130th Ohio General Assembly
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S. B. No. 126  As Introduced
As Introduced

128th General Assembly
Regular Session
2009-2010
S. B. No. 126


Senator Fedor 

Cosponsors: Senators Turner, Cafaro, Schiavoni, Morano, Kearney, Sawyer, Miller, D. 



A BILL
To amend sections 2921.22, 3313.666, and 3313.667 of the Revised Code to prohibit school administrators from knowingly failing to report to law enforcement authorities menacing by stalking or telecommunications harassment that occurs on school grounds, to require a board of education to adopt a policy that prohibits bullying by electronic means, to require a school district's harassment policy to address acts that occur off school property but materially disrupt the educational environment of the school, to require a school district annually to provide training on the district's bullying policy for district employees and volunteers, and to require a school district to notify parents or guardians of students if the annual training is not completed.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:
Section 1. That sections 2921.22, 3313.666, and 3313.667 of the Revised Code be amended to read as follows:
Sec. 2921.22.  (A)(1) Except as provided in division (A)(2) of this section, no person, knowing that a felony has been or is being committed, shall knowingly fail to report such information to law enforcement authorities.
(2) No person, knowing that a violation of division (B) of section 2913.04 of the Revised Code has been, or is being committed or that the person has received information derived from such a violation, shall knowingly fail to report the violation to law enforcement authorities.
(3) No person who holds an administrator license issued under the authority of section 3319.22 of the Revised Code and is employed as an administrator by a city, local, exempted village, or joint vocational school district, knowing that a violation of section 2903.211 or 2917.21 of the Revised Code has been or is being committed on school premises, as defined in section 2925.01 of the Revised Code, of the school district or a school bus operated by the school district or at a school-sponsored event of the school district shall knowingly fail to report the violation to law enforcement authorities.
(B) Except for conditions that are within the scope of division (E) of this section, no physician, limited practitioner, nurse, or other person giving aid to a sick or injured person shall negligently fail to report to law enforcement authorities any gunshot or stab wound treated or observed by the physician, limited practitioner, nurse, or person, or any serious physical harm to persons that the physician, limited practitioner, nurse, or person knows or has reasonable cause to believe resulted from an offense of violence.
(C) No person who discovers the body or acquires the first knowledge of the death of a person shall fail to report the death immediately to a physician whom the person knows to be treating the deceased for a condition from which death at such time would not be unexpected, or to a law enforcement officer, an ambulance service, an emergency squad, or the coroner in a political subdivision in which the body is discovered, the death is believed to have occurred, or knowledge concerning the death is obtained.
(D) No person shall fail to provide upon request of the person to whom a report required by division (C) of this section was made, or to any law enforcement officer who has reasonable cause to assert the authority to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death, any facts within the person's knowledge that may have a bearing on the investigation of the death.
(E)(1) As used in this division, "burn injury" means any of the following:
(a) Second or third degree burns;
(b) Any burns to the upper respiratory tract or laryngeal edema due to the inhalation of superheated air;
(c) Any burn injury or wound that may result in death;
(d) Any physical harm to persons caused by or as the result of the use of fireworks, novelties and trick noisemakers, and wire sparklers, as each is defined by section 3743.01 of the Revised Code.
(2) No physician, nurse, or limited practitioner who, outside a hospital, sanitarium, or other medical facility, attends or treats a person who has sustained a burn injury that is inflicted by an explosion or other incendiary device or that shows evidence of having been inflicted in a violent, malicious, or criminal manner shall fail to report the burn injury immediately to the local arson, or fire and explosion investigation, bureau, if there is a bureau of this type in the jurisdiction in which the person is attended or treated, or otherwise to local law enforcement authorities.
(3) No manager, superintendent, or other person in charge of a hospital, sanitarium, or other medical facility in which a person is attended or treated for any burn injury that is inflicted by an explosion or other incendiary device or that shows evidence of having been inflicted in a violent, malicious, or criminal manner shall fail to report the burn injury immediately to the local arson, or fire and explosion investigation, bureau, if there is a bureau of this type in the jurisdiction in which the person is attended or treated, or otherwise to local law enforcement authorities.
(4) No person who is required to report any burn injury under division (E)(2) or (3) of this section shall fail to file, within three working days after attending or treating the victim, a written report of the burn injury with the office of the state fire marshal. The report shall comply with the uniform standard developed by the state fire marshal pursuant to division (A)(15) of section 3737.22 of the Revised Code.
