What This Bill Does
SB 274 is the Senate companion to HB 172. Both bills would repeal Ohio Revised Code section 5122.04, a 1989-era statute that has allowed minors age 14 and older to access up to six outpatient mental-health counseling sessions without parental consent.
Under SB 274, any mental-health service provided to a minor would require prior written parental consent — closing a confidential-care pathway that Ohio youth have relied on for more than three decades.
Impact on LGBTQIA+ Ohioans
ORC 5122.04's minor-consent provision functions as a crisis-access bridge for LGBTQ+ youth who face rejection, abuse, or danger at home if their identity becomes known. The Trevor Project's 2024 national survey found that 39% of LGBTQ+ young people in Ohio seriously considered suicide in the past year, and the rate among those whose parents are unsupportive is substantially higher.
Repealing 5122.04 forces LGBTQ+ minors to choose between seeking care that requires outing themselves to parents who may not affirm them, or forgoing counseling entirely during acute periods of risk.
Legal & Constitutional Risks
- Tension with Ohio's Health Care Freedom Amendment — The same state constitutional provision the 10th District cited in its HB 68 ruling protects individual health-care choices and could be invoked here.
- Mandated-Reporter Conflicts — Licensed professionals facing suicidal or abused LGBTQ+ clients would be legally barred from the first session absent parental consent, deepening liability for professionals and risk to minors.
- Federal Preemption Concerns — Federal Medicaid and EPSDT (Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment) rules require mental-health coverage for minors; Ohio's consent bar could collide.