State Senate: Republican majority
State House: Republican majority
Governor: Mike DeWine (R)
Attorney General: Dave Yost (R)
Summary:
Despite teasing as a swing state in the last few presidential elections, the Buckeye state has had a Republican trifecta—where the governor’s office and both legislative chambers are controlled by Republicans—continuously since 2011. In the Ohio General Assembly, the Republican Party holds significant majorities in both chambers. As of the latest session, Republicans control the Ohio Senate with 26 seats to the Democrats’ 7. In the Ohio House of Representatives, Republicans have 67 seats compared to the Democrats’ 32. The state’s executive branch is also under Republican control, with Governor Mike DeWine, a Republican, having been in office since 2019.
Recently passed laws include a pair strengthening speech on public colleges and universities, and a provision in the 2023 budget act requiring that social media sites must obtain verifiable consent from a parent or legal guardian before entering a contract with a child. Bills under consideration but not yet passed include measures to limit the use of generative-AI and “deepfakes” in elections, and the Uniform Public Expression Protection Act authored by the Uniform Law Commission which combats strategic lawsuits against public participation, also called “SLAPPs.” Attorney General Dave Yost has joined Republican-led efforts to push back against censorship, including supporting the plaintiffs in Missuori v Biden.
Key Policymakers:
- Sen. Andrew Brenner [R], Sen. Robert McColley [R], and Sen. Jerry Cirino [R]
- Rep. Jay Edwards [R]
Legislative Activity:
SB 40 (Signed into Law) (2020): To enact the “Forming Open and Robust University Minds Act” regarding free speech on college campuses. Introduced by Sen. Andrew Brenner [R] and Sen. Robert McColley [R] in Feb. 2019, passed the Senate unanimously, the House along partisan lines, and signed into law on December 17, 2020.
HB 33 (Signed into Law): As part of the annual appropriations bill, the Parental Notification by Social Media Operator Act establishes several new requirements for operators of online websites, services, or products that target children, or are reasonably anticipated to be accessed by children. The operator of a social media site must obtain verifiable consent from a parent or legal guardian before entering a contract with a child, including terms of service to register, sign up, or otherwise create a unique username to access the website, service, or product. Introduced by Rep. Jay Edwards [R] in Feb. 2023, passed both chambers largely along partisan lines, and signed into law on July 4, 2023.
SB 135 (Signed into Law) (2021): Requires each state institution to adopt a policy that affirms prescribed principles regarding the regulation of free speech on campuses. Requires each state institution to establish a process under which a student, student group, or faculty member may submit a complaint about an alleged violation by an employee of its policy. Introduced by Sen. Jerry Cirino [R] in March 2021, passed the Senate nearly unanimously, the House unanimously, and signed into law on April 21, 2022.
HB 441 (2021): The bill prohibits a social media platform with over 50 million users from censoring a user’s expression. The bill also provides exclusive enforcement by a user’s private right of action, allowing a user to initiate a civil action against social media platforms that violates the bill’s provisions. Aside from the private right of action, the bill prohibits government enforcement of the bill’s provisions. A Republican-only bill introduced by Rep. Scott Wiggam [R] and Rep. Alessandro Cutrona [R] in Oct. 2021, voted favorably out of committee, but did not advance further.
SB 217: Requires products generated by artificial intelligence to have a watermark. Prohibits simulated child pornography and identity fraud using a replica of a person’s personal image. The bill expands the offense of pandering obscenity involving a minor or impaired person by also prohibiting simulated obscene material and creates a third degree felony for a person to make or transmit any simulated obscene material, and a fourth degree felony for a person to buy, procure, possess, or control any simulated obscene material. The bill also expands the offense of identity fraud to prohibit the use of a replica of a person’s persona for certain activities. Introduced by Sen. Louis Blessing [R] and Sen. Terry Johnson [R] in Jan. 2024, the bill is currently under committee consideration.
HB 410: Regulates the dissemination of deepfake media intended to influence the results of an election 90 days before the election, and requiring disclosures. Bipartisan bill introduced by Rep. Joseph Miller [D] in Feb. 2024 and is in committee.
SB 237: A bill to enact the uniform public expression protection act, which would allow the filing of special motions for expedited relief concerning certain lawsuits the bill calls eligible causes of action. This would allow a stay for a review and determination to be made as to whether the lawsuit should be dismissed at an earlier point in the proceedings. The bill is based on a model uniform law drafted by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, also known as the Uniform Law Commission (ULC). Bipartisan bill introduced by Sen. Theresa Gavarone [R] and Sen. Nathan Manning [R] in March 2024 and passed the Senate unanimously in June 2024.
Legal Actions:
AG Yost Defends HB 33 from NetChoice Challenge. On July 5, 2023, Ohio governor Mike DeWine signed HB 33 into law, which included the Social Media Parental Notification Act as a part of the Ohio 2024 to 2025 fiscal year budget. This law requires that children and teens under the age of sixteen obtain parental consent on a platform that allows content to be posted a on a public or semi-public profile. NetChoice filed a lawsuit against the State of Ohio claiming that the law was violating constitutional rights and the First Amendment and that it would pose a risk to internet privacy, safety and security. On January 8, 2024, an Ohio judge granted a temporary restraining order that stopped the law from going into effect on January 15. The judge stated that “Foreclosing minors under sixteen from accessing all content on websites that the Act purports to cover, absent affirmative parental consent, is a breathtakingly blunt instrument for reducing social media’s harm to children.” On Feb. 7, the court deliberated a preliminary injunction, which would officially stave off the law until the court rules on its constitutionality.
AG Yost Pushes Back on Federal Censorship in Murthy v Missouri case. On Sept. 20, 2023 Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost filed an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to block the Biden administration coercing social media platforms. “The federal government doesn’t get to play referee on the field of public discourse,” Yost said. “If you let them decide what speech is OK, one day yours might not be.” In the filing, Yost asked the Supreme Court to deny the federal government’s request to pause a U.S. District Court injunction prohibiting certain Biden administration officials from pressuring social media platforms into deleting user content protected by the First Amendment. The Supreme Court overruled the lower court injunction in June 2024 and sent the case back for reconsideration.
Yost, 25 Other AGs Confront Pornhub’s Parent Company Over Predator Loophole. On September 29, 2023, a potential loophole that could allow predators share videos of child sex abuse on Pornhub drew the attention of Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost and 25 other attorneys general. In a letter to Aylo, Pornhub’s Montreal-based parent company, the attorneys general questioned Pornhub’s practices for vetting user-uploaded content to ensure participants are consenting adults, rather than victims of child sex abuse and other crimes. The inquiry was prompted by an undercover journalist’s recorded conversations with Mike Farley, an Aylo technical product manager. According to Farley, content creators must submit a photo ID for verification when opening a Pornhub account, but they are not required to show their faces in materials uploaded to the website. In other words, there is no guarantee the people shown in the uploads are participating willingly and legally. In their letter, the attorneys general seek Aylo’s response to the claims and an explanation of the company’s plan to fix the alleged loophole, so no children or other victims are abused for profit on its platforms.
The letter also asks what steps the company is taking to prevent the spread of child sex abuse materials generated by artificial intelligence, a growing concern that Yost and every other state attorney general in the nation shared with Congress earlier that month.
