussion, by percussion, or by a
detonator of any part of the compound or mixture may cause such a
sudden generation of highly heated gases that the resultant gaseous
pressures are capable of producing destructive effects on contiguous
objects, or of destroying life or limb. Manufactured articles shall
not be held to be explosives when the individual units contain
explosives in such limited quantities, of such nature, or in such
packing, that it is impossible to procure a simultaneous or a
destructive explosion of such units, to the injury of life, limb, or
property by fire, by friction, by concussion, by percussion, or by a
detonator, such as fixed ammunition for small arms, firecrackers, or
safety fuse matches.
(U)
"Flammable liquid" means any liquid that has a flash point
of seventy degrees fahrenheit, or less, as determined by a tagliabue
or equivalent closed cup test device.
(V)
"Gross weight" means the weight of a vehicle plus the
weight of any load thereon.
(W)
"Person" means every natural person, firm, co-partnership,
association, or corporation.
(X)
"Pedestrian" means any natural person afoot. "Pedestrian"
includes a personal delivery device as defined in section 4511.513 of
the Revised Code unless the context clearly suggests otherwise.
(Y)
"Driver or operator" means every person who drives or is in
actual physical control of a vehicle, trackless trolley, or
streetcar.
(Z)
"Police officer" means every officer authorized to direct
or regulate traffic, or to make arrests for violations of traffic
regulations.
(AA)
"Local authorities" means every county, municipal, and
other local board or body having authority to adopt police
regulations under the constitution and laws of this state.
(BB)
"Street" or "highway" means the entire width
between the boundary lines of every way open to the use of the public
as a thoroughfare for purposes of vehicular travel.
(CC)
"Controlled-access highway" means every street or highway
in respect to which owners or occupants of abutting lands and other
persons have no legal right of access to or from the same except at
such points only and in such manner as may be determined by the
public authority having jurisdiction over such street or highway.
(DD)
"Private road or driveway" means every way or place in
private ownership used for vehicular travel by the owner and those
having express or implied permission from the owner but not by other
persons.
(EE)
"Roadway" means that portion of a highway improved,
designed, or ordinarily used for vehicular travel, except the berm or
shoulder. If a highway includes two or more separate roadways the
term "roadway" means any such roadway separately but not
all such roadways collectively.
(FF)
"Sidewalk" means that portion of a street between the curb
lines, or the lateral lines of a roadway, and the adjacent property
lines, intended for the use of pedestrians.
(GG)
"Laned highway" means a highway the roadway of which is
divided into two or more clearly marked lanes for vehicular traffic.
(HH)
"Through highway" means every street or highway as provided
in section 4511.65 of the Revised Code.
(II)
"State highway" means a highway under the jurisdiction of
the department of transportation, outside the limits of municipal
corporations, provided that the authority conferred upon the director
of transportation in section 5511.01 of the Revised Code to erect
state highway route markers and signs directing traffic shall not be
modified by sections 4511.01 to 4511.79 and 4511.99 of the Revised
Code.
(JJ)
"State route" means every highway that is designated with
an official state route number and so marked.
(KK)
"Intersection" means:
(1)
The area embraced within the prolongation or connection of the
lateral curb lines, or, if none, the lateral boundary lines of the
roadways of two highways that join one another at, or approximately
at, right angles, or the area within which vehicles traveling upon
different highways that join at any other angle might come into
conflict. The junction of an alley or driveway with a roadway or
highway does not constitute an intersection unless the roadway or
highway at the junction is controlled by a traffic control device.
(2)
If a highway includes two roadways that are thirty feet or more
apart, then every crossing of each roadway of such divided highway by
an intersecting highway constitutes a separate intersection. If both
intersecting highways include two roadways thirty feet or more apart,
then every crossing of any two roadways of such highways constitutes
a separate intersection.
(3)
At a location controlled by a traffic control signal, regardless of
the distance between the separate intersections as described in
division (KK)(2) of this section:
(a)
If a stop line, yield line, or crosswalk has not been designated on
the roadway within the median between the separate intersections, the
two intersections and the roadway and median constitute one
intersection.
