REPRESENTATIVES J. Stewart, Allen, Aslanides, Core, Hollister, McGregor, Redfern, Seitz, Setzer, Taylor, Willamowski, Olman

To enact sections 5122.44, 5122.45, and 5122.46 of

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the Revised Code to require the Department of

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Mental Health, in coordination with specified

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agencies and organizations, to create compilations

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of the patients who died while residing at public

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hospitals under the Department's jurisdiction and

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of the cemeteries and gravesites of those

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patients; to require state agencies, subject to

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certain restrictions, to grant cemetery

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restoration organizations access to the death and

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burial records of those patients in order to

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facilitate the restoration of their cemeteries and

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gravesites; and to make other related changes.

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BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:

Section 1. That sections 5122.44, 5122.45, and 5122.46 of the	14
Revised Code be enacted to read as follows:	15

Sec. 5122.44.  As used in sections 5122.44 to 5122.46 of the	16
Revised Code:	17

(A) "Cemetery restoration organization" means any group or	18
entity that the director of mental health recognizes under section	19
5122.45 of the Revised Code as satisfying the criteria for	20
recognition as a group or entity that restores the cemeteries and	21
gravesites of patients located on the grounds of public hospitals	22
or on property that is not owned by the state but has been	23
designated by the state for the burial, entombment, or inurnment	24
of patients.	25

(B) "Family member" means a spouse or a parent, child, or	26
other person related by consanguinity to a patient.	27

(C) "Patient" means an individual who died while residing at	28
a public hospital.	29

(D) "Record of death and burial" means information in a	30
record to the extent it specifies the name of a patient and either	31
the date of death of the patient or the location of the burial,	32
entombment, or inurnment of the patient. "Record", for purposes of	33
"record of death and burial," has the same meaning as in section	34
149.011 of the Revised Code.	35

(E) "State agency" means every organized body, office, or	36
agency established by the laws of the state for the exercise of	37
any function of state government.	38

Sec. 5122.45.  (A) The department of mental health, in	39
coordination with county and other local historical and	40
genealogical societies, the Ohio historical society, the state	41
library, the secretary of state, and any other relevant state and	42
local agencies and organizations identified by the department,	43
shall do each of the following:	44

(1) Determine all available records of death and burial	45
necessary to create the most complete compilation possible of	46
patients and create that compilation;	47

(2) Prepare the most complete compilation possible of the	48
cemeteries and gravesites of patients located on the grounds of	49
public hospitals or on property that is not owned by the state but	50
has been designated by the state for the burial, entombment, or	51
inurnment of patients;	52

(3) Assist and cooperate with cemetery restoration	53
organizations.	54

(B) The director of mental health shall adopt rules under	55
section 111.15 of the Revised Code establishing criteria and a	56
procedure for recognizing, for purposes of sections 5122.44 to	57
5122.46 of the Revised Code, groups and entities that restore the	58
cemeteries and grave sites of patients located on the grounds of	59
public hospitals or on property that is not owned by the state but	60
has been designated by the state for the burial, entombment, or	61
inurnment of patients.	62

Sec. 5122.46.  (A) Notwithstanding any contrary provision of	63
section 149.43 or 5122.31 of the Revised Code, and only if an	64
inspection or copying is not precluded under division (B) of this	65
section, records of death and burial in the possession of a state	66
agency shall be made available to cemetery restoration	67
organizations for inspection and copying at all reasonable times	68
during regular business hours for the purpose of facilitating	69
their restoration of the cemeteries and gravesites of the patients	70
who are the subjects of the records.	71

(B)(1) Upon the request of a cemetery restoration	72
organization to inspect or copy a record of death and burial, a	73
state agency that possess the record shall cause the notice	74
described in this division to be published once a week for two	75
consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the	76
county in which the principal office of the agency is located and	77
in a newspaper of general circulation in the county in which the	78
public hospital is located to which the record of death and burial	79
relates. The notice shall not disclose the name of the patient who	80
is the subject of the record, but shall describe the patient as an	81
individual who died on a specified date while residing in a	82
specified public hospital to which the record of death and burial	83
relates and also include each of the following:	84

(a) The name of and a mailing address for notification of the	85
state agency;	86

(b) A statement that, under House Bill ___ of the 125th	87
general assembly, records of death and burial in the possession of	88
the state agency generally must be made available, upon the	89
request of a cemetery restoration organization, for inspection and	90
copying for the purpose of facilitating the restoration of	91
cemeteries and gravesites of patients; that such a request has	92
been made; and that, within two weeks after the second publication	93
of the notice, a family member of the patient who is the subject	94
of the record of death and burial involved may notify the agency	95
of the family member's desire to have that patient's record	96
withheld from the requested and any future requested inspection	97
and copying by a cemetery restoration organization;	98

(c) Information on how a family member of the patient	99
involved who desires to have that patient's record of death and	100
burial withheld from the requested and any future requested	101
inspection and copying by a cemetery restoration organization may	102
notify the agency within that two-week period.	103

(2) Within two weeks after the second publication of the	104
notice described in division (B)(1) of this section, a family	105
member of the patient who is the subject of the record of death	106
and burial may request in writing that the state agency withhold	107
that patient's record from the requested and any future requested	108
inspection and copying by a cemetery restoration organization	109
under division (A) of this section. If a family member of the	110
patient so notifies the agency, the patient's record shall not be	111
made available for inspection or copying by the requesting	112
cemetery restoration organization or any other cemetery	113
restoration organization under that division.	114