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As Introduced
136th
General Assembly
Regular
Session
H. B. No. 518
2025-2026
Representative Bird
To
amend sections 2151.354, 2152.19, and 2919.24 of the Revised Code
relative
to truancy and contributing to the unruliness or delinquency of a
child.
BE
IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:
Section
1.
That
sections 2151.354, 2152.19, and 2919.24 of the Revised Code be
amended to read as follows:
Sec.
2151.354.
(A)
If the child is adjudicated an unruly child, the court may:
(1)
Make any of the dispositions authorized under section 2151.353 of the
Revised Code;
(2)
Place the child on community control under any sanctions, services,
and conditions that the court prescribes, as described in division
(A)(4) of section 2152.19 of the Revised Code, provided that, if the
court imposes a period of community service upon the child, the
period of community service shall not exceed one hundred seventy-five
hours;
(3)
Suspend the driver's license, probationary driver's license, or
temporary instruction permit issued to the child for a period of time
prescribed by the court and suspend the registration of all motor
vehicles registered in the name of the child for a period of time
prescribed by the court. A child whose license or permit is so
suspended is ineligible for issuance of a license or permit during
the period of suspension. At the end of the period of suspension, the
child shall not be reissued a license or permit until the child has
paid any applicable reinstatement fee and complied with all
requirements governing license reinstatement.
(4)
Commit the child to the temporary or permanent custody of the court;
(5)
Make any further disposition the court finds proper that is
consistent with sections 2151.312 and 2151.56 to 2151.59 of the
Revised Code;
(6)
If, after making a disposition under division (A)(1), (2), or (3) of
this section, the court finds upon further hearing that the child is
not amenable to treatment or rehabilitation under that disposition,
make a disposition otherwise authorized under divisions (A)(1), (4),
(5), and (8) of section 2152.19 of the Revised Code that is
consistent with sections 2151.312 and 2151.56 to 2151.59 of the
Revised Code.
(B)
If a child is adjudicated an unruly child for committing any act
that, if committed by an adult, would be a drug abuse offense, as
defined in section 2925.01 of the Revised Code, or a violation of
division (B) of section 2917.11 of the Revised Code, in addition to
imposing, in its discretion, any other order of disposition
authorized by this section, the court shall do both of the following:
(1)
Require the child to participate in a drug abuse or alcohol abuse
counseling program;
(2)
Suspend the temporary instruction permit, probationary driver's
license, or driver's license issued to the child for a period of time
prescribed by the court. The court, in its discretion, may terminate
the suspension if the child attends and satisfactorily completes a
drug abuse or alcohol abuse education, intervention, or treatment
program specified by the court. During the time the child is
attending a program as described in this division, the court shall
retain the child's temporary instruction permit, probationary
driver's license, or driver's license, and the court shall return the
permit or license if it terminates the suspension.
(C)(1)
If a child is adjudicated an unruly child for being an habitual
truant, in addition to or in lieu of imposing any other order of
disposition authorized by this section, the court may do any of the
following:
(a)
Order the board of education of the child's school district or the
governing board of the educational service center in the child's
school district to require the child to attend an alternative school
if an alternative school has been established pursuant to section
3313.533 of the Revised Code in the school district in which the
child is entitled to attend school;
(b)
Require the child to participate in any academic program or community
service program;
(c)
Require the child to participate in a drug abuse or alcohol abuse
counseling program;
(d)
Require that the child receive appropriate medical or psychological
treatment or counseling;
(e)
Maintain
jurisdiction over the child during the subsequent school year for the
purpose of monitoring the child's attendance.
(f)
Make
any other order that the court finds proper to address the child's
habitual truancy, including an order requiring the child to not be
absent without legitimate excuse from the public school the child is
supposed to attend for thirty or more consecutive hours, forty-two or
more hours in one school month, or seventy-two or more hours in a
school year and including an order requiring the child to participate
in a truancy prevention mediation program.