(b)
Where a stop line, yield line, or crosswalk line is designated on the
roadway on the intersection approach, the area within the crosswalk
and any area beyond the designated stop line or yield line constitute
part of the intersection.
(c)
Where a crosswalk is designated on a roadway on the departure from
the intersection, the intersection includes the area that extends to
the far side of the crosswalk.
(LL)
"Crosswalk" means:
(1)
That part of a roadway at intersections ordinarily included within
the real or projected prolongation of property lines and curb lines
or, in the absence of curbs, the edges of the traversable roadway;
(2)
Any portion of a roadway at an intersection or elsewhere, distinctly
indicated for pedestrian crossing by lines or other markings on the
surface;
(3)
Notwithstanding divisions (LL)(1) and (2) of this section, there
shall not be a crosswalk where local authorities have placed signs
indicating no crossing.
(MM)
"Safety zone" means the area or space officially set apart
within a roadway for the exclusive use of pedestrians and protected
or marked or indicated by adequate signs as to be plainly visible at
all times.
(NN)
"Business district" means the territory fronting upon a
street or highway, including the street or highway, between
successive intersections within municipal corporations where fifty
per cent or more of the frontage between such successive
intersections is occupied by buildings in use for business, or within
or outside municipal corporations where fifty per cent or more of the
frontage for a distance of three hundred feet or more is occupied by
buildings in use for business, and the character of such territory is
indicated by official traffic control devices.
(OO)
"Residence district" means the territory, not comprising a
business district, fronting on a street or highway, including the
street or highway, where, for a distance of three hundred feet or
more, the frontage is improved with residences or residences and
buildings in use for business.
(PP)
"Urban district" means the territory contiguous to and
including any street or highway which is built up with structures
devoted to business, industry, or dwelling houses situated at
intervals of less than one hundred feet for a distance of a quarter
of a mile or more, and the character of such territory is indicated
by official traffic control devices.
(QQ)
"Traffic control device" means a flagger, sign, signal,
marking, or other device used to regulate, warn, or guide traffic,
placed on, over, or adjacent to a street, highway, private road open
to public travel, pedestrian facility, or shared-use path by
authority of a public agency or official having jurisdiction, or, in
the case of a private road open to public travel, by authority of the
private owner or private official having jurisdiction.
(RR)
"Traffic control signal" means any highway traffic signal
by which traffic is alternately directed to stop and permitted to
proceed.
(SS)
"Railroad sign or signal" means any sign, signal, or device
erected by authority of a public body or official or by a railroad
and intended to give notice of the presence of railroad tracks or the
approach of a railroad train.
(TT)
"Traffic" means pedestrians, ridden or herded animals,
vehicles, streetcars, trackless trolleys, and other devices, either
singly or together, while using for purposes of travel any highway or
private road open to public travel.
(UU)
"Right-of-way" means either of the following, as the
context requires:
(1)
The right of a vehicle, streetcar, trackless trolley, or pedestrian
to proceed uninterruptedly in a lawful manner in the direction in
which it or the individual is moving in preference to another
vehicle, streetcar, trackless trolley, or pedestrian approaching from
a different direction into its or the individual's path;
(2)
A general term denoting land, property, or the interest therein,
usually in the configuration of a strip, acquired for or devoted to
transportation purposes. When used in this context, right-of-way
includes the roadway, shoulders or berm, ditch, and slopes extending
to the right-of-way limits under the control of the state or local
authority.
(VV)
"Rural mail delivery vehicle" means every vehicle used to
deliver United States mail on a rural mail delivery route.
(WW)
"Funeral escort vehicle" means any motor vehicle, including
a funeral hearse, while used to facilitate the movement of a funeral
procession.
(XX)
"Alley" means a street or highway intended to provide
access to the rear or side of lots or buildings in urban districts
and not intended for the purpose of through vehicular traffic, and
includes any street or highway that has been declared an "alley"
by the legislative authority of the municipal corporation in which
such street or highway is located.
(YY)
"Freeway" means a divided multi-lane highway for through
traffic with all crossroads separated in grade and with full control
of access.
(ZZ)
"Expressway" means a divided arterial highway for through
traffic with full or partial control of access with an excess of
fifty per cent of all crossroads separated in grade.
