H.B. 145 Summary

• Requires the Ohio Attorney General to establish and maintain a statewide registry of individuals convicted of animal abuse offenses, with information made available to law enforcement agencies and posted online.

• Courts must submit convicted animal abusers' information to the Attorney General within 60 days of sentencing, including name, address, photograph, offense details, and collected ten-dollar registration fee.

• Registry information is maintained for two years following sentencing for first-time offenders and five years for subsequent offenses; information is removed after the applicable period unless another animal abuse conviction occurs during that time.

• Prohibits animal shelters from placing companion animals for adoption with any individual whose name appears on the animal abuser registry.

• Creates the animal abuser registration fund in the state treasury, funded by the ten-dollar fees collected from convicted offenders, to be used by the Attorney General to administer the registry program.