As Introduced
136th General Assembly
Regular Session H. B. No. 90
2025-2026
Representatives Schmidt, Pizzulli
A B I L L
To amend section 4112.01 and to enact sections
124.92, 2701.21, and 4112.20 of the Revised Code
to define antisemitism for the purpose of
investigations and proceedings in courts and
state agencies and for state employee anti-bias
training.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:
Section 1. That section 4112.01 be amended and sections
124.92, 2701.21, and 4112.20 of the Revised Code be enacted to
read as follows:
Sec. 124.92. For the purposes of anti-discrimination and
anti-bias training for state agency employees, the definition of
antisemitism in section 4112.01 of the Revised Code shall be
used as an educational tool to familiarize staff and officials
with antisemitism.
Sec. 2701.21. (A) As used in this section, "antisemitism"
has the same meaning as in section 4112.01 of the Revised Code.
(B) A court of record or a court appointed authority,
including an arbitrator or special master, shall apply the same
legal standard to a claim alleging discrimination based on
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antisemitism as applies to like claims of discrimination arising
under Chapter 4112. of the Revised Code.
Sec. 4112.01. (A) As used in this chapter:
(1) "Person" includes one or more individuals,
partnerships, associations, organizations, corporations, legal
representatives, trustees, trustees in bankruptcy, receivers,
and other organized groups of persons. "Person" also includes,
but is not limited to, any owner, lessor, assignor, builder,
manager, broker, salesperson, appraiser, agent, employee,
lending institution, and the state and all political
subdivisions, authorities, agencies, boards, and commissions of
the state.
(2) "Employer" means the state, any political subdivision
of the state, or a person employing four or more persons within
the state, and any agent of the state, political subdivision, or
person.
(3) "Employee" means an individual employed by any
employer but does not include any individual employed in the
domestic service of any person.
(4) "Labor organization" includes any organization that
exists, in whole or in part, for the purpose of collective
bargaining or of dealing with employers concerning grievances,
terms or conditions of employment, or other mutual aid or
protection in relation to employment.
(5) "Employment agency" includes any person regularly
undertaking, with or without compensation, to procure
opportunities to work or to procure, recruit, refer, or place
employees.
(6) "Commission" means the Ohio civil rights commission
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created by section 4112.03 of the Revised Code.
(7) "Discriminate" includes segregate or separate.
(8) "Unlawful discriminatory practice" means any act
prohibited by section 4112.02, 4112.021, or 4112.022 of the
Revised Code.
(9) "Place of public accommodation" means any inn,
restaurant, eating house, barbershop, public conveyance by air,
land, or water, theater, store, other place for the sale of
merchandise, or any other place of public accommodation or
amusement of which the accommodations, advantages, facilities,
or privileges are available to the public.
(10) "Housing accommodations" includes any building or
structure, or portion of a building or structure, that is used
or occupied or is intended, arranged, or designed to be used or
occupied as the home residence, dwelling, dwelling unit, or
sleeping place of one or more individuals, groups, or families
whether or not living independently of each other; and any
vacant land offered for sale or lease. "Housing accommodations"
also includes any housing accommodations held or offered for
sale or rent by a real estate broker, salesperson, or agent, by
any other person pursuant to authorization of the owner, by the
owner, or by the owner's legal representative.
(11) "Restrictive covenant" means any specification
limiting the transfer, rental, lease, or other use of any
housing accommodations because of race, color, religion, sex,
military status, familial status, national origin, disability,
or ancestry, or any limitation based upon affiliation with or
approval by any person, directly or indirectly, employing race,
color, religion, sex, military status, familial status, national
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origin, disability, or ancestry as a condition of affiliation or
approval.
(12) "Burial lot" means any lot for the burial of deceased
persons within any public burial ground or cemetery, including,
but not limited to, cemeteries owned and operated by municipal
corporations, townships, or companies or associations
incorporated for cemetery purposes.
(13) "Disability" means a physical or mental impairment
that substantially limits one or more major life activities,
including the functions of caring for one's self, performing
manual tasks, walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing,
learning, and working; a record of a physical or mental
impairment; or being regarded as having a physical or mental
impairment.
(14) Except as otherwise provided in section 4112.021 of
the Revised Code, "age" means an individual aged forty years or
older.
(15) "Familial status" means either of the following:
(a) One or more individuals who are under eighteen years
of age and who are domiciled with a parent or guardian having
legal custody of the individual or domiciled, with the written
permission of the parent or guardian having legal custody, with
a designee of the parent or guardian;
(b) Any person who is pregnant or in the process of
securing legal custody of any individual who is under eighteen
years of age.
