Legislation Increases Penalty for Smuggling Drugs

People who smuggle drugs into Ohio prisons and institutions would spend
more time in jail under a bill approved by House lawmakers. The
legislation, passed 93-0 on Tuesday, makes the crime of conveying drugs
into a prison punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine of up to
$10,000.

Under current law, visitors caught bringing drugs inside a prison or other
state institution face up to 12 months in jail and a fine of up to $2,500.

State employees such as guards face up to 18 months in prison and a fine of
up to $5,000 for the same crime.

The legislation covers all Department of Rehabilitation and Correction
institutions, all Department of Youth Services detention centers, and all
Mental Health and Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities
institutions.

The bill's sponsor, Rep. Gary Cates, R-West Chester, said the bill sends
the proper message as Ohio continues its fight against drugs. Prisons are
"the last place we need drugs," Cates said.

If signed into law, the change would cost Ohio taxpayers an extra $200,000
a year, according to an analysis by the Legislative Budget Office.

That's based on estimates that an additional 20 people a year would face
prison time because of the stiffer penalty. In addition, sentences would
increase for the approximately 30 people a year that now serve time for
such crimes.

Joe Andrews, a spokesman for the prisons department, said the department
has been working for several years on increasing drug busts in prison.

"I think this fits in with that, in that in shows we are serious about
keeping drugs out of prison," he said.

The bill goes next to the Senate.

The House also passed a bill sponsored by Rep. Jon Myers, R-Lancaster, that
expands the investment options of some local governments, and a Senate bill
sponsored by Bruce Johnson, R-Westerville, that allows county treasurers to
invest in certain money market mutual funds.

Myers' bill goes on to the Senate for consideration. Johnson's bill returns
to the Senate for consideration of House changes.

Meanwhile in the Senate, lawmakers approved a bill that would license
county homes for the indigent and elderly as residential care facilities --
the same designation that nursing homes receive. This would make Ohio's 45
remaining county homes eligible for federal grants. Also Tuesday, Senate
President Richard Finan said work being done to craft a spending plan for
Ohio's $10.1 billion tobacco settlement must take into consideration that
the payments Ohio will receive this year will be reduced by 12 to 14
percent because of smaller-than-expected tobacco sales.

Despite the reduction, Finan said Senate Republicans want as much money as
possible earmarked from the settlement for schools because of Taft's
spending plan for school renovations.

Gov. Bob Taft has proposed using about $2.5 billion from the tobacco
settlement to fund a 12-year plan to rebuild Ohio schools.

Taft has submitted that plan to the Ohio Supreme Court, which is expected
to rule this year on whether Ohio's school funding system is
constitutional.