As Introduced

136th General Assembly

Regular Session S. B. No. 120

2025-2026

To amend sections 3781.06, 3781.061, and 5713.30 of the Revised Code relating to temporary greenhouses and building codes, to establish the Urban Farmer Youth Initiative Pilot Program, to codify certain property tax requirements for agricultural land, and to make an appropriation.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:

Section 1. That sections 3781.06, 3781.061, and 5713.30 of the Revised Code be amended to read as follows:

Sec. 3781.06. (A)(1) Any building that may be used as a place of resort, assembly, education, entertainment, lodging, dwelling, trade, manufacture, repair, storage, traffic, or occupancy by the public, any residential building, and all other buildings or parts and appurtenances of those buildings erected within this state, shall be so constructed, erected, equipped, and maintained that they shall be safe and sanitary for their intended use and occupancy.

(2) Nothing in sections 3781.06 to 3781.18, 3781.40, and 3791.04 of the Revised Code shall be construed to limit the power of the division of industrial compliance of the department of commerce to adopt rules of uniform application governing manufactured home parks pursuant to section 4781.26 of the Revised Code.

(B) Sections 3781.06 to 3781.18, 3781.40, and 3791.04 of the Revised Code do not apply to any of the following:

(1) Either of the following:

(a) Buildings or structures that are incident to the use for agricultural purposes of the land on which the buildings or structures are located, provided those buildings or structures are not used in the business of retail trade. For purposes of this division, a building or structure is not considered used in the business of retail trade if fifty per cent or more of the gross income received from sales of products in the building or structure by the owner or operator is from sales of products produced or raised in a normal crop year on farms owned or operated by the seller;

(b) Temporary greenhouses.

(2) Existing single-family, two-family, and three-family detached dwelling houses for which applications have been submitted to the director of children and youth pursuant to section 5104.03 of the Revised Code for the purposes of operating type A family child care homes as defined in section 5104.01 of the Revised Code;

(3) A mobile computing unit. As used in this division, "mobile computing unit" means an assembly that meets all of the following criteria:

(a) Its purpose is to house and operate computers as defined in section 2913.01 of the Revised Code.

(b) Its exterior is integral to the protection or cooling, or both, of the computers housed within it.

(d) It is not accessible to the public.

(e) It is not designed for regular occupancy, but rather limited access for service and maintenance.

(f) It can be moved or transported as a single integrated unit.

(1) "Agricultural purposes" include agriculture, farming, dairying, pasturage, apiculture, algaculture meaning the farming of algae, horticulture, floriculture, viticulture, ornamental horticulture, olericulture, pomiculture, and animal and poultry husbandry.

(2) "Building" means any structure consisting of foundations, walls, columns, girders, beams, floors, and roof, or a combination of any number of these parts, with or without other parts or appurtenances.

(3) "Industrialized unit" means a building unit or assembly of closed construction fabricated in an off-site facility, that is substantially self-sufficient as a unit or as part of a greater structure, and that requires transportation to the site of intended use. "Industrialized unit" includes units installed on the site as independent units, as part of a group of units, or incorporated with standard construction methods to form a completed structural entity. "Industrialized unit" does not include a manufactured home as defined by division (C)(4) of this section or a mobile home as defined by division (O) of section 4501.01 of the Revised Code.

(4) "Manufactured home" means a building unit or assembly of closed construction that is fabricated in an off-site facility and constructed in conformance with the federal construction and safety standards established by the secretary of housing and urban development pursuant to the "Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974," 88 Stat. 700, 42 U.S.C.A. 5401, 5403, and that has a permanent label or tag affixed to it, as specified in 42 U.S.C.A. 5415, certifying compliance with all applicable federal construction and safety standards.

(5) "Permanent foundation" means permanent masonry, concrete, or a footing or foundation approved by the division of industrial compliance of the department of commerce pursuant to Chapter 4781. of the Revised Code, to which a manufactured or mobile home may be affixed.

(6) "Permanently sited manufactured home" means a manufactured home that meets all of the following criteria:

(a) The structure is affixed to a permanent foundation and is connected to appropriate facilities;

(b) The structure, excluding any addition, has a width of at least twenty-two feet at one point, a length of at least twenty-two feet at one point, and a total living area, excluding garages, porches, or attachments, of at least nine hundred square feet;

(c) The structure has a minimum 3:12 residential roof pitch, conventional residential siding, and a six-inch minimum eave overhang, including appropriate guttering;

(d) The structure was manufactured after January 1, 1995;

(e) The structure is not located in a manufactured home park as defined by section 4781.01 of the Revised Code.