(2)
If a child is adjudicated an unruly child for being an habitual
truant and the court determines that the parent, guardian, or other
person having care of the child has failed to cause the child's
attendance at school in violation of section 3321.38 of the Revised
Code, in addition to any order of disposition authorized by this
section, all of the following apply:
(a)
The court may require the parent, guardian, or other person having
care of the child to participate in any community service program,
preferably a community service program that requires the involvement
of the parent, guardian, or other person having care of the child in
the school attended by the child.
(b)
The court may require the parent, guardian, or other person having
care of the child to participate in a truancy prevention mediation
program.
(c)
The court shall warn the parent, guardian, or other person having
care of the child that any subsequent adjudication of the child as an
unruly or delinquent child for being an habitual truant or for
violating a court order regarding the child's prior adjudication as
an unruly child for being an habitual truant, may result in a
criminal charge against the parent, guardian, or other person having
care of the child for a violation of division (C) of section 2919.21
or section 2919.24 of the Revised Code.
(d)
Not later than ten days after a child is adjudicated an unruly child
for being an habitual truant, the court shall provide notice of that
fact to the school district in which the child is entitled to attend
school and to the school in which the child was enrolled at the time
of the filing of the complaint.
Sec.
2152.19.
(A)
If a child is adjudicated a delinquent child, the court may make any
of the following orders of disposition, in addition to any other
disposition authorized or required by this chapter:
(1)
Any order that is authorized by section 2151.353 of the Revised Code
for the care and protection of an abused, neglected, or dependent
child;
(2)
Commit the child to the temporary custody of any school, camp,
institution, or other facility operated for the care of delinquent
children by the county, by a district organized under section 2152.41
or 2151.65 of the Revised Code, or by a private agency or
organization, within or without the state, that is authorized and
qualified to provide the care, treatment, or placement required,
including, but not limited to, a school, camp, or facility operated
under section 2151.65 of the Revised Code;
(3)
Place the child in a detention facility or district detention
facility operated under section 2152.41 of the Revised Code, for up
to ninety days;
(4)
Place the child on community control under any sanctions, services,
and conditions that the court prescribes. As a condition of community
control in every case and in addition to any other condition that it
imposes upon the child, the court shall require the child to abide by
the law during the period of community control. As referred to in
this division, community control includes, but is not limited to, the
following sanctions and conditions:
(a)
A period of basic probation supervision in which the child is
required to maintain contact with a person appointed to supervise the
child in accordance with sanctions imposed by the court;
(b)
A period of intensive probation supervision in which the child is
required to maintain frequent contact with a person appointed by the
court to supervise the child while the child is seeking or
maintaining employment and participating in training, education, and
treatment programs as the order of disposition;
(c)
A period of day reporting in which the child is required each day to
report to and leave a center or another approved reporting location
at specified times in order to participate in work, education or
training, treatment, and other approved programs at the center or
outside the center;
(d)
A period of community service of up to five hundred hours for an act
that would be a felony or a misdemeanor of the first degree if
committed by an adult, up to two hundred hours for an act that would
be a misdemeanor of the second, third, or fourth degree if committed
by an adult, or up to thirty hours for an act that would be a minor
misdemeanor if committed by an adult;
(e)
A requirement that the child obtain a high school diploma, a
certificate of high school equivalence, vocational training, or
employment;
(f)
A period of drug and alcohol use monitoring;
(g)
A requirement of alcohol or drug assessment or counseling, or a
period in an alcohol or drug treatment program with a level of
security for the child as determined necessary by the court;
(h)
A period in which the court orders the child to observe a curfew that
may involve daytime or evening hours;
(i)
A requirement that the child serve monitored time;
(j)
A period of house arrest without electronic monitoring or continuous
alcohol monitoring;
(k)
A period of electronic monitoring or continuous alcohol monitoring
without house arrest, or house arrest with electronic monitoring or
continuous alcohol monitoring or both electronic monitoring and
continuous alcohol monitoring, that does not exceed the maximum
sentence of imprisonment that could be imposed upon an adult who
commits the same act.