(16)(a) Except as provided in division (A)(16)(b) of this
section, "physical or mental impairment" includes any of the
following:
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(i) Any physiological disorder or condition, cosmetic
disfigurement, or anatomical loss affecting one or more of the
following body systems: neurological; musculoskeletal; special
sense organs; respiratory, including speech organs;
cardiovascular; reproductive; digestive; genito-urinary; hemic
and lymphatic; skin; and endocrine;
(ii) Any mental or psychological disorder, including, but
not limited to, intellectual disability, organic brain syndrome,
emotional or mental illness, and specific learning disabilities;
(iii) Diseases and conditions, including, but not limited
to, orthopedic, visual, speech, and hearing impairments,
cerebral palsy, autism, epilepsy, muscular dystrophy, multiple
sclerosis, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, human
immunodeficiency virus infection, intellectual disability,
emotional illness, drug addiction, and alcoholism.
(b) "Physical or mental impairment" does not include any
of the following:
(i) Homosexuality and bisexuality;
(ii) Transvestism, transsexualism, pedophilia,
exhibitionism, voyeurism, gender identity disorders not
resulting from physical impairments, or other sexual behavior
disorders;
(iii) Compulsive gambling, kleptomania, or pyromania;
(iv) Psychoactive substance use disorders resulting from
the current illegal use of a controlled substance or the current
use of alcoholic beverages.
(17) "Dwelling unit" means a single unit of residence for
a family of one or more persons.
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(18) "Common use areas" means rooms, spaces, or elements
inside or outside a building that are made available for the use
of residents of the building or their guests, and includes, but
is not limited to, hallways, lounges, lobbies, laundry rooms,
refuse rooms, mail rooms, recreational areas, and passageways
among and between buildings.
(19) "Public use areas" means interior or exterior rooms
or spaces of a privately or publicly owned building that are
made available to the general public.
(20) "Controlled substance" has the same meaning as in
section 3719.01 of the Revised Code.
(21) "Disabled tenant" means a tenant or prospective
tenant who is a person with a disability.
(22) "Military status" means a person's status in "service
in the uniformed services" as defined in section 5923.05 of the
Revised Code.
(23) "Aggrieved person" includes both of the following:
(a) Any person who claims to have been injured by any
unlawful discriminatory practice described in division (H) of
section 4112.02 of the Revised Code;
(b) Any person who believes that the person will be
injured by any unlawful discriminatory practice described in
division (H) of section 4112.02 of the Revised Code that is
about to occur.
(24) "Unlawful discriminatory practice relating to
employment" means both of the following:
(a) An unlawful discriminatory practice that is prohibited
by division (A), (B), (C), (D), (E), or (F) of section 4112.02
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of the Revised Code;
(b) An unlawful discriminatory practice that is prohibited
by division (I) or (J) of section 4112.02 of the Revised Code
that is related to employment.
(25) "Notice of right to sue" means a notice sent by the
commission to a person who files a charge under section 4112.051
of the Revised Code that states that the person who filed the
charge may bring a civil action related to the charge pursuant
to section 4112.052 or 4112.14 of the Revised Code, in
accordance with section 4112.052 of the Revised Code.
(26) "Antisemitism" means the working definition of
antisemitism adopted by the international holocaust remembrance
alliance on May 26, 2016, and includes the contemporary examples
of antisemitism identified therein.
(B) For the purposes of divisions (A) to (F) of section
4112.02 of the Revised Code, the terms "because of sex" and "on
the basis of sex" include, but are not limited to, because of or
on the basis of pregnancy, any illness arising out of and
occurring during the course of a pregnancy, childbirth, or
related medical conditions. Women affected by pregnancy,
childbirth, or related medical conditions shall be treated the
same for all employment-related purposes, including receipt of
benefits under fringe benefit programs, as other persons not so
affected but similar in their ability or inability to work, and
nothing in division (B) of section 4111.17 of the Revised Code
shall be interpreted to permit otherwise. This division shall
not be construed to require an employer to pay for health
insurance benefits for abortion, except where the life of the
mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term or
except where medical complications have arisen from the
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abortion, provided that nothing in this division precludes an
employer from providing abortion benefits or otherwise affects
bargaining agreements in regard to abortion.
(C) The definition of "antisemitism" in this section shall
not be construed to diminish or infringe on any right protected
by the first amendment to the United States Constitution or the
Ohio Constitution. This division shall not be construed to
conflict with this chapter or any other federal, state, or local
antidiscrimination law.
Sec. 4112.20. (A) As used in this section, "state agency"
means every organized body, office, board, authority,
commission, or agency established by the constitution or laws of
the state for the exercise of any governmental or quasi-
governmental function, regardless of the funding source for that
entity. "State agency" includes all of the following:
(1) A state institution of higher education as defined in
section 3345.011 of the Revised Code;
(2) The nonprofit corporation formed under section 187.01
of the Revised Code and any subsidiary of that corporation;
(3) Any state retirement system or retirement program
established by the Revised Code.
(B) In reviewing, investigating, or deciding whether there
has been a violation of any relevant policy, law, or regulation,
a state agency shall take into consideration the definition of
antisemitism for purposes of determining whether an alleged act
was motivated by antisemitism.
Section 2. That existing section 4112.01 of the Revised
Code is hereby repealed.
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