To enact sections 2917.51 and 2933.81 of the Revised Code to prohibit the use of a tracking device to determine the location or movement of a person without the person's consent subject to specified exceptions, to provide for the issuance of a search warrant to a law enforcement officer or prosecutor authorizing the installation, use, and removal of a tracking device subject to specified conditions, and to provide for the installation and use of a tracking device by an investigative officer or law enforcement officer without a search warrant in specified emergency situations and subject to specified conditions.

Section 1. That sections 2917.51 and 2933.81 of the Revised Code be enacted to read as follows:

Sec. 2917.51.  (A) As used in this section:

(1) "Tracking device" means any device that reveals its location or movement by the transmission of electronic signals.

(2) "Class A license," "class B license," and "private investigator" have the same meanings as in section 4749.01 of the Revised Code.

(B) Except as otherwise provided in this section, no person shall use a tracking device to determine the location or movement of another person without the other person's consent.

(C) Division (B) of this section does not apply to the use of a tracking device pursuant to section 2933.81 of the Revised Code by any law enforcement agency, law enforcement officer, prosecutor, or investigative officer if the use is in accordance with that section.

(D) Division (B) of this section does not apply to any of the following:

(1) The use of a tracking device to determine the location or movement of another person if the owner or lien holder of a vehicle has consented to the use of a tracking device with respect to the vehicle and the device is used with respect to that vehicle;

(2) The use of a tracking device to determine the location or movement of another person if the lessor or lessee of a vehicle and the person operating the vehicle have consented to the use of a tracking device with respect to the vehicle and the device is used with respect to that vehicle;

(3) To an action of a law enforcement agency acting in a law enforcement capacity or to an action of a law enforcement official, court official, or other authorized person that relates to an offender's or delinquent child's use of a global positioning system device, global positioning device, or electronic monitoring device required pursuant to a sanction imposed or order issued under any provision of the Revised Code;

(4) To an action of United States military law enforcement personnel in the performance of the personnel's official duties;

(5) To an action of a parent, guardian, custodian, or person in loco parentis of a child or another person, with respect to determining the location or movement of the child or other person with whom the parent, guardian, custodian, or person in loco parentis has the specified legal relationship;

(6) To an action of a person who is a family member or caregiver of another person who has been diagnosed by a licensed physician to be suffering from Alzheimer's disease, vascular dementia, Pick's disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, Parkinson's disease, or Lewy body dementia, with respect to determining the location or movement of the other person who has been so diagnosed;

(7) To an action of a facility licensed, certified, or accredited pursuant to Chapter 3712., 3721., 3722., or 3727. of the Revised Code, with respect to determining the location or movement of a patient through the use of a tracking device when the device is considered medically necessary by the patient's physician;

(8) To the provision of a commercial service, including, but not limited to, a mobile telephone service or vehicle safety or security service, that allows the provider of the service to determine the location or movement of a device provided to a customer of the commercial service for the purpose of providing the commercial service;

(9) To an action of a private investigator who has been issued a class A or class B license under Chapter 4749. of the Revised Code that is valid at the time of the action, while in the performance of any duty that is authorized for the private investigator in connection with pending, active civil litigation if all of the following are satisfied:

(a) Before engaging in the action, the private investigator obtains an order authorizing the use of a tracking device from the court of common pleas of the county in which the person who is the subject of the tracking device resides.

(b) Any information or data obtained as a result of the use of a tracking device by the private investigator is kept confidential and is not to be disclosed to any person other than the judge and the parties involved in the litigation and their attorneys except upon order of the court in which the civil litigation is pending, the information or data so obtained is subject to discovery by any party to the civil litigation, and, upon the termination of the civil litigation, the information or data is immediately destroyed.

(E) Notwithstanding division (D) of this section, no person shall be required to be implanted with a tracking device pursuant to this section.

(F) Whoever violates this section is guilty of "unauthorized use of a tracking device," a misdemeanor of the first degree.

Sec. 2933.81.  (A) As used in this section:

(1)(a) Except as provided in division (A)(1)(b) of this section, "tracking device" means an electronic or mechanical device that, when placed or installed upon a person or object, permits one or more other persons to remotely determine or track the position and movement of the person upon whom, or the object upon which, the device is placed or installed.

(b) As used in this section, "tracking device" does not include any of the following:

(i) Any device, including, but not limited to, a cellular telephone or another personal electronic device, that includes as an incidental feature the capability of determining the location of the device by utilizing a global positioning satellite system;

(ii) Any device that is installed or utilized with the knowledge and consent of the owner or user of the device or, in the case of a minor, with the knowledge and consent of the minor's parent or guardian.

(2) "Investigative officer" has the same meaning as in section 2933.51 of the Revised Code.

(3) "Law enforcement officer" means any sheriff, deputy sheriff, constable, municipal police officer, marshal, deputy marshal, or state highway patrolman, or any officer, agent, or employee of this state or any of its agencies, instrumentalities, or political subdivisions upon whom, by statute, the authority to arrest violators is conferred, when the officer, agent, or employee is acting within the limits of that statutory authority.

(4) "Prosecutor" means the prosecuting attorney of a county, the village solicitor, city director of law, or similar chief legal officer of a municipal corporation, and any assistant of any of those officers.