(7) "Safe," with respect to a building, means it is free from danger or hazard to the life, safety, health, or welfare of persons occupying or frequenting it, or of the public and from danger of settlement, movement, disintegration, or collapse, whether such danger arises from the methods or materials of its construction or from equipment installed therein, for the purpose of lighting, heating, the transmission or utilization of electric current, or from its location or otherwise.

(8) "Sanitary," with respect to a building, means it is free from danger or hazard to the health of persons occupying or frequenting it or to that of the public, if such danger arises from the method or materials of its construction or from any equipment installed therein, for the purpose of lighting, heating, ventilating, or plumbing.

(9) "Residential building" means a one-family, two-family, or three-family dwelling house, and any accessory structure incidental to that dwelling house. "Residential building" includes a one-family, two-family, or three-family dwelling house that is used as a model to promote the sale of a similar dwelling house. "Residential building" does not include an industrialized unit as defined by division (C)(3) of this section, a manufactured home as defined by division (C)(4) of this section, or a mobile home as defined by division (O) of section 4501.01 of the Revised Code.

(10) "Nonresidential building" means any building that is not a residential building or a manufactured or mobile home.

(11) "Accessory structure" means a structure that is attached to a residential building and serves the principal use of the residential building. "Accessory structure" includes, but is not limited to, a garage, porch, or screened-in patio.

(12) "Temporary greenhouse" means a structure covered with transparent or translucent materials for the purpose of admitting natural light and controlling the atmosphere for growing agricultural products, and in which both of the following conditions apply:

(a) There is little to no ground preparation;

(b) There is no foundation.

Sec. 3781.061. (A) Whenever a county zoning inspector under section 303.16 of the Revised Code, or a township zoning inspector under section 519.16 of the Revised Code, issues a zoning certificate that declares a specific building or structure is to be used in agriculture, such building is not subject to sections 3781.06 to 3781.20, 3781.40, or 3791.04 of the Revised Code.

(B) The exception to sections 3781.06 to 3781.20, 3781.40, or 3791.04 of the Revised Code, as described in division (A) of this section, includes a temporary greenhouse as defined in section 3781.06 of the Revised Code.

Sec. 5713.30. As used in sections 5713.31 to 5713.37 and 5715.01 of the Revised Code:

(A) "Land devoted exclusively to agricultural use" means:

(1) Tracts, lots, or parcels of land totaling not less than ten acres to which, during the three calendar years prior to the year in which application is filed under section 5713.31 of the Revised Code, and through the last day of May of such year, one or more of the following apply:

(a) The tracts, lots, or parcels of land were devoted exclusively to commercial animal or poultry husbandry, aquaculture, algaculture meaning the farming of algae, apiculture, the cultivation of hemp by a person issued a hemp cultivation license under section 928.02 of the Revised Code, the production for a commercial purpose of timber, field crops, tobacco, fruits, vegetables, nursery stock, ornamental trees, sod, or flowers, or the growth of timber for a noncommercial purpose, if the land on which the timber is grown is contiguous to or part of a parcel of land under common ownership that is otherwise devoted exclusively to agricultural use.

(b) The tracts, lots, or parcels of land were devoted exclusively to biodiesel production, biomass energy production, electric or heat energy production, or biologically derived methane gas production if the land on which the production facility is located is contiguous to or part of a parcel of land under common ownership or leasehold that is otherwise devoted exclusively to agricultural use, provided that (i) at least fifty per cent of the feedstock used in the production is agricultural feedstock, (ii) at least twenty per cent of the agricultural feedstock used in the production is derived from parcels of land under common ownership or leasehold, and (iii) none of the feedstock used in the production consists of human waste. As used in this division, "agricultural feedstock" means manure and food waste, and "human waste" includes sludge as defined in section 6111.01 of the Revised Code.

(2) Tracts, lots, or parcels of land totaling less than ten acres that, during the three calendar years prior to the year in which application is filed under section 5713.31 of the Revised Code and through the last day of May of such year, were devoted exclusively to commercial animal or poultry husbandry, aquaculture, algaculture meaning the farming of algae, apiculture, the cultivation of hemp by a person issued a hemp cultivation license under section 928.02 of the Revised Code, the production for a commercial purpose of field crops, tobacco, fruits, vegetables, timber, nursery stock, ornamental trees, sod, or flowers where such activities produced an average yearly gross income of at least twenty-five hundred dollars during such three-year period or where there is evidence of an anticipated gross income of such amount from such activities during the tax year in which application is made, or were eligible conservation land;

(3) Tracts, lots, or parcels of land, or portions thereof that, during the previous three consecutive calendar years have been designated as land devoted exclusively to agricultural use, but such land has been lying idle or fallow for up to one year and no action has occurred to such land that is either inconsistent with the return of it to agricultural production or converts the land devoted exclusively to agricultural use as defined in this section. Such land shall remain designated as land devoted exclusively to agricultural use provided that beyond one year, but less than three years, the landowner proves good cause as determined by the board of revision.

