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(124th General Assembly)
(Amended Senate Bill Number 40)
AN ACT
To amend sections 2903.211, 2909.04, 2917.11, and
2917.13 of the
Revised Code to identify certain
persons as "emergency facility personnel," to
extend the offenses
of disrupting public services
and
misconduct at an
emergency to activities of
emergency facility
personnel, to
increase the
penalty for disorderly
conduct if committed in the
presence of
an
emergency facility person
performing
duties in an
emergency facility,
and to
specify
that "pattern
of conduct" in menacing by
stalking
includes
actions
obstructing an emergency
facility
person's
performance of
authorized acts.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio:
SECTION 1. That sections 2903.211, 2909.04, 2917.11, and
2917.13
of the Revised Code be amended to read as follows:
Sec. 2903.211. (A) No person by engaging in a pattern of
conduct shall knowingly cause another to believe that the
offender
will cause physical harm to the other person or cause
mental
distress to the other person. (B) Whoever violates this section is guilty of menacing by
stalking. (1) Except as otherwise provided in divisions (B)(2) and (3)
of
this
section, menacing by stalking is a misdemeanor of the
first
degree. (2) Menacing by stalking is a felony of the fourth degree if
any of the
following applies: (a) The offender previously has been convicted of or pleaded
guilty to a
violation
of this section
or a violation of section
2911.211 of the Revised Code. (b) In committing the offense, the offender made a threat of
physical harm to or against the victim. (c) In committing the offense, the offender trespassed on
the land or premises where the victim lives, is employed, or
attends
school. (d) The victim of the offense is a minor. (e) The offender has a history of violence toward the victim
or
any other person or a history of other violent acts toward the
victim or
any other person. (f) While committing the offense, the offender had a deadly
weapon on or about the offender's person or under the offender's
control. (g) At the time of the commission of the offense, the
offender
was the subject of a protection order issued under
section 2903.213 or
2903.214 of the Revised Code, regardless of
whether the
person to be protected under the order is the victim
of the offense or
another person. (h) In committing the offense, the offender caused serious
physical harm to
the premises at which the victim resides, to the
real property on which that
premises is located, or to any
personal property located on that premises. (i)
Prior to committing the offense, the offender
had been
determined to represent a
substantial
risk of physical harm to
others as manifested by evidence of then-recent
homicidal or other
violent behavior, evidence of then-recent threats that
placed
another in reasonable fear of violent behavior and serious
physical
harm, or other evidence of then-present dangerousness. (3) If the victim of the offense is an officer or employee of
a public children services agency or a private child placing
agency and the offense relates to the officer's or employee's
performance or anticipated performance of official
responsibilities or duties, menacing by stalking is either a
felony of the fifth degree or, if the offender previously has been
convicted of or pleaded guilty to an offense of violence, the
victim of that prior offense was an officer or employee of a
public children services agency or private child placing agency,
and that prior offense related to the officer's or employee's
performance or anticipated performance of official
responsibilities or duties, a felony of the fourth degree. (C) Section 2919.271 of the Revised Code applies in
relation
to a defendant charged with a violation of this section. (D) As used in this section: (1) "Pattern of conduct" means two or more actions or
incidents closely related in time, whether or not there has been
a
prior conviction based on any of those actions or incidents.
Actions or
incidents that prevent, obstruct, or delay the
performance by a public
official, firefighter, rescuer,
or
emergency medical services person, or emergency facility person of
any
authorized act within the public official's, firefighter's,
rescuer's,
or
emergency medical services person's, or emergency
facility person's official capacity
may constitute a "pattern of
conduct." (2) "Mental distress" means any mental illness or
condition
that involves some temporary substantial incapacity or
mental
illness or condition that would normally require
psychiatric
treatment. (3) "Emergency medical services person" is the singular of
"emergency medical services personnel" as defined in section
2133.21 of the Revised Code. (4)
"Emergency facility person" is the singular of
"emergency
facility
personnel" as defined in section 2909.04 of
the Revised
Code. (5) "Public official" has the same meaning as in section
2921.01
of the Revised Code.
Sec. 2909.04. (A) No person, purposely by any means or
knowingly by damaging or tampering with any property, shall do
any
of the following: (1) Interrupt or impair television, radio, telephone,
telegraph, or other mass communications service; police,
fire,
or
other public service communications; radar, loran, radio,
or other
electronic aids to air or marine navigation or
communications; or
amateur or citizens band radio
communications
being used for
public service or emergency communications; (2) Interrupt or impair public transportation, including
without limitation school bus transportation, or water supply,
gas, power, or other utility service to the public; (3) Substantially impair the ability of law enforcement
officers, firefighters, rescue
personnel,
or emergency medical
services personnel, or emergency facility personnel to respond
to
an
emergency or to protect and preserve any person or property
from
serious physical harm. (B) Whoever violates this section is guilty of disrupting
public services, a felony of the fourth degree. (C)
As used in this section:
(1) "Emergency medical services personnel" has the same
meaning as in section 2133.21 of the Revised Code. (2)
"Emergency facility personnel" means any of the
following: (a)
Any of the
following
individuals who perform services in
the ordinary course
of their
professions in an emergency facility: (i)
Physicians authorized under Chapter 4731. of the
Revised
Code
to practice medicine and surgery or osteopathic medicine and
surgery; (ii)
Registered nurses and licensed practical nurses licensed
under Chapter 4723. of the Revised Code; (iii)
Physician assistants authorized to practice under
Chapter
4730. of the Revised Code; (iv)
Health care workers; (v)
Clerical staffs. (b)
Any individual who is a security officer performing
security services in an emergency facility; (c)
Any individual who is present in an emergency facility,
who was summoned to the facility by an individual identified in
division (C)(2)(a) or (b) of this section. (3)
"Emergency facility" means a hospital emergency
department or
any other facility that provides emergency medical
services. (4)
"Hospital" has the same meaning as in section 3727.01 of
the
Revised Code. (5)
"Health care worker" means an individual, other than an
individual specified in division (C)(2)(a),
(b), or (c) of this
section, who provides medical or other health-related care or
treatment in an
emergency facility, including medical technicians,
medical assistants, orderlies, aides, or individuals acting in
similar
capacities.
