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H. B. No. 328 As IntroducedAs Introduced
129th General Assembly | Regular Session | 2011-2012 |
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Cosponsors:
Representatives Boose, Beck, Adams, J., Dovilla, Maag
A BILL
To amend section 2923.129 of the Revised Code to
modify the journalist exception to the provision
that makes concealed handgun license records
confidential.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:
Section 1. That section 2923.129 of the Revised Code be
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 2923.129. (A)(1) If a sheriff, the superintendent of the
bureau of criminal identification and investigation, the employees
of the bureau, the Ohio peace officer training commission, or the
employees of the commission make a good faith effort in performing
the duties imposed upon the sheriff, the superintendent, the
bureau's employees, the commission, or the commission's employees
by sections 109.731, 311.41, and 2923.124 to 2923.1213 of the
Revised Code, in addition to the personal immunity provided by
section 9.86 of the Revised Code or division (A)(6) of section
2744.03 of the Revised Code and the governmental immunity of
sections 2744.02 and 2744.03 of the Revised Code and in addition
to any other immunity possessed by the bureau, the commission, and
their employees, the sheriff, the sheriff's office, the county in
which the sheriff has jurisdiction, the bureau, the superintendent
of the bureau, the bureau's employees, the commission, and the
commission's employees are immune from liability in a civil action
for injury, death, or loss to person or property that allegedly
was caused by or related to any of the following:
(a) The issuance, renewal, suspension, or revocation of a
license to carry a concealed handgun or the issuance, suspension,
or revocation of a temporary emergency license to carry a
concealed handgun;
(b) The failure to issue, renew, suspend, or revoke a license
to carry a concealed handgun or the failure to issue, suspend, or
revoke a temporary emergency license to carry a concealed handgun;
(c) Any action or misconduct with a handgun committed by a
licensee.
(2) Any action of a sheriff relating to the issuance,
renewal, suspension, or revocation of a license to carry a
concealed handgun or the issuance, suspension, or revocation of a
temporary emergency license to carry a concealed handgun shall be
considered to be a governmental function for purposes of Chapter
2744. of the Revised Code.
(3) An entity that or instructor who provides a competency
certification of a type described in division (B)(3) of section
2923.125 of the Revised Code is immune from civil liability that
might otherwise be incurred or imposed for any death or any injury
or loss to person or property that is caused by or related to a
person to whom the entity or instructor has issued the competency
certificate if all of the following apply:
(a) The alleged liability of the entity or instructor relates
to the training provided in the course, class, or program covered
by the competency certificate.
(b) The entity or instructor makes a good faith effort in
determining whether the person has satisfactorily completed the
course, class, or program and makes a good faith effort in
assessing the person in the competency examination conducted
pursuant to division (G)(2) of section 2923.125 of the Revised
Code.
(c) The entity or instructor did not issue the competency
certificate with malicious purpose, in bad faith, or in a wanton
or reckless manner.
(4) An entity that or instructor who provides a renewed
competency certification of a type described in division (G)(4) of
section 2923.125 of the Revised Code is immune from civil
liability that might otherwise be incurred or imposed for any
death or any injury or loss to person or property that is caused
by or related to a person to whom the entity or instructor has
issued the renewed competency certificate if all of the following
apply:
(a) The entity or instructor makes a good faith effort in
assessing the person in the physical demonstrations or the
competency examination conducted pursuant to division (G)(4) of
section 2923.125 of the Revised Code.
(b) The entity or instructor did not issue the renewed
competency certificate with malicious purpose, in bad faith, or in
a wanton or reckless manner.
(5) A law enforcement agency that employs a peace officer is
immune from liability in a civil action to recover damages for
injury, death, or loss to person or property allegedly caused by
any act of that peace officer if the act occurred while the peace
officer carried a concealed handgun and was off duty and if the
act allegedly involved the peace officer's use of the concealed
handgun. Sections 9.86 and 9.87, and Chapter 2744., of the Revised
Code apply to any civil action involving a peace officer's use of
a concealed handgun in the performance of the peace officer's
official duties while the peace officer is off duty.
(B)(1) Notwithstanding section 149.43 of the Revised Code,
except as provided in division (B)(2) of this section, the records
that a sheriff keeps relative to the issuance, renewal,
suspension, or revocation of a license to carry a concealed
handgun or the issuance, suspension, or revocation of a temporary
emergency license to carry a concealed handgun, including, but not
limited to, completed applications for the issuance or renewal of
a license, completed affidavits submitted regarding an application
for a temporary emergency license, reports of criminal records
checks and incompetency records checks under section 311.41 of the
Revised Code, and applicants' social security numbers and
fingerprints that are obtained under division (A) of section
311.41 of the Revised Code, are confidential and are not public
records. Except as provided in division (B)(2) of this section, no
person shall release or otherwise disseminate records that are
confidential under this division unless required to do so pursuant
to a court order.
