As Passed by the House

127th General Assembly
Regular Session
2007-2008
H. B. No. 150


Representative McGregor, J. 

Cosponsors: Representatives Adams, Peterson, Luckie, Skindell, Collier, Yuko, Budish, Chandler, Coley, Combs, DeGeeter, Domenick, Dyer, Evans, Flowers, Gardner, Gibbs, Sayre, Schindel, Setzer, Williams, B. 



A BILL
To enact sections 4173.01, 4173.02, and 4173.03 of 1
the Revised Code as a "good Samaritan law" to 2
encourage retail establishments to allow customers 3
with eligible medical conditions to use the retail 4
establishment's restrooms that are not usually 5
available to the public and to limit the liability 6
of an establishment that allows such access.7


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

       Section 1. That sections 4173.01, 4173.02, and 4173.03 of 8
the Revised Code be enacted to read as follows:9

       Sec. 4173.01.  As used in this chapter:10

       (A) "Customer" means an individual who is lawfully on the 11
premises of a retail establishment.12

       (B) "Eligible medical condition" means Crohn's disease, 13
ulcerative colitis, any other inflammatory bowel disease, 14
irritable bowel syndrome, or any other medical condition that 15
requires immediate access to a toilet facility.16

       (C) "Retail establishment" means a place of business open to 17
the general public for the sale of goods or services. "Retail 18
establishment" does not include a filling station or service 19
station, with a structure of eight hundred square feet or less, 20
that has an employee toilet facility located within that 21
structure.22

       Sec. 4173.02.  (A) Any retail establishment that has a toilet 23
facility for its employees is encouraged to permit a customer to 24
use that facility during normal business hours if the toilet 25
facility is reasonably safe and all of the following conditions 26
are met:27

       (1) The customer requesting the use of the employee toilet 28
facility suffers from an eligible medical condition or utilizes an 29
ostomy device.30

       (2) The employee toilet facility is not located in an area 31
where providing access would create an obvious health or safety 32
risk to the customer or an obvious security risk to the retail 33
establishment.34

       (3) A public restroom or employee restroom normally available 35
to the public is not immediately accessible to the customer.36

       (B) This section does not require a retail establishment to 37
make any physical changes to an employee toilet facility.38

       (C) No restroom facility, by reason of being made available 39
to a customer pursuant to this section, shall be considered a 40
public facility for the purpose of laws or regulations that 41
generally govern facilities available to the public. That restroom 42
facility shall be governed by the laws and regulations that 43
otherwise would govern the facility if it were not made available 44
to a customer pursuant to this section.45

       Sec. 4173.03.  No retail establishment or an employee of a 46
retail establishment shall be liable in any civil action for an 47
injury or death of a customer resulting from any act or omission 48
in allowing a customer to use an employee toilet facility pursuant 49
to section 4173.02 of the Revised Code if the act or omission is 50
not willful or grossly negligent.51