(B) A law enforcement officer of a law enforcement agency in the county in which the tracking device is to be installed, or a prosecutor who serves that county or a municipal corporation within that county, may apply to a judge of the court of common pleas of that county for the issuance of a search warrant authorizing the installation, use, and removal of a tracking device. Each application for a search warrant of that nature shall be in writing upon oath or affirmation to a judge of the court of common pleas of the county in which the tracking device is to be installed and shall contain all of the following:

(1) A full and complete statement of the facts relied on by the applicant that are sufficient to establish probable cause to believe that a particular crime has been committed, is being committed, or will be committed and that the person or object to be tracked is involved, was involved, or will be involved in the commission or facilitation of that crime;

(2) A full and complete statement of the facts relied on by the applicant that are sufficient to establish probable cause to believe that the use of a tracking device will result in the prevention of a criminal offense under investigation, the seizure of evidence relevant to the investigation or prosecution of a criminal offense, or the whereabouts of a fugitive from justice or a suspect, victim, or witness relating to a criminal offense;

(3) A particular description of the person or object upon which a tracking device is to be installed.

(C) Upon the written application of a law enforcement officer or prosecutor made pursuant to division (B) of this section, a judge of a court of common pleas with whom the application is made may issue a search warrant authorizing the installation, use, and removal of a tracking device. If a judge of a court of common pleas issues a search warrant of that nature, all of the following apply:

(1) A tracking device authorized by the search warrant shall be installed within ten days after the issuance of the warrant and shall be installed within the county served by the issuing judge. The date and time of installation shall be recorded and included in the return described in division (C)(4) of this section that is made to the issuing judge. If the tracking device is not installed within the ten-day period specified in this division, the warrant shall be returned to the issuing judge as unexecuted.

(2) The search warrant shall authorize the use of a tracking device for a reasonable period of time, not to exceed forty-five days, unless extended as provided in this division, commencing on the date on which the tracking device is installed upon the person or object to be tracked. Upon written application for an extension of the authorized time for use of the device and upon a finding of good cause, the issuing judge may authorize one or more extensions of the search warrant for a reasonable period of time, not to exceed forty-five days for each such extension.

(3) When the period of time authorized for the use of a tracking device under the search warrant or the last extension of the period of time for the use of the device has expired, monitoring of the tracking device shall be discontinued immediately.

(4) Within ten days after the period of time authorized for the use of a tracking device under the search warrant or the last extension of the period of time for the use of the device has expired, the officer executing the warrant shall make a return of the warrant to the issuing judge. The return shall specify the date on which and the time at which the tracking device was installed, the address or location of installation of the tracking device, the date on which and the time at which the monitoring was discontinued, and a general summary of the movements of the object or person tracked during the duration of the tracking.

(5) Within ten days after the period of time authorized for the use of a tracking device under the search warrant or the last extension of the period of time for the use of the device has expired, the officer executing the warrant shall serve a copy of the warrant on the person who was tracked or whose property was tracked. The office shall accomplish service of the warrant on a person under this division by delivering a copy of it to the person, by leaving a copy of it at the person's residence or usual place of abode with an individual of suitable age and discretion who resides at that location, or by mailing a copy of it to the person's last known address. Upon the request of the law enforcement officer or prosecutor who applied for the warrant or the officer who executed the warrant, the issuing judge may delay for a reasonable time service of the notice otherwise required under this division. If the issuing judge delays service of notice upon request as described in this division, the notice shall be served not later than ten days after the issuance of an arrest warrant, indictment, or information based wholly or in part upon information derived from the use of a tracking device pursuant to the warrant.

(6) A tracking device installed and used under the authority of the search warrant may be used within the county served by the issuing judge and, provided the device is installed within that county, may be used outside that county.

(7) Except as otherwise provided in this division, the search warrant and any extension of the warrant, the application upon which the warrant and extensions, if any, were issued, the affidavit supporting the warrant and extensions, if any, the return made under division (C)(4) of this section, and any request for an order granting a delay in the service of notice made as described in division (C)(5) of this section shall be filed with the clerk of the court of common pleas served by the issuing judge, or with the issuing judge if so ordered, at the time the return is made or when the warrant has been returned pursuant to division (C)(1) of this section as unexecuted. The judge who issues the search warrant may order that the documents described in this division be sealed while an investigation remains ongoing until such time that an arrest warrant, indictment, or information based wholly or in part upon information derived from the use of the tracking device installed and used under the authority of the warrant is issued.

(D)(1) Any investigative officer or law enforcement officer who is specially designated in writing by the attorney general or by a prosecuting attorney for the purpose of having installed and using a tracking device without the prior issuance of a search warrant, may have installed and use a tracking device without the prior issuance of a search warrant pursuant to divisions (B) and (C) of this section, subject to division (D)(2) of this section, if the officer reasonably determines both of the following:

(a) That an emergency situation exists that involves either immediate danger of death or serious physical harm to any person or conspiratorial activities characteristic of organized crime and the emergency situation requires the installation and use of a tracking device before a search warrant authorizing that installation and use can, with due diligence, be obtained pursuant to divisions (B) and (C) of this section;

(b) There are grounds upon which a search warrant could be issued pursuant to divisions (B) and (C) of this section to authorize such installation and use.

(2) If an investigative officer or law enforcement officer has installed and uses a tracking device under authority of division (D)(1) of this section, within forty-eight hours after the time the tracking device is installed, the officer or another investigative officer or law enforcement officer serving the same law enforcement agency as that officer shall apply for and obtain in accordance with divisions (B) and (C) of this section a search warrant approving the installation or use of the device.

(3) If an application for a search warrant is made as described in division (D)(2) of this section and it is granted, division (C) of this section applies to the further installation and use of the tracking device.

If an application for a search warrant is made as described in division (D)(2) of this section and the application is denied, or if the installation or use of the tracking device under division (D)(1) of this section is terminated without a search warrant having been issued pursuant to divisions (B) and (C) of this section, any tracking information or other surveillance effected pursuant to division (D)(1) of this section is confidential and shall not be disclosed or be admissible in any court of this state except to prove violations of this section or section 2917.51 of the Revised Code.