(4) Tracts, lots, or parcels of land, or portions thereof that, during the previous three consecutive calendar years have been designated as land devoted exclusively to agricultural use, but such land has been lying idle or fallow because of dredged material being stored or deposited on such land pursuant to a contract between the land's owner and the department of natural resources or the United States army corps of engineers and no action has occurred to the land that is either inconsistent with the return of it to agricultural production or converts the land devoted exclusively to agricultural use. Such land shall remain designated as land devoted exclusively to agricultural use until the last year in which dredged material is stored or deposited on the land pursuant to such a contract, but not to exceed five years.

"Land devoted exclusively to agricultural use" includes tracts, lots, or parcels of land or portions thereof that are used for conservation practices, provided that the tracts, lots, or parcels of land or portions thereof comprise twenty-five per cent or less of the total of the tracts, lots, or parcels of land that satisfy the criteria established in division (A)(1), (2), (3), or (4) of this section together with the tracts, lots, or parcels of land or portions thereof that are used for conservation practices.

Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the existence of agritourism on a tract, lot, or parcel of land that otherwise meets the definition of "land devoted exclusively to agricultural use" as defined in this division does not disqualify that tract, lot, or parcel from valuation under sections 5713.30 to 5713.37 and 5715.01 of the Revised Code.

A tract, lot, or parcel of land taxed under sections 5713.22 to 5713.26 of the Revised Code is not land devoted exclusively to agricultural use.

A tract, lot, parcel, or portion thereof on which medical marijuana, as defined by section 3796.01 of the Revised Code, is cultivated or processed is not land devoted exclusively to agricultural use.

For purposes of divisions (A)(1) and (2) of this section, the total acreage of land described in those divisions may include tracts, lots, and parcels that are not contiguous, provided that owner's use of the tracts, lots, and parcels are part of a single operation within the same county.

(B) "Conversion of land devoted exclusively to agricultural use" means any of the following:

(1) The failure of the owner of land devoted exclusively to agricultural use during the next preceding calendar year to file a renewal application under section 5713.31 of the Revised Code without good cause as determined by the board of revision;

(2) The failure of the new owner of such land to file an initial application under that section without good cause as determined by the board of revision;

(3) The failure of such land or portion thereof to qualify as land devoted exclusively to agricultural use for the current calendar year as requested by an application filed under such section;

(4) The failure of the owner of the land described in division (A)(3) or (4) of this section to act on such land in a manner that is consistent with the return of the land to agricultural production after three years.

The construction or installation of an energy facility, as defined in section 5727.01 of the Revised Code, on a portion of a tract, lot, or parcel of land devoted exclusively to agricultural use shall not cause the remaining portion of the tract, lot, or parcel to be regarded as a conversion of land devoted exclusively to agricultural use if the remaining portion of the tract, lot, or parcel continues to be devoted exclusively to agricultural use.

(C) "Tax savings" means the difference between the dollar amount of real property taxes levied in any year on land valued and assessed in accordance with its current agricultural use value and the dollar amount of real property taxes that would have been levied upon such land if it had been valued and assessed for such year in accordance with Section 2 of Article XII, Ohio Constitution.

(D) "Owner" includes, but is not limited to, any person owning a fee simple, fee tail, or life estate or a buyer on a land installment contract.

(E) "Conservation practices" are practices used to abate soil erosion as required in the management of the farming operation, and include, but are not limited to, the installation, construction, development, planting, or use of grass waterways, terraces, diversions, filter strips, field borders, windbreaks, riparian buffers, wetlands, ponds, and cover crops for that purpose.

(F) "Wetlands" has the same meaning as in section 6111.02 of the Revised Code.

(G) "Biodiesel" means a mono-alkyl ester combustible liquid fuel that is derived from vegetable oils or animal fats or any combination of those reagents and that meets the American society for testing and materials specification D6751-03a for biodiesel fuel (B100) blend stock distillate fuels.

