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Ohio House passes package including online age‑verification, tenant‑utility protections, student excused‑absence policy and capital reappropriations
Summary
On March 17, 2026, the Ohio House passed a set of bills that included the "Innocence Act" (requiring online age verification and penalizing certain nonconsensual AI deepfakes), a bill barring municipal liens for tenant utility debts, an education measure excusing students for 4‑H/FFA participation, a data‑center study commission, and a capital reappropriations bill with SNAP administrative funding.
The Ohio House of Representatives on March 17 advanced a package of bills affecting online safety, landlord‑tenant utility responsibility, education absences for extracurricular agricultural programs, and state budget reallocations.
Representative Demetrio, sponsor of substitute House Bill 84 — described on the floor as the "Innocence Act" — said the bill “is about protecting kids,” arguing it requires reasonable age‑verification safeguards for websites that distribute explicit material and establishes an Innocence Act Enforcement Fund to support enforcement and penalties. “If somebody takes your image without your consent and uses it to create fake explicit content, that is not a joke,” Demetrio said, framing the bill’s expanded remedies for victims. The…
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