Bills on 'Jennifer's Law,' Job Ready Sites pass

Voters approved funding for the Jobs Ready Site Program in 2005.
By MARC KOVAC
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
COLUMBUS -- The Ohio Senate has passed two bills -- one preventing child sex offenders from sealing their court records from public view, the other aimed at making the state's Job Ready Sites more accessible to all areas.
The legislation goes to the Ohio House for further consideration.
Sen. Patricia M. Clancy, a Republican from Cincinnati, introduced Senate Bill 18, named "Jennifer's Law" after a constituent who was abused by a family member who, in turn, was allowed to plead to lesser charges and have the sexual abuse sealed from his court records, effectively leaving no publicly accessible record of the offenses.
State law already exempts a number of sexually oriented offenses from record sealing, including rape, sexual battery and unlawful sexual conduct with a minor.
Clancy's legislation expands nonexempt offenses to include importuning and "convictions of the offense of voyeurism, public indecency, compelling prostitution, promoting prostitution, procuring, disseminating matter harmful to juveniles, displaying matter harmful to juveniles, pandering obscenity, or deception to obtain matter harmful to juveniles when the victim of the offense was under 18," says an analysis of the bill compiled by the state's Legislative Services Commission.
The bill passed by a final vote of 32-1 Wednesday, with Sen. Shirley Smith, a Democrat from Cleveland, dissenting. "I think it goes too far," Smith said.
Improving program
Also Wednesday, the Senate passed a bill introduced by Sen. John Carey, a Republican from Wellstone, to improve the Ohio Department of Development's Job Ready Site Program.
The program, funded through a bond initiative approved by voters in November 2005, provides grants to develop large parcels of land or buildings. A total of 150 million in grants will be awarded over seven years.
Carey said current program guidelines were established by an out-of-state consultant and kept some rural and urban counties from having a chance to apply.
Carey's legislation, approved unanimously, requires the Department of Development to adopt rules to administer the Job Ready Sites annual competitive grant process. It also requires those rules to be reviewed by the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review in a process that includes public scrutiny.
"The opportunity to participate does not mean a guarantee of funding but that every part of the state would have the opportunity to present its case for JRS funds," he said.
The bill also increases to 750,000 from 500,000 the maximum amount granted under the Industrial Site Improvement Program, which is designed for "counties in the Appalachian region, in a distressed area [high unemployment, low income], or in a county experiencing high job losses, and are to be used for expanding, remodeling, renovating and modernizing buildings, remediating environmentally contaminated property on which hazardous substances exist, or for infrastructure improvements," says the Legislative Service Commission analysis.
mkovac@dixcom.com