Criminalizing protests in Ohio? Group of bills would stiffen penalties, add new crimes

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSYX) — Proposals that could deem more protesters in Ohio as criminals and cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars are being blasted by civil rights groups who say the bills would have a "chilling" effect on Ohioans' willingness to exercise first amendment rights.

The four bills — Senate bills 16 and 41, and House bills 22 and 109 — are meant to criminalize or further punish the types of riotous conduct that caused Columbus protests to spiral out of control in May 2020, after the death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis.

Senate Bill 16, sponsored by Senator Tim Schaffer (R-Lancaster) is potentially the most expansive: creating or increasing penalties related to harm, intimidation or obstruction of a police officer — while also criminalizing more common protest methods like blocking traffic, which does not currently have its own specific criminal statute.

"We need to support our police and first responders," Schaffer said Wednesday, "and make it illegal to taunt and harass them, and taunt and harass their families."

SB16 would ensure that by adding new legal prohibitions for assaulting, intimidating, menacing or inciting violence against a police officer or their family members; it also modifies, expands or creates new crimes for disrupting or vandalizing an officer's equipment, throwing objects at them, blinding them with lasers or providing "material support" to those who do commit such crimes.

Schaffer's other proposal, SB41, requires that anyone convicted for rioting or inciting violence that destroys property must be sentenced to pay back the value of the damage caused, as well as the cost of the law enforcement response. In four days during May 2020, those costs together came out to a crushing $4.5 million-plus — with only a handful of protesters arrested.

Schaffer's position: you broke it, you bought it.

"They made a conscious decision to cost the taxpayers money," Schaffer said. "Why should the taxpayer pay those bills, when they didn't do the damage?"

The Ohio ACLU is among the organizations leading the charge against the bills.

"There is a difference between temporarily blocking an intersection, and burning a building down. But these bills do not make that distinction," said chief lobbyist Gary Daniels. "As far as these bills are concerned, it's all 'civil disobedience.'"

Daniels said the concept of criminalizing "material support" to a protest that turns into a riot, mirrors language in U.S. anti-terrorism laws.

"Let's say we send out a press release, put something on social media, or somebody pays for bail (for a protester) or provides legal counsel for someone arrested...you have now provided 'material support,'" Daniels said. "The penalty under these bills is violating Ohio's 'Corrupt Activity' laws...you get your assets seized, the organization gets shut down."

Daniels said organizations like ACLU Ohio could be discouraged from facilitating any protests due to the new prohibitions in the proposal.

On Wednesday, Ohio Senate President Matt Huffman (R) signaled that he may work to peel back some of the furthest-reaching penalties included in the Senate bills.

"I think we need to be cautious about creating new crimes and enhancing penalties," Huffman said. "Making sure that our law enforcement is safe is paramount, but that can usually can be done with better technique...rather than writing new laws and penalties."

Schaffer said he'd be open to debate and input from both sides of the aisle; on House Bill 22, which proposes to criminalize "taunting" a police officer, sponsors Rep. Shane Wilkin and Rep. Jeff Lare both said they'd be willing to tighten the definition so as not to violate first amendment protections.

"We've got to make it constitutional... (but) we've got to draw a line in the sand," Schaffer said Wednesday. "We're not going to allow people to prevent first responders from doing their jobs."

All four bills are in the early stages of their first committee hearings in both the House and Senate.