(2)(a) A On or after the effective date of this amendment, a
journalist, on or after April 8, 2004, may submit to a sheriff a
signed, written request to view the file a complaint in a court of
common pleas requesting the issuance of an order authorizing the
journalist to view either or both of the following:
(i) The name, county of residence, and date of birth of each
person to whom the sheriff of the county served by the court has
issued a license or replacement license to carry a concealed
handgun, renewed a license to carry a concealed handgun, or issued
a temporary emergency license or replacement temporary emergency
license to carry a concealed handgun under section 2923.125 or
2923.1213 of the Revised Code, or a signed, written request to
view the;
(ii) The name, county of residence, and date of birth of each
person for whom the sheriff of the county served by the court has
suspended or revoked a license to carry a concealed handgun or a
temporary emergency license to carry a concealed handgun under
section 2923.128 of the Revised Code. The request
(b) A complaint filed under division (B)(2)(a) of this
section shall include the journalist's name and title, shall
include the name and address of the journalist's employer, and
shall state that disclosure of the information sought would be in
the public interest. If a journalist submits a signed, written
request to the sheriff to view the information described in this
division, the sheriff shall grant the journalist's request. The
Upon the filing of a complaint under division (B)(2)(a) of this
section, the court shall schedule a hearing. The hearing shall be
held at the earliest possible time but not later than the
fourteenth business day after the complaint is filed. Upon
scheduling the hearing, the court shall notify the journalist of
the date, time, and place of the hearing and shall cause notice of
the hearing to be made by publication in accordance with this
division. The notice by publication shall be made by publication
in a newspaper of general circulation in the county served by the
court. If no newspaper of general circulation is published in that
county, the publication shall be in a newspaper published in an
adjoining county. The publication shall contain the name and
address of the court, the case number, the name of the journalist
who filed the complaint, and the date, time, place, and purpose of
the hearing. The publication also shall specify that the court may
permit any interested person or organization to present testimony
or evidence in opposition to the requested release of the
information in question. The publication shall be published at
least three times before the date of the hearing. The journalist
who filed the complaint shall pay all costs of the notice by
publication.
At a hearing scheduled and held under this division, the
journalist who filed the complaint may present testimony or
evidence in support of the requested release of the information in
question. The court may permit any interested person or
organization to present testimony or evidence in opposition to the
requested release of the information in question. The court shall
keep a record of all testimony and other oral proceedings and of
all evidence presented in the case. The court shall enter judgment
on the complaint not later than the seventh business day after the
day on which the hearing is held.
(c) If a court that holds a hearing under division (B)(2)(b)
of this section determines that the release of the information
identified in the complaint is in the public interest, the court
shall enter judgment and an order authorizing the journalist to
view that information. The order shall direct the sheriff to
permit the journalist to view the information, subject to the
restriction specified in this division. Upon presentation of the
order to the sheriff, the sheriff shall permit the journalist to
view the information specified in the order, but the journalist
shall not copy the name, county of residence, or date of birth of
each person to or for whom the sheriff has issued, suspended, or
revoked a license described in this division (B)(2)(a)(i) or (ii)
of this section.
If a court that holds a hearing under division (B)(2)(b) of
this section does not determine that the release of the
information identified in the complaint is in the public interest,
the court shall enter judgment denying the request of the
journalist to view that information. The journalist may appeal the
judgment, as a matter of right, to the court of appeals. The court
that enters the judgment shall inform the journalist of the right
to appeal.
(b)(d) As used in division (B)(2) of this section,
"journalist" means a person engaged in, connected with, or
employed by any news medium, including a newspaper, magazine,
press association, news agency, or wire service, a radio or
television station, or a similar medium, for the purpose of
gathering, processing, transmitting, compiling, editing, or
disseminating information for the general public.
(C) Each sheriff shall report to the Ohio peace officer
training commission the number of licenses to carry a concealed
handgun that the sheriff issued, renewed, suspended, revoked, or
denied during the previous quarter of the calendar year, the
number of applications for those licenses for which processing was
suspended in accordance with division (D)(3) of section 2923.125
of the Revised Code during the previous quarter of the calendar
year, and the number of temporary emergency licenses to carry a
concealed handgun that the sheriff issued, suspended, revoked, or
denied during the previous quarter of the calendar year. The
sheriff shall not include in the report the name or any other
identifying information of an applicant or licensee. The sheriff
shall report that information in a manner that permits the
commission to maintain the statistics described in division (D) of
section 109.731 of the Revised Code and to timely prepare the
statistical report described in that division. The information
that is received by the commission under this division is a public
record kept by the commission for the purposes of section 149.43
of the Revised Code.
(D) Law enforcement agencies may use the information a
sheriff makes available through the use of the law enforcement
automated data system pursuant to division (H) of section 2923.125
or division (B)(2) or (D) of section 2923.1213 of the Revised Code
for law enforcement purposes only. The information is confidential
and is not a public record. A person who releases or otherwise
disseminates this information obtained through the law enforcement
automated data system in a manner not described in this division
is guilty of a violation of section 2913.04 of the Revised Code.
(E) Whoever violates division (B) of this section is guilty
of illegal release of confidential concealed handgun license
records, a felony of the fifth degree. In addition to any
penalties imposed under Chapter 2929. of the Revised Code for a
violation of division (B) of this section or a violation of
section 2913.04 of the Revised Code described in division (D) of
this section, if the offender is a sheriff, an employee of a
sheriff, or any other public officer or employee, and if the
violation was willful and deliberate, the offender shall be
subject to a civil fine of one thousand dollars. Any person who is
harmed by a violation of division (B) or (C) of this section or a
violation of section 2913.04 of the Revised Code described in
division (D) of this section has a private cause of action against
the offender for any injury, death, or loss to person or property
that is a proximate result of the violation and may recover court
costs and attorney's fees related to the action.
Section 2. That existing section 2923.129 of the Revised
Code is hereby repealed.
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