State Representative Brian Stewart of Ashville has announced the successful passage of House Bill 31 through the Ohio House. The legislation, co-sponsored with State Representative Latyna Humphrey from Columbus, received unanimous bipartisan support earlier this month. This bill mandates the electronic recording of all Ohio Parole Board hearings and ensures public access to these records upon request.
Currently, there is no requirement for the Ohio Parole Board to record its hearings. This limits the ability of inmates, attorneys, families, and stakeholders to review or appeal proceedings. House Bill 31 aims to address this limitation.
“This bill simply aligns parole board hearings with other court proceedings and traffic hearings in that there is a record from the meeting,” said Rep. Stewart. He highlighted that “as of 2022, which is the most current data, roughly 22,000 Ohioans were under parole, and 191,000 under probation.” Given these numbers, he noted it makes sense to have recordings available for reference.
The proposed legislation allows any party or individual to request an electronic recording of a parole hearing from the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. These recordings must remain confidential and are prohibited from being copied or posted online.
To protect victims’ privacy mentioned in hearings, the bill stipulates that recordings must exclude personally identifiable information such as names, contact details, social security numbers, and other personal details about victims or their immediate family members.
House Bill 31 is now awaiting further consideration in the Ohio Senate.