(5) Anyone participating in the making of reports under division (E) of this section or anyone participating in a judicial proceeding resulting from the reports is immune from any civil or criminal liability that otherwise might be incurred or imposed as a result of such actions. Notwithstanding section 4731.22 of the Revised Code, the physician-patient relationship is not a ground for excluding evidence regarding a person's burn injury or the cause of the burn injury in any judicial proceeding resulting from a report submitted under division (E) of this section.
(F)(1) Any doctor of medicine or osteopathic medicine, hospital intern or resident, registered or licensed practical nurse, psychologist, social worker, independent social worker, social work assistant, professional clinical counselor, or professional counselor who knows or has reasonable cause to believe that a patient or client has been the victim of domestic violence, as defined in section 3113.31 of the Revised Code, shall note that knowledge or belief and the basis for it in the patient's or client's records.
(2) Notwithstanding section 4731.22 of the Revised Code, the doctor-patient privilege shall not be a ground for excluding any information regarding the report containing the knowledge or belief noted under division (F)(1) of this section, and the information may be admitted as evidence in accordance with the Rules of Evidence.
(G) Divisions (A) and (D) of this section do not require disclosure of information, when any of the following applies:
(1) The information is privileged by reason of the relationship between attorney and client; doctor and patient; licensed psychologist or licensed school psychologist and client; member of the clergy, rabbi, minister, or priest and any person communicating information confidentially to the member of the clergy, rabbi, minister, or priest for a religious counseling purpose of a professional character; husband and wife; or a communications assistant and those who are a party to a telecommunications relay service call.
(2) The information would tend to incriminate a member of the actor's immediate family.
(3) Disclosure of the information would amount to revealing a news source, privileged under section 2739.04 or 2739.12 of the Revised Code.
(4) Disclosure of the information would amount to disclosure by a member of the ordained clergy of an organized religious body of a confidential communication made to that member of the clergy in that member's capacity as a member of the clergy by a person seeking the aid or counsel of that member of the clergy.
(5) Disclosure would amount to revealing information acquired by the actor in the course of the actor's duties in connection with a bona fide program of treatment or services for drug dependent persons or persons in danger of drug dependence, which program is maintained or conducted by a hospital, clinic, person, agency, or organization certified pursuant to section 3793.06 of the Revised Code.
(6) Disclosure would amount to revealing information acquired by the actor in the course of the actor's duties in connection with a bona fide program for providing counseling services to victims of crimes that are violations of section 2907.02 or 2907.05 of the Revised Code or to victims of felonious sexual penetration in violation of former section 2907.12 of the Revised Code. As used in this division, "counseling services" include services provided in an informal setting by a person who, by education or experience, is competent to provide those services.
(H) No disclosure of information pursuant to this section gives rise to any liability or recrimination for a breach of privilege or confidence.
(I) Whoever violates division (A) or (B) of this section is guilty of failure to report a crime. Violation of division (A)(1) of this section is a misdemeanor of the fourth degree. Violation of division (A)(2) or (B) of this section is a misdemeanor of the second degree.
(J) Whoever violates division (C) or (D) of this section is guilty of failure to report knowledge of a death, a misdemeanor of the fourth degree.
(K)(1) Whoever negligently violates division (E) of this section is guilty of a minor misdemeanor.
(2) Whoever knowingly violates division (E) of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor of the second degree.
Sec. 3313.666.  (A) As used in this section, "harassment:
(1) "Electronic act" means an act committed through the use of a cellular telephone, computer, pager, personal communication device, or other electronic communication device.
(2) "Harassment, intimidation, or bullying" means any intentional written, verbal, electronic, or physical act that a student has exhibited toward another particular student more than once and the behavior both:
(1)(a) Causes mental or physical harm to the other student;
(2)(b) Is sufficiently severe, persistent, or pervasive that it creates an intimidating, threatening, or abusive educational environment for the other student.
