Ohio House passes Liv’s Law

COLUMBUS — Wednesday, the Ohio House of Representatives unanimously passed House Bill 37, also known as Liv’s Law, legislation that would raise the penalty for Aggravated Vehicular Homicides committed by drunk drivers.

The legislation was spearheaded by State Reps. Mark Johnson (R-Chillicothe) and Kevin Miller (R-Newark).

Liv’s Law is named after Ohio native Olivia Wright, whose life was cut short as a victim of drunk driving.

Wright, 22, was known to those who love her as “Liv.” She was driving on State Route 104 in the early morning hours on Sept. 29, 2020 when another driver in a pickup truck crossed over into her lane and struck her vehicle. According to the accident report, Wright had less than two seconds to react. That driver had also struck several other objects before striking Wright’s vehicle.

Before the crash that took her life, Wright was described as a caregiver. The 2017 Teays Valley graduate worked with kids with special needs and was studying at Ohio University on her way to a degree in Early Childhood Development with a focus on special needs. She also ran a bakery business and used her proceeds to help those in need.

“She had a lot of passions,” Teresa Wright, Liv’s mother, said in a previous story published in the Herald. “She had a love for people who had struggles in life not only with special needs, but people who also struggled with mental illness.

She had the bakery she started in high school and she put all her funds towards giving gifts to people in nursing homes and the homeless. There wasn’t a second that didn’t go by that she didn’t feel like she needed to do something for others. She had the biggest heart and in her 22 years she did so much.”

Liv’s father Bryan added, “She was all about serving others.”

According to court records, the man that killed Liv was sentenced in November 2021 to five years in prison. In addition, he has to serve three years probation after his release and received a lifetime suspension without work privileges for his driver’s license.

According to a 2017 study, Ohio was ranked 49th out of the 51 states and the District of Columbia in terms of how strict penalties and prevention of OVI offenses were. Some of the metrics included were minimum jail time for a first offense, when OVI is considered a felony, additional penalties for higher blood alcohol levels, minimum fines, requirements for ignition interlock, and increased insurance costs.

Ohio law has designations and provisions for high tests and extreme OVI but when it comes to vehicular manslaughter, a high test is not mentioned in that specific charge.

House Bill 37 will create an appropriate penalty for those who commit the offense of aggravated vehicular homicide and have also previously been convicted of an OVI-related offense. Specifically, the legislation is designed to address repeat offenders whose behavior has resulted in the death of another person. This legislation does not impact first time offenders.

It was during this more than yearlong court process that Liv’s father called Representative Johnson about changing the OVI law.

“A constituent, Bryan Wright, brought this issue to my desk after losing his daughter, Olivia, to a drunk driver,” said Johnson. “He pointed out to me how weak Ohio’s laws are compared to other states in the nation, and that is what inspired me to work on this legislation in an attempt to try and deter any drunk driver from becoming a repeat offender.”

The measure also states if an offender has prior vehicular homicide, vehicular assault, or involuntary manslaughter as a result of an OVI offense, the court will have the ability to apply the same sentence. The current language also raises the fines for all aggravated vehicular homicides as a result of an OVI to $25,000.

“Today’s vote brings us one step closer to protecting Ohioans from those who have been repeatedly convicted of an OVI related offense,” said Miller. “It is my hope that Liv’s Law will serve as a deterrent for those who have repeatedly decided to put the lives of others at risk all for the sake of their convenience.”

Liv’s Law now heads to the Ohio Senate for further consideration.