A
period of house arrest with electronic monitoring or continuous
alcohol monitoring or both electronic monitoring and continuous
alcohol monitoring, imposed under this division shall not extend
beyond the child's twenty-first birthday. If a court imposes a period
of house arrest with electronic monitoring or continuous alcohol
monitoring or both electronic monitoring and continuous alcohol
monitoring, upon a child under this division, it shall require the
child: to remain in the child's home or other specified premises for
the entire period of house arrest with electronic monitoring or
continuous alcohol monitoring or both except when the court permits
the child to leave those premises to go to school or to other
specified premises. Regarding electronic monitoring, the court also
shall require the child to be monitored by a central system that can
determine the child's location at designated times; to report
periodically to a person designated by the court; and to enter into a
written contract with the court agreeing to comply with all
requirements imposed by the court, agreeing to pay any fee imposed by
the court for the costs of the house arrest with electronic
monitoring, and agreeing to waive the right to receive credit for any
time served on house arrest with electronic monitoring toward the
period of any other dispositional order imposed upon the child if the
child violates any of the requirements of the dispositional order of
house arrest with electronic monitoring. The court also may impose
other reasonable requirements upon the child.
Unless
ordered by the court, a child shall not receive credit for any time
served on house arrest with electronic monitoring or continuous
alcohol monitoring or both toward any other dispositional order
imposed upon the child for the act for which was imposed the
dispositional order of house arrest with electronic monitoring or
continuous alcohol monitoring. As used in this division and division
(A)(4)(l) of this section, "continuous alcohol monitoring"
has the same meaning as in section 2929.01 of the Revised Code.
(l)
A suspension of the driver's license, probationary driver's license,
or temporary instruction permit issued to the child for a period of
time prescribed by the court, or a suspension of the registration of
all motor vehicles registered in the name of the child for a period
of time prescribed by the court. A child whose license or permit is
so suspended is ineligible for issuance of a license or permit during
the period of suspension. At the end of the period of suspension, the
child shall not be reissued a license or permit until the child has
paid any applicable reinstatement fee and complied with all
requirements governing license reinstatement.
(5)
Commit the child to the custody of the court;
(6)
Require the child to not be absent without legitimate excuse from the
public school the child is supposed to attend for thirty or more
consecutive hours, forty-two or more hours in one school month, or
seventy-two or more hours in a school year;
(7)(a)
If a child is adjudicated a delinquent child for violating a court
order regarding the child's prior adjudication as an unruly child for
being a habitual truant, do either or both of the following:
(i)
Require the child to participate in a truancy prevention mediation
program;
(ii)
Make any order of disposition as authorized by this section, except
that the court shall not commit the child to a facility described in
division (A)(2) or (3) of this section unless the court determines
that the child violated a lawful court order made pursuant to
division
(C)(1)(e)
(C)(1)(f)
of section 2151.354 of the Revised Code or division (A)(6) of this
section.
(b)
If a child is adjudicated a delinquent child for violating a court
order regarding the child's prior adjudication as an unruly child for
being a habitual truant and the court determines that the parent,
guardian, or other person having care of the child has failed to
cause the child's attendance at school in violation of section
3321.38 of the Revised Code, do either or both of the following:
(i)
Require the parent, guardian, or other person having care of the
child to participate in a truancy prevention mediation program;
(ii)
Require the parent, guardian, or other person having care of the
child to participate in any community service program, preferably a
community service program that requires the involvement of the
parent, guardian, or other person having care of the child in the
school attended by the child.
(8)
Make any further disposition that the court finds proper, except that
the child shall not be placed in a state correctional institution, a
county, multicounty, or municipal jail or workhouse, or another place
in which an adult convicted of a crime, under arrest, or charged with
a crime is held.
(B)
If a child is adjudicated a delinquent child, in addition to any
order of disposition made under division (A) of this section, the
court, in the following situations and for the specified periods of
time, shall suspend the child's temporary instruction permit,
restricted license, probationary driver's license, or nonresident
operating privilege, or suspend the child's ability to obtain such a
permit:
(1)
If the child is adjudicated a delinquent child for violating section
2923.122 of the Revised Code, impose a class four suspension of the
child's license, permit, or privilege from the range specified in
division (A)(4) of section 4510.02 of the Revised Code or deny the
child the issuance of a license or permit in accordance with division
(F)(1) of section 2923.122 of the Revised Code.