Sec. 2917.11. (A) No person shall recklessly cause
inconvenience, annoyance, or alarm to another by doing any of
the
following: (1) Engaging in fighting, in threatening harm to persons
or
property, or in violent or turbulent behavior; (2) Making unreasonable noise or an offensively coarse
utterance, gesture, or display or communicating unwarranted and
grossly abusive language to any person; (3) Insulting, taunting, or challenging another, under
circumstances in which that conduct is likely to provoke a
violent
response; (4) Hindering or preventing the movement of persons on a
public street, road, highway, or right-of-way, or to, from,
within, or upon public or private property, so as to interfere
with the rights of others, and by any act that serves no
lawful
and reasonable purpose of the offender; (5) Creating a condition that is physically offensive to
persons or that presents a risk of physical harm to
persons or
property, by any act that serves no lawful and
reasonable purpose
of the offender. (B) No person, while voluntarily intoxicated, shall do
either of the following: (1) In a public place or in the presence of two or more
persons, engage in conduct likely to be offensive or to cause
inconvenience, annoyance, or alarm to persons of ordinary
sensibilities, which conduct the offender, if the offender
were
not
intoxicated, should know is likely to have that effect on
others; (2) Engage in conduct or create a condition that presents
a
risk of physical harm to the offender or another, or
to the
property of another. (C) Violation of any statute or ordinance of which an
element is operating a motor vehicle, locomotive, watercraft,
aircraft, or other vehicle while under the influence of alcohol
or
any drug of abuse, is not a violation of division (B) of this
section. (D) If a person appears to an
ordinary observer to be
intoxicated, it is probable cause to believe that person is
voluntarily intoxicated for purposes of division (B) of this
section. (E)(1) Whoever violates this section is guilty of disorderly
conduct.
(2) Except as otherwise provided in division
(E)(3) of this
section,
disorderly conduct is a minor misdemeanor.
(3) Disorderly conduct is a misdemeanor of the fourth degree
if
any of the following applies: (a) The
offender persists in disorderly conduct after
reasonable warning or
request to desist. (b) The offense is committed in the vicinity of a
school or
in a school safety zone. (c) The offense is committed in the presence of any law
enforcement officer, firefighter, rescuer, medical person,
emergency medical
services person, or other authorized person who
is engaged in the person's
duties at the scene of a fire,
accident, disaster, riot, or emergency of any
kind.
(d)
The offense is committed in the presence of any
emergency
facility person who is engaged in the person's duties in
an
emergency
facility. (F) As used in this section: (1) "Emergency medical services person" is the singular
or
of "emergency
medical services personnel" as defined in section
2133.21 of the Revised Code.
(2) "Emergency facility person" is the singular of
"emergency facility
personnel" as defined in section 2909.04 of
the Revised
Code.
(3)
"Emergency facility" has the same meaning as in section
2909.04 of the Revised Code.
(4) "Committed
in the vicinity of a school" has
the
same
meaning as in section 2925.01 of the Revised Code.
Sec. 2917.13. (A) No person shall knowingly do any of the
following: (1) Hamper the lawful operations of any law enforcement
officer,
firefighter, rescuer, medical person, emergency
medical
services person, or other authorized person, engaged in
the
person's duties at
the scene of a fire, accident, disaster, riot,
or emergency of any kind; (2)
Hamper the lawful activities of any emergency facility
person who
is engaged in the person's duties in an emergency
facility;
(3) Fail to obey the lawful order of any law enforcement
officer engaged in
the law enforcement officer's duties at the
scene of or in
connection with a fire, accident, disaster,
riot,
or emergency of any kind. (B) Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit
access or deny
information to any news media representative in the
lawful exercise of
the news media representative's
duties. (C) Whoever violates this section is guilty of misconduct at
an
emergency. Except as otherwise provided in this division,
misconduct at an emergency is a minor misdemeanor. If a violation
of this
section creates a risk of physical
harm to persons or
property, misconduct at an emergency is a misdemeanor of
the first
degree. (D)
As used in this section:
(1) "Emergency medical services person" is the singular of
"emergency medical services personnel" as defined in section
2133.21
of the Revised Code.
(2) "Emergency facility person" is the singular of
"emergency
facility personnel" as defined in section 2909.04 of
the Revised
Code.
(3) "Emergency facility" has the same meaning as in section
2909.04 of the Revised Code.
SECTION 2. That existing sections 2903.211, 2909.04,
2917.11,
and 2917.13 of the Revised Code are hereby repealed.
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