(AAA)
"Thruway" means a through highway whose entire roadway is
reserved for through traffic and on which roadway parking is
prohibited.
(BBB)
"Stop intersection" means any intersection at one or more
entrances of which stop signs are erected.
(CCC)
"Arterial street" means any United States or state numbered
route, controlled access highway, or other major radial or
circumferential street or highway designated by local authorities
within their respective jurisdictions as part of a major arterial
system of streets or highways.
(DDD)
"Ridesharing arrangement" means the transportation of
persons in a motor vehicle where such transportation is incidental to
another purpose of a volunteer driver and includes ridesharing
arrangements known as carpools, vanpools, and buspools.
(EEE)
"Motorized wheelchair" means any self-propelled vehicle
designed for, and used by, a person with a disability and that is
incapable of a speed in excess of eight miles per hour.
(FFF)
"Child care center" and "type A family child care
home" have the same meanings as in section 5104.01 of the
Revised Code.
(GGG)
"Multi-wheel agricultural tractor" means a type of
agricultural tractor that has two or more wheels or tires on each
side of one axle at the rear of the tractor, is designed or used for
drawing other vehicles or wheeled machinery, has no provision for
carrying loads independently of the drawn vehicles or machinery, and
is used principally for agricultural purposes.
(HHH)
"Operate" means to cause or have caused movement of a
vehicle, streetcar, or trackless trolley.
(III)
"Predicate motor vehicle or traffic offense" means any of
the following:
(1)
A violation of section 4511.03, 4511.051, 4511.12, 4511.132, 4511.16,
4511.20, 4511.201, 4511.21, 4511.211, 4511.213, 4511.22, 4511.23,
4511.25, 4511.26, 4511.27, 4511.28, 4511.29, 4511.30, 4511.31,
4511.32, 4511.33, 4511.34, 4511.35, 4511.36, 4511.37, 4511.38,
4511.39, 4511.40, 4511.41, 4511.42, 4511.43, 4511.431, 4511.432,
4511.44, 4511.441, 4511.451, 4511.452, 4511.46, 4511.47, 4511.48,
4511.481, 4511.49, 4511.50, 4511.511, 4511.522, 4511.53, 4511.54,
4511.55, 4511.56, 4511.57, 4511.58, 4511.59, 4511.60, 4511.61,
4511.64, 4511.66, 4511.661, 4511.68, 4511.70, 4511.701, 4511.71,
4511.711, 4511.712, 4511.713, 4511.72, 4511.73, 4511.763, 4511.771,
4511.78, or 4511.84 of the Revised Code;
(2)
A violation of division (A)(2) of section 4511.17, divisions (A) to
(D) of section 4511.51, or division (A) of section 4511.74 of the
Revised Code;
(3)
A violation of any provision of sections 4511.01 to 4511.76 of the
Revised Code for which no penalty otherwise is provided in the
section that contains the provision violated;
(4)
A violation of section 4511.214 of the Revised Code;
(5)
A violation of a municipal ordinance that is substantially similar to
any section or provision set forth or described in division (III)(1),
(2), (3), or (4) of this section.
(JJJ)
"Road service vehicle" means wreckers, utility repair
vehicles, and state, county, and municipal service vehicles equipped
with visual signals by means of flashing, rotating, or oscillating
lights.
(KKK)
"Beacon" means a highway traffic signal with one or more
signal sections that operate in a flashing mode.
(LLL)
"Hybrid beacon" means a type of beacon that is
intentionally placed in a dark mode between periods of operation
where no indications are displayed and, when in operation, displays
both steady and flashing traffic control signal indications.
(MMM)
"Highway traffic signal" means a power-operated traffic
control device by which traffic is warned or directed to take some
specific action. "Highway traffic signal" does not include
a power-operated sign, steadily illuminated pavement marker, warning
light, or steady burning electric lamp.
(NNN)
"Median" means the area between two roadways of a divided
highway, measured from edge of traveled way to edge of traveled way,
but excluding turn lanes. The width of a median may be different
between intersections, between interchanges, and at opposite
approaches of the same intersection.
