Bipartisan bill in Ohio Statehouse seeks to enhance hate crime penalties

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – A bipartisan bill in the Ohio Statehouse seeks to enhance the penalties for hate crimes and expand protections under the law to include more identity markers such as political affiliation and sex. 

Reps. Dontavius Jarrells (D-Columbus) and Josh Williams (R-Sylvania Township) introduced House Bill 306, dubbed the Hate Crime Act, in May. The bill would “modernize” Ohio’s approach to hate crimes, Jarrells said. 

“Hate should have no place in the state,” Jarrells said. “Our current statutes against what other states have passed are fairly weak.”

Ohio lacks a comprehensive hate crime law. The state has a statute against “ethnic intimidation,” which prohibits crimes targeted based on race, color, religion and national origin. An ethnic intimidation charge is tacked onto an underlying offense to enhance the penalty by raising it to the next degree.

The bill would expand the protections in the state’s current law to also include crimes motivated by a person’s sex, ancestry, age, familial status, military status, disability, position in a labor dispute and political affiliation or position. The legislation would officially define these acts as hate crimes, with offenders found guilty facing a charge one degree higher than their original offense, as is currently done with ethnic intimidation. 

The bill would establish civil remedies for victims of hate crimes by allowing them to sue offenders for an unspecified amount that would be determined by a court. Offenders could also face civil fines of up to $25,000. 

Williams said he was inspired to sponsor the bill after seeing a recent surge of hate-motivated incidents in Ohio, including assaults and vandalism directed at students on college campuses based on their religion. 

He also cited instances of violence and harassment motivated by political affiliation. Multiple Ohio elected officials, including Attorney General Dave Yost and Republican lawmakers, have fallen victim to swatting in recent years, which involves falsely reporting a serious crime to prompt an armed law enforcement response at an unsuspecting person’s address.

“I think we’ve reached a point in our country’s political climate where we need to make it perfectly clear that you can’t use violence to push your political agenda and you can’t use violence against your political rivals, regardless of what party you affiliate with,” Williams said. 

The bill states that knowingly making a false report that someone committed a crime requiring law enforcement intervention, alluding to swatting, can amount to a hate crime. The distribution of materials on private property with the intent to terrorize a resident can also constitute a hate crime under the act.

The legislation specifies that speech alone cannot be defined as a hate crime unless four conditions are met: the speech threatens violence against a specific person or group, the target reasonably fears that violence will be committed against them, the offender is acting in “reckless disregard” for the threatening nature of their speech and the offender has the “apparent ability” to carry out the threat. 

The Hate Crime Act was assigned to the House’s Judiciary Committee, where it awaits its first hearing. The bill has drawn 26 cosponsors, consisting of both Democrats and Republicans.