(2)
If the child is adjudicated a delinquent child for committing an act
that if committed by an adult would be a drug abuse offense or for
violating division (B) of section 2917.11 of the Revised Code,
suspend the child's license, permit, or privilege for a period of
time prescribed by the court. The court, in its discretion, may
terminate the suspension if the child attends and satisfactorily
completes a drug abuse or alcohol abuse education, intervention, or
treatment program specified by the court. During the time the child
is attending a program described in this division, the court shall
retain the child's temporary instruction permit, probationary
driver's license, or driver's license, and the court shall return the
permit or license if it terminates the suspension as described in
this division.
(C)
The court may establish a victim-offender mediation program in which
victims and their offenders meet to discuss the offense and suggest
possible restitution. If the court obtains the assent of the victim
of the delinquent act committed by the child, the court may require
the child to participate in the program.
(D)(1)
If a child is adjudicated a delinquent child for committing an act
that would be a felony if committed by an adult and if the child
caused, attempted to cause, threatened to cause, or created a risk of
physical harm to the victim of the act, the court, prior to issuing
an order of disposition under this section, shall order the
preparation of a victim impact statement by the probation department
of the county in which the victim of the act resides, by the court's
own probation department, or by a victim assistance program that is
operated by the state, a county, a municipal corporation, or another
governmental entity. The court shall consider the victim impact
statement in determining the order of disposition to issue for the
child.
(2)
Each victim impact statement shall identify the victim of the act for
which the child was adjudicated a delinquent child, itemize any
economic loss suffered by the victim as a result of the act, identify
any physical injury suffered by the victim as a result of the act and
the seriousness and permanence of the injury, identify any change in
the victim's personal welfare or familial relationships as a result
of the act and any psychological impact experienced by the victim or
the victim's family as a result of the act, and contain any other
information related to the impact of the act upon the victim that the
court requires.
(3)
A victim impact statement shall be kept confidential and is not a
public record. However, the court may furnish copies of the statement
to the department of youth services if the delinquent child is
committed to the department or to both the adjudicated delinquent
child or the adjudicated delinquent child's counsel and the
prosecuting attorney. The copy of a victim impact statement furnished
by the court to the department pursuant to this section shall be kept
confidential and is not a public record. If an officer is preparing
pursuant to section 2947.06 or 2951.03 of the Revised Code or
Criminal Rule 32.2 a presentence investigation report pertaining to a
person, the court shall make available to the officer, for use in
preparing the report, a copy of any victim impact statement regarding
that person. The copies of a victim impact statement that are made
available to the adjudicated delinquent child or the adjudicated
delinquent child's counsel and the prosecuting attorney pursuant to
this division shall be returned to the court by the person to whom
they were made available immediately following the imposition of an
order of disposition for the child under this chapter.
The
copy of a victim impact statement that is made available pursuant to
this division to an officer preparing a criminal presentence
investigation report shall be returned to the court by the officer
immediately following its use in preparing the report.
(4)
The department of youth services shall work with local probation
departments and victim assistance programs to develop a standard
victim impact statement.
(E)(1)
If a child is adjudicated a delinquent child for violating a court
order regarding the child's prior adjudication as an unruly child for
being a habitual truant and the court determines that the parent,
guardian, or other person having care of the child has failed to
cause the child's attendance at school in violation of section
3321.38 of the Revised Code, in addition to any order of disposition
it makes under this section, the court shall warn the parent,
guardian, or other person having care of the child that any
subsequent adjudication with regard to truancy may result in a
criminal charge against the parent, guardian, or other person having
care of the child for a violation of division (C) of section 2919.21
or section 2919.24 of the Revised Code.
