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As Introduced
136th
General Assembly
Regular
Session
H. B. No. 90
2025-2026
Representatives Schmidt, Pizzulli
A
BILL
To
amend section 4112.01 and to enact sections 124.92, 2701.21, and
4112.20 of the Revised Code
to
define antisemitism for the purpose of investigations and proceedings
in courts and state agencies and for state employee anti-bias
training.
BE
IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:
Section
1.
That
section 4112.01 be amended and sections 124.92, 2701.21, and 4112.20
of the Revised Code be enacted to read as follows:
Sec.
124.92.
For
the purposes of anti-discrimination and anti-bias training for state
agency employees, the definition of antisemitism in section 4112.01
of the Revised Code shall be used as an educational tool to
familiarize staff and officials with antisemitism.
Sec.
2701.21.
(A)
As used in this section, "antisemitism" has the same
meaning as in section 4112.01 of the Revised Code.
(B)
A court of record or a court appointed authority, including an
arbitrator or special master, shall apply the same legal standard to
a claim alleging discrimination based on antisemitism as applies to
like claims of discrimination arising under Chapter 4112. of the
Revised Code.
Sec.
4112.01.
(A)
As used in this chapter:
(1)
"Person" includes one or more individuals, partnerships,
associations, organizations, corporations, legal representatives,
trustees, trustees in bankruptcy, receivers, and other organized
groups of persons. "Person" also includes, but is not
limited to, any owner, lessor, assignor, builder, manager, broker,
salesperson, appraiser, agent, employee, lending institution, and the
state and all political subdivisions, authorities, agencies, boards,
and commissions of the state.
(2)
"Employer" means the state, any political subdivision of
the state, or a person employing four or more persons within the
state, and any agent of the state, political subdivision, or person.
(3)
"Employee" means an individual employed by any employer but
does not include any individual employed in the domestic service of
any person.
(4)
"Labor organization" includes any organization that exists,
in whole or in part, for the purpose of collective bargaining or of
dealing with employers concerning grievances, terms or conditions of
employment, or other mutual aid or protection in relation to
employment.
(5)
"Employment agency" includes any person regularly
undertaking, with or without compensation, to procure opportunities
to work or to procure, recruit, refer, or place employees.
(6)
"Commission" means the Ohio civil rights commission created
by section 4112.03 of the Revised Code.
(7)
"Discriminate" includes segregate or separate.
(8)
"Unlawful discriminatory practice" means any act prohibited
by section 4112.02, 4112.021, or 4112.022 of the Revised Code.
(9)
"Place of public accommodation" means any inn, restaurant,
eating house, barbershop, public conveyance by air, land, or water,
theater, store, other place for the sale of merchandise, or any other
place of public accommodation or amusement of which the
accommodations, advantages, facilities, or privileges are available
to the public.
(10)
"Housing accommodations" includes any building or
structure, or portion of a building or structure, that is used or
occupied or is intended, arranged, or designed to be used or occupied
as the home residence, dwelling, dwelling unit, or sleeping place of
one or more individuals, groups, or families whether or not living
independently of each other; and any vacant land offered for sale or
lease. "Housing accommodations" also includes any housing
accommodations held or offered for sale or rent by a real estate
broker, salesperson, or agent, by any other person pursuant to
authorization of the owner, by the owner, or by the owner's legal
representative.
(11)
"Restrictive covenant" means any specification limiting the
transfer, rental, lease, or other use of any housing accommodations
because of race, color, religion, sex, military status, familial
status, national origin, disability, or ancestry, or any limitation
based upon affiliation with or approval by any person, directly or
indirectly, employing race, color, religion, sex, military status,
familial status, national origin, disability, or ancestry as a
condition of affiliation or approval.
(12)
"Burial lot" means any lot for the burial of deceased
persons within any public burial ground or cemetery, including, but
not limited to, cemeteries owned and operated by municipal
corporations, townships, or companies or associations incorporated
for cemetery purposes.
(13)
"Disability" means a physical or mental impairment that
substantially limits one or more major life activities, including the
functions of caring for one's self, performing manual tasks, walking,
seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing, learning, and working; a record
of a physical or mental impairment; or being regarded as having a
physical or mental impairment.
(14)
Except as otherwise provided in section 4112.021 of the Revised Code,
"age" means an individual aged forty years or older.
(15)
"Familial status" means either of the following:
(a)
One or more individuals who are under eighteen years of age and who
are domiciled with a parent or guardian having legal custody of the
individual or domiciled, with the written permission of the parent or
guardian having legal custody, with a designee of the parent or
guardian;
(b)
Any person who is pregnant or in the process of securing legal
custody of any individual who is under eighteen years of age.