(OOO)
"Private road open to public travel" means a private toll
road or road, including any adjacent sidewalks that generally run
parallel to the road, within a shopping center, airport, sports
arena, or other similar business or recreation facility that is
privately owned but where the public is allowed to travel without
access restrictions. "Private road open to public travel"
includes a gated toll road but does not include a road within a
private gated property where access is restricted at all times, a
parking area, a driving aisle within a parking area, or a private
grade crossing.
(PPP)
"Shared-use path" means a bikeway outside the traveled way
and physically separated from motorized vehicular traffic by an open
space or barrier and either within the highway right-of-way or within
an independent alignment. A shared-use path also may be used by
pedestrians, including skaters, joggers, users of manual and
motorized wheelchairs, and other authorized motorized and
non-motorized users. A shared-use path does not include any trail
that is intended to be used primarily for mountain biking, hiking,
equestrian use, or other similar uses, or any other single track or
natural surface trail that has historically been reserved for
nonmotorized use.
(QQQ)
"Highway maintenance vehicle" means a vehicle used in snow
and ice removal or road surface maintenance, including a snow plow,
traffic line striper, road sweeper, mowing machine, asphalt
distributing vehicle, or other such vehicle designed for use in
specific highway maintenance activities.
(RRR)
"Waste collection vehicle" means a vehicle used in the
collection of garbage, refuse, trash, or recyclable materials.
(SSS)
"Electric bicycle" means a "class 1 electric bicycle,"
a "class 2 electric bicycle," or a "class 3 electric
bicycle" as defined in this section.
(TTT)
"Class 1 electric bicycle" means a bicycle that is equipped
with fully operable pedals and an electric motor of less than seven
hundred fifty watts that provides assistance only when the rider is
pedaling and ceases to provide assistance when the bicycle reaches
the speed of twenty miles per hour.
(UUU)
"Class 2 electric bicycle" means a bicycle that is equipped
with fully operable pedals and an electric motor of less than seven
hundred fifty watts that may provide assistance regardless of whether
the rider is pedaling and is not capable of providing assistance when
the bicycle reaches the speed of twenty miles per hour.
(VVV)
"Class 3 electric bicycle" means a bicycle that is equipped
with fully operable pedals and an electric motor of less than seven
hundred fifty watts that provides assistance only when the rider is
pedaling and ceases to provide assistance when the bicycle reaches
the speed of twenty-eight miles per hour.
(WWW)
"Low-speed micromobility device" means a device weighing
less than one hundred pounds that has handlebars, is propelled by an
electric motor or human power, and has an attainable speed on a paved
level surface of not more than twenty miles per hour when propelled
by the electric motor.
(XXX)
"Natural resources officer" means an officer appointed
pursuant to section 1501.24 of the Revised Code.
(YYY)
"Wildlife officer" means an officer designated pursuant to
section 1531.13 of the Revised Code.
Section
2.
That
existing section 4511.01 of the Revised Code is hereby repealed.
Section
3.
All
items in this act are hereby appropriated as designated out of any
moneys in the state treasury to the credit of the designated fund.
For all operating appropriations made in this act, those in the first
column are for fiscal year 2024 and those in the second column are
for fiscal year 2025. The operating appropriations made in this act
are in addition to any other operating appropriations made for these
fiscal years.
Section
4.
1
2
3
4
5
A
EPA
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
B
General
Revenue Fund
C
GRF
715406
Emergency
Response
$0
$1,315,000
D
TOTAL
GRF General Revenue Fund
$0
$1,315,000
E
TOTAL
ALL BUDGET FUND GROUPS
$0
$1,315,000
Emergency
Response
The
foregoing appropriation item 715406, Emergency Response, shall be
used to purchase and upgrade equipment used by the Office of
Emergency Response.
Section
5.
Within
the limits set forth in this act, the Director of Budget and
Management shall establish accounts indicating the source and amount
of funds for each appropriation made in this act, and shall determine
the manner in which appropriation accounts shall be maintained.
Expenditures from operating appropriations contained in this act
shall be accounted for as though made in, and are subject to all
applicable provisions of, H.B. 33 of the 135th General Assembly.