(2)
Not later than ten days after a child is adjudicated a delinquent
child for violating a court order regarding the child's prior
adjudication as an unruly child for being an habitual truant, the
court shall provide notice of that fact to the school district in
which the child is entitled to attend school and to the school in
which the child was enrolled at the time of the filing of the
complaint.
(F)(1)
During the period of a delinquent child's community control granted
under this section, authorized probation officers who are engaged
within the scope of their supervisory duties or responsibilities may
search, with or without a warrant, the person of the delinquent
child, the place of residence of the delinquent child, and a motor
vehicle, another item of tangible or intangible personal property, or
other real property in which the delinquent child has a right, title,
or interest or for which the delinquent child has the express or
implied permission of a person with a right, title, or interest to
use, occupy, or possess if the probation officers have reasonable
grounds to believe that the delinquent child is not abiding by the
law or otherwise is not complying with the conditions of the
delinquent child's community control. The court that places a
delinquent child on community control under this section shall
provide the delinquent child with a written notice that informs the
delinquent child that authorized probation officers who are engaged
within the scope of their supervisory duties or responsibilities may
conduct those types of searches during the period of community
control if they have reasonable grounds to believe that the
delinquent child is not abiding by the law or otherwise is not
complying with the conditions of the delinquent child's community
control. The court also shall provide the written notice described in
division (E)(2) of this section to each parent, guardian, or
custodian of the delinquent child who is described in that division.
(2)
The court that places a child on community control under this section
shall provide the child's parent, guardian, or other custodian with a
written notice that informs them that authorized probation officers
may conduct searches pursuant to division (E)(1) of this section. The
notice shall specifically state that a permissible search might
extend to a motor vehicle, another item of tangible or intangible
personal property, or a place of residence or other real property in
which a notified parent, guardian, or custodian has a right, title,
or interest and that the parent, guardian, or custodian expressly or
impliedly permits the child to use, occupy, or possess.
(G)
If a juvenile court commits a delinquent child to the custody of any
person, organization, or entity pursuant to this section and if the
delinquent act for which the child is so committed is a sexually
oriented offense or is a child-victim oriented offense, the court in
the order of disposition shall do one of the following:
(1)
Require that the child be provided treatment as described in division
(A)(2) of section 5139.13 of the Revised Code;
(2)
Inform the person, organization, or entity that it is the preferred
course of action in this state that the child be provided treatment
as described in division (A)(2) of section 5139.13 of the Revised
Code and encourage the person, organization, or entity to provide
that treatment.
Sec.
2919.24.
(A)
As used in this section:
(1)
"Delinquent child" has the same meaning as in section
2152.02 of the Revised Code.
(2)
"Unruly child" has the same meaning as in section 2151.022
of the Revised Code.
(B)
No person, including a parent, guardian, or other custodian of a
child, shall do any of the following:
(1)
Aid, abet, induce, cause, encourage, or contribute to a child or a
ward of the juvenile court becoming an unruly child or a delinquent
child;
(2)
Act in a way tending to cause a child or a ward of the juvenile court
to become an unruly child or a delinquent child;
(3)
Act in a way that contributes to
an
adjudication of the child as a delinquent child based on the child's
violation of a court order adjudicating the child an unruly
a
child
for
being
an
a
habitual
truant;
(4)
If the person is the parent, guardian, or custodian of a child who
has the duties under Chapters 2152. and 2950. of the Revised Code to
register, register a new residence address, and periodically verify a
residence address, and, if applicable, to send a notice of intent to
reside, and if the child is not emancipated, as defined in section
2919.121 of the Revised Code, fail to ensure that the child complies
with those duties under Chapters 2152. and 2950. of the Revised Code.
(C)
An
adjudication of a child as being unruly or delinquent is unnecessary
for a conviction under this section.
(D)
Whoever
violates this section is guilty of contributing to the unruliness or
delinquency of a child, a misdemeanor of the first degree. Each day
of violation of this section is a separate offense.
Section
2.
That
existing sections 2151.354, 2152.19, and 2919.24 of the Revised Code
are hereby repealed.