(16)(a)
Except as provided in division (A)(16)(b) of this section, "physical
or mental impairment" includes any of the following:
(i)
Any physiological disorder or condition, cosmetic disfigurement, or
anatomical loss affecting one or more of the following body systems:
neurological; musculoskeletal; special sense organs; respiratory,
including speech organs; cardiovascular; reproductive; digestive;
genito-urinary; hemic and lymphatic; skin; and endocrine;
(ii)
Any mental or psychological disorder, including, but not limited to,
intellectual disability, organic brain syndrome, emotional or mental
illness, and specific learning disabilities;
(iii)
Diseases and conditions, including, but not limited to, orthopedic,
visual, speech, and hearing impairments, cerebral palsy, autism,
epilepsy, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, cancer, heart
disease, diabetes, human immunodeficiency virus infection,
intellectual disability, emotional illness, drug addiction, and
alcoholism.
(b)
"Physical or mental impairment" does not include any of the
following:
(i)
Homosexuality and bisexuality;
(ii)
Transvestism, transsexualism, pedophilia, exhibitionism, voyeurism,
gender identity disorders not resulting from physical impairments, or
other sexual behavior disorders;
(iii)
Compulsive gambling, kleptomania, or pyromania;
(iv)
Psychoactive substance use disorders resulting from the current
illegal use of a controlled substance or the current use of alcoholic
beverages.
(17)
"Dwelling unit" means a single unit of residence for a
family of one or more persons.
(18)
"Common use areas" means rooms, spaces, or elements inside
or outside a building that are made available for the use of
residents of the building or their guests, and includes, but is not
limited to, hallways, lounges, lobbies, laundry rooms, refuse rooms,
mail rooms, recreational areas, and passageways among and between
buildings.
(19)
"Public use areas" means interior or exterior rooms or
spaces of a privately or publicly owned building that are made
available to the general public.
(20)
"Controlled substance" has the same meaning as in section
3719.01 of the Revised Code.
(21)
"Disabled tenant" means a tenant or prospective tenant who
is a person with a disability.
(22)
"Military status" means a person's status in "service
in the uniformed services" as defined in section 5923.05 of the
Revised Code.
(23)
"Aggrieved person" includes both of the following:
(a)
Any person who claims to have been injured by any unlawful
discriminatory practice described in division (H) of section 4112.02
of the Revised Code;
(b)
Any person who believes that the person will be injured by any
unlawful discriminatory practice described in division (H) of section
4112.02 of the Revised Code that is about to occur.
(24)
"Unlawful discriminatory practice relating to employment"
means both of the following:
(a)
An unlawful discriminatory practice that is prohibited by division
(A), (B), (C), (D), (E), or (F) of section 4112.02 of the Revised
Code;
(b)
An unlawful discriminatory practice that is prohibited by division
(I) or (J) of section 4112.02 of the Revised Code that is related to
employment.
(25)
"Notice of right to sue" means a notice sent by the
commission to a person who files a charge under section 4112.051 of
the Revised Code that states that the person who filed the charge may
bring a civil action related to the charge pursuant to section
4112.052 or 4112.14 of the Revised Code, in accordance with section
4112.052 of the Revised Code.
(26)
"Antisemitism" means the working definition of antisemitism
adopted by the international holocaust remembrance alliance on May
26, 2016, and includes the contemporary examples of antisemitism
identified therein.
(B)
For the purposes of divisions (A) to (F) of section 4112.02 of the
Revised Code, the terms "because of sex" and "on the
basis of sex" include, but are not limited to, because of or on
the basis of pregnancy, any illness arising out of and occurring
during the course of a pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical
conditions. Women affected by pregnancy, childbirth, or related
medical conditions shall be treated the same for all
employment-related purposes, including receipt of benefits under
fringe benefit programs, as other persons not so affected but similar
in their ability or inability to work, and nothing in division (B) of
section 4111.17 of the Revised Code shall be interpreted to permit
otherwise. This division shall not be construed to require an
employer to pay for health insurance benefits for abortion, except
where the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were
carried to term or except where medical complications have arisen
from the abortion, provided that nothing in this division precludes
an employer from providing abortion benefits or otherwise affects
bargaining agreements in regard to abortion.
(C)
The definition of "antisemitism" in this section shall not
be construed to diminish or infringe on any right protected by the
first amendment to the United States Constitution or the Ohio
Constitution. This division shall not be construed to conflict with
this chapter or any other federal, state, or local antidiscrimination
law.
Sec.
4112.20.
(A)
As used in this section, "state agency" means every
organized body, office, board, authority, commission, or agency
established by the constitution or laws of the state for the exercise
of any governmental or quasi-governmental function, regardless of the
funding source for that entity. "State agency" includes all
of the following:
(1)
A state institution of higher education as defined in section
3345.011 of the Revised Code;
(2)
The nonprofit corporation formed under section 187.01 of the Revised
Code and any subsidiary of that corporation;
(3)
Any state retirement system or retirement program established by the
Revised Code.
(B)
In reviewing, investigating, or deciding whether there has been a
violation of any relevant policy, law, or regulation, a state agency
shall take into consideration the definition of antisemitism for
purposes of determining whether an alleged act was motivated by
antisemitism.
Section
2.
That
existing section 4112.01 of the Revised Code is hereby repealed.