As Passed by the Senate 1 123rd General Assembly 4 Regular Session H. B. No. 537 5 1999-2000 6 REPRESENTATIVES CALVERT-WILLAMOWSKI-VAN VYVEN-HOLLISTER- 8 CLANCY-BUEHRER-AUSTRIA-WINKLER-TERWILLEGER-TIBERI-MOTTLEY- 9 PERRY-AMSTUTZ-J. BEATTY-O'BRIEN-ROBINSON-D. MILLER-TRAKAS- 10 ROMAN-STEVENS-WIDENER-VESPER-HARRIS-JACOBSON- 12 SENATORS DRAKE-SPADA-WATTS-ESPY-HERINGTON-PRENTISS-McLIN _________________________________________________________________ 14 A B I L L To amend section 3109.053 of the Revised Code to 16 allow a court in a domestic relations proceeding 17 to require that children attend parenting classes or counseling with the children's parents. 18 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO: 19 Section 1. That section 3109.053 of the Revised Code be 21 amended to read as follows: 22 Sec. 3109.053. In any divorce, legal separation, or 31 annulment proceeding and in any proceeding pertaining to the 32 allocation of parental rights and responsibilities for the care 33 of a child, the court may require, by rule or otherwise, that the 34 parents attend classes on parenting or other related issues or 35 obtain counseling before the court issues an order allocating the 36 parental rights and responsibilities for the care of the minor 37 children of the marriage. IF A COURT IN ANY PROCEEDING REQUIRES 38 PARENTS TO ATTEND CLASSES ON PARENTING OR OTHER RELATED ISSUES OR 39 TO OBTAIN COUNSELING, THE COURT MAY REQUIRE THAT THE PARENTS' 40 CHILDREN ATTEND THE CLASSES OR COUNSELING WITH THE PARENTS. If 41 the court orders the parents to attend classes or obtain 42 counseling, the court shall impose the cost of the classes and 43 counseling on, and may allocate the costs between, the parents, 44 except that if the court determines that both parents are 45 2 indigent, the court shall not impose the cost of the classes or counseling on the parents. 46 Section 2. That existing section 3109.053 of the Revised 48 Code is hereby repealed. 49