(H) "Biologically derived methane gas" means gas from the anaerobic digestion of organic materials, including animal waste and agricultural crops and residues.

(I) "Biomass energy" means energy that is produced from organic material derived from plants or animals and available on a renewable basis, including, but not limited to, agricultural crops, tree crops, crop by-products, and residues.

(J) "Electric or heat energy" means electric or heat energy generated from manure, cornstalks, soybean waste, or other agricultural feedstocks.

(K) "Dredged material" means material that is excavated or dredged from waters of this state. "Dredged material" does not include material resulting from normal farming, silviculture, and ranching activities, such as plowing, cultivating, seeding, and harvesting, for production of food, fiber, and forest products.

(L) "Agritourism" has the same meaning as in section 901.80 of the Revised Code.

(M) "Eligible conservation land" means either of the following:

(1) A tract, lot, or parcel devoted to and qualified for payments or other compensation under a land retirement or conservation program under an agreement with an agency of the federal government;

(2) A tract, lot, or parcel that meets at least one of the conditions described in divisions (M)(2)(a) to (c) of this section and the condition described in division (M)(2)(d) of this section.

(a) The land is subject to an agricultural water project or nature water project that receives funding from the H2Ohio fund created in section 126.60 of the Revised Code.

(b) The land was subject to such a project during the immediately preceding calendar year.

(c) The land is or was subject to such a project for the current or one of the two immediately preceding tax years and, for the current tax year, is subject to either a conservation easement held by the state or an agency of the state or a conservation easement held by any other person if such easement is a condition of a nature water project that is funded through the H2Ohio fund.

(d) For the tax year that includes or immediately precedes the year in which the land became subject to the project described in division (M)(2)(a), (b), or (c) of this section, as applicable, the land qualified as land devoted exclusively to agricultural use pursuant to other criteria in divisions (A)(1) to (4) of this section.

As used in division (M)(2) of this section, "conservation easement" has the same meaning as in section 5301.67 of the Revised Code.

Section 2. That existing sections 3781.06, 3781.061, and 5713.30 of the Revised Code are hereby repealed.

Section 3. (A) The Chancellor of Higher Education, in collaboration with the Ohio State University Cooperative Extension Services and Central State University Cooperative Extension Services, shall establish the Urban Farmer Youth Initiative Pilot Program to provide relevant programming and support with regard to farming and agriculture to young people between the ages of six to eighteen living in urban areas.

(B) The pilot program shall operate for fiscal years 2026 and 2027 and offer programming in at least two, but not more than four, counties.

(C)(1) The Chancellor and the Ohio State University Cooperative Extension Services and Central State University Cooperative Extension Services may do both of the following:

(a) Use up to fifteen per cent of the amount appropriated for fiscal year 2026 for the pilot program to develop and establish the pilot program;

(b) Partner with local entities to deliver programming for the pilot program. The Chancellor and the extension services may pay entities for services with funds appropriated for this program.

(2) Any appropriated funds may also be used to support existing agricultural organizations to help expand programming to include young people living in urban areas.

(D) Any garden or structure created or used under the pilot program shall not be subject to any restriction on height for such gardens or structures.

Section 4. All items in this act are hereby appropriated as designated out of any moneys in the state treasury to the credit of the designated fund. For all operating appropriations made in this act, those in the first column are for fiscal year 2026 and those in the second column are for fiscal year 2027. The operating appropriations made in this act are in addition to any other operating appropriations made for those fiscal years.

Section 5.

	1	2	3	4	5
A	BOR DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION
B	General Revenue Fund
C	GRF	235589	Urban Farmer Youth Initiative Pilot Program	$500,000	$500,000
D	TOTAL GRF General Revenue Fund			$500,000	$500,000
E	TOTAL ALL BUDGET FUND GROUPS			$500,000	$500,000

URBAN FARMER YOUTH INITIATIVE PILOT PROGRAM

The foregoing appropriation item 235589, Urban Farmer Youth Initiative Pilot Program, shall be used by the Chancellor of Higher Education, in collaboration with the Ohio State University and Central State University, to administer the Urban Farmer Youth Initiative Pilot Program pursuant to Section 3 of this act.

Section 6. Within the limits set forth in this act, the Director of Budget and Management shall establish accounts indicating the source and amount of funds for each appropriation made in this act, and shall determine the manner in which appropriation accounts shall be maintained. Expenditures from operating appropriations contained in this act shall be accounted for as though made in, and are subject to all provisions of, the main operating appropriations act of the 136th General Assembly.