SB 174 – an extremely bad bill
SB 174 is a shockingly bad bill that is highly destructive to children, parents and parenting. It is a system
bill, by and for the operators of the system, written by judges to maximize judicial power and minimize
any restrains or accountability in the law. We are suffering from epidemic levels of child alienation (as
minors and in adulthood), lower birth rates, low marriage rates with many bypassing marriages &/or
children all together, and higher divorce rates with laws like this incentivizing the worst elements of
operations in the family / domestic relations court.
I have volunteered and ministered to many people in group and church settings as well as secular
settings and the amount of people hurt and damaged, included very many children is astronomical. The
features of this bill will exasperate these negative issues. Even grandparents are restricted through this
system from seeing their grandchildren. This bill worsens all of these things.
This bill eliminates “parents-rights” and “shared parenting” both specifically. This is terrible, sows’
massive division, runs up contestation and cost, and massively hurts kids. If you want to kill children’s
relationships with one parent, especially with fathers, then this bill is for you. If you want to go the
opposite way from reconciliation and clear standards, and instead destroy many family relations for
years and decades, then keep promoting horrendous legislation like this.
Full discretion without accountability for judges, no real ability to appeal anything, no real standards,
vague general concepts that can be looked at but ignored or defined any way a judge (or an small army
of court actors and surrogates) wants to define them. Bias running rampant, not the rule of law. Flouting
other Ohio and the importance of children/parent rights. Bureaucracy, cost, conflict, alienation, micro-
management of government agents all go far up with SB 174. This bill is the status quo but much worse.
This bill is a hyper-adversarial system that pits parents against each other and rewards conflict and
contestation, the opposite of what the courts should be doing. But the court actors are paid for conflict,
and have no real training to correctly resolve these situations.
The courts reject untold thousands of hours of research, education, and counseling advice to push this
bill. Think of it, what psychiatrist are other counselor would actually EVER take an approach like this? I
am staggered by just how terrible this bill is. No one should want the repercussions of voting to support
this, and the bill sponsors should pull this bill. The wreckage the courts have done to the family,
especially middle class, blue collar, and minority families will be much worse than the current terrible
record already is. States like Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, West Virginia and Florida are already reaping
the benefits of resent law changes in the OPPOSITE direction of this bill.
Children are reduced to property of the state; Parents are forced into Roman Coliseum combat and are
stripped of federal and constitutional rights. Children have really nowhere to turn. Judges and court
actors don’t care and don’t follow-up, unless you want to pay much more money and get more of the
same. Parents are treated legally as indentured servants, serfs, in this system.
Bill like this are why there is such a strong groundswell to continue to have Ohio constitutional
amendments done at the ballot; On almost any issue now it seems. The legislature refusing to reform

problems is a catalyst for problems and grievance. The imbedded special interests “fox overseeing the
hen house” are maintaining the status or worse. I can say with clarity that many people I talk to, blog
with, gather with, volunteer and work with, are so upset with the lack of accountability, especially with
the courts. We NEED the legislature to hold the courts accountable. Rather we see full cow towing to the
Judicial Conference and zero accountability. For example, very many people I personally know, and many
more on-line are specifically very supportive of the amendment drive to remove qualified immunity
precisely and especially because judges basically never are held accountable. We see legislators,
governors, bureaucrats, police go to jail at times, while judges fundamentally are a law unto themselves.
Even egregious wrongs by judges are met with a slap on the wrist if even that. It will be very dangerous
for the legislature to allow the judges and some in the Ohio Br Association to pull down the wrath of the
electorate upon all public officials. You are massively incentivizing votes for items like removing Qualified
Immunity. I am seeing left wingers and stanch conservatives united in this, in big ways.
The Ohio electorate polls at something like 87% to REMOVE items and problems from domestic court
like the one promoted and enhanced in this bill. SB 174 is going against everything: good, correct and
supported by both the electorate as well as the research. PLEASE DO NOT SUPPORT THIS BILL.