To amend section 149.43 of the Revised Code to protect from release under Ohio Public Records Law the residential and familial information of mental health professionals and social workers.
HB 837 would amend Ohio’s Public Records Law, section 149.43 of the Revised Code, to add mental health professionals and social workers to the list of designated public service workers whose residential and familial information is exempt from disclosure. The bill defines “mental health professional” broadly to include certain psychiatric advanced practice nurses, psychiatrists, psychologists, forensic mental health providers, mental health evaluation providers, and regional psychiatric hospital employees, and it defines “social worker” to include several licensed behavioral health and family therapy professions. Under the bill, information such as a covered worker’s home address, residential phone number, family members’ identifying information, certain benefit-related details, and related personal data would be protected from release in public records.
The bill also makes conforming changes to the public records statute’s definitions and exemption framework, while leaving the core access rules in place. Public offices would still be required to provide nonexempt portions of records, redact exempt material, and follow existing procedures for requests, denials, appeals, and statutory damages. In practical terms, the measure would narrow public access to personal information about covered behavioral health workers and their families, while preserving access to government records that do not implicate those privacy protections.
HB 837 would directly amend Ohio Revised Code section 149.43, expanding the statutory exemption for “designated public service worker residential and familial information” to include mental health professionals and social workers. That would affect public offices, records custodians, and requesters by requiring redaction or withholding of covered personal information in public records requests. The bill would also extend the existing journalist-access provisions for designated public service workers to the newly covered categories, meaning certain address and work-schedule information could still be disclosed to journalists under the statute’s special request process. Overall, the bill would increase privacy protections for behavioral health and social service personnel and their families, and it would reduce the scope of public disclosure under Ohio’s open records law for those individuals.
Based on the bill’s text and sponsorship, the measure appears to be framed as a privacy and safety protection for workers who may face sensitive or high-risk interactions in their professional roles. The bill was introduced with multiple cosponsors and referred to the House Judiciary Committee, but no committee transcript or vote history is available here, so there is no recorded floor or committee sentiment to assess beyond the bill’s stated purpose. The available context suggests a generally supportive posture from the sponsors and cosponsors, with the proposal presented as a targeted exemption rather than a broad rollback of public records access.
The main point of contention is likely to be the balance between personal privacy and transparency in government records. Supporters would view the bill as a necessary safeguard for mental health professionals and social workers, whose home and family information could expose them to harassment or safety risks. Opponents, if any, would likely focus on the fact that the bill broadens exemptions to Ohio’s Public Records Law and could make it harder for the public to obtain information about public employees, especially because the definitions of covered professions are relatively broad and include some licensed counselors and marriage and family therapists. Another possible issue is whether the exemption is narrowly tailored enough, since it protects not only the workers’ addresses but also family-member information and other personal data.