(B) The board of education of each city, local, exempted village, and joint vocational school district shall establish and annually review a policy prohibiting harassment, intimidation, or bullying. The policy shall be developed in consultation with parents, school employees, school volunteers, students, and community members. The policy shall include the following:
(1) A statement prohibiting harassment, intimidation, or bullying of any student on school property or a school bus, at school-sponsored events, or, if the harassment, intimidation, or bullying materially or substantially disrupts the educational environment and discipline of the school, off school property and expressly providing for the possibility of suspension of a student found guilty of harassment, intimidation, or bullying by an electronic act;
(2) A definition of harassment, intimidation, or bullying that shall include includes the definition in division (A) of this section;
(3) A procedure for reporting prohibited incidents;
(4) A requirement that school personnel report prohibited incidents of which they are aware to the school principal or other administrator designated by the principal;
(5) A requirement that parents or guardians of any student involved in a prohibited incident be notified and, to the extent permitted by section 3319.321 of the Revised Code and the "Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974," 88 Stat. 571, 20 U.S.C. 1232q, as amended, have access to any written reports pertaining to the prohibited incident;
(6) A procedure for documenting any prohibited incident that is reported;
(7) A procedure for responding to and investigating any reported incident;
(8) A strategy for protecting a victim or other person from new or additional harassment, intimidation, or bullying, and from retaliation following a report, including a means by which a person may report an incident anonymously;
(9) A disciplinary procedure for any student guilty of harassment, intimidation, or bullying, which shall not infringe on any student's rights under the first amendment to the Constitution of the United States;
(10) A statement prohibiting students from deliberately making false reports of harassment, intimidation, or bullying and a disciplinary procedure for any student guilty of deliberately making a false report of that nature;
(11) A requirement that the district administration semiannually provide the president of the district board a written summary of all reported incidents and post the summary on its web site, if the district has a web site, to the extent permitted by section 3319.321 of the Revised Code and the "Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974," 88 Stat. 571, 20 U.S.C. 1232q, as amended.
(C) Each board's policy shall appear in any student handbooks, and in any of the publications that set forth the comprehensive rules, procedures, and standards of conduct for schools and students in the district. The policy and an explanation of the seriousness of bullying by electronic means shall be made available to students in the district and to their parents and guardians. Information regarding the policy shall be incorporated into employee training materials.
(D) A school district employee, student, or volunteer shall be individually immune from liability in a civil action for damages arising from reporting an incident in accordance with a policy adopted pursuant to this section if that person reports an incident of harassment, intimidation, or bullying promptly in good faith and in compliance with the procedures as specified in the policy.
(E) Except as provided in division (D) of this section, nothing in this section prohibits a victim from seeking redress under any other provision of the Revised Code or common law that may apply.
(F) Any school district may form bullying prevention task forces, programs, and other initiatives involving volunteers, parents, law enforcement, and community members.
(G) This section does not create a new cause of action or a substantive legal right for any person.
Sec. 3313.667.  (A) Any school district may form bullying prevention task forces, programs, and other initiatives involving volunteers, parents, law enforcement, and community members As used in this section, "school year" means the year beginning on the first day of July and ending on the thirtieth day of June.
(B) To the extent that state or federal funds are appropriated for these purposes, each Each school district shall:
(1) Provide training, workshops, or courses each school year on the district's harassment, intimidation, or bullying policy adopted pursuant to section 3313.666 of the Revised Code to school employees and volunteers who have direct contact with students and complete the training for each school year by the thirty-first day of December of that school year. Time spent by school employees in the training, workshops, or courses shall apply towards any state- or district-mandated continuing education requirements.
(2) Develop a process for educating students about the policy.
(C) This If a school district fails to conduct for any school year the annual training required by division (B) of this section by the thirty-first day of December of that school year, the district, not later than the thirtieth day of January of the school year, shall send a notice by ordinary mail to the parents or guardians of each student enrolled in a school in the district for which the district has not completed the training. The notice shall include a statement that the district did not complete the training required by section 3313.667 of the Revised Code and shall be clearly distinguishable from other information sent to parents or guardians.
(D) If a school district fails to comply with both division (B) and division (C) of this section, a parent or guardian of any student enrolled in a school in the district may apply to a court of common pleas having territorial jurisdiction over any portion of the district for an order compelling the district to comply with division (B) or (C) of this section or granting other equitable relief.
(E) Except as provided in division (D) of this section, this section does not create a new cause of action or a substantive legal right for any person.
(F) Time spent by school employees in training provided pursuant to division (B)(1) of this section shall apply towards any state-mandated or district-mandated continuing education requirements.
Section 2.  That existing sections 2921.22, 3313.666, and 3313.667 of the Revised Code are hereby repealed.
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