Ohio bill would ban HOAs from prohibiting political yard signs

COLUMBUS, Ohio ( WCMH ) – An Ohio lawmaker is pushing to ban homeowners associations from prohibiting political yard signs.

House Bill 668, introduced by Rep. Brian Lorenz (R-Powell), would allow residents to display political signs in their yards without interference from HOAs or any other neighborhood or civic group.

Lorenz said he introduced the bill in late September after consistently hearing his constituents complain about their HOA's rules regarding political yard signs. HOAs may fine an individual or bar them from using community amenities if they break their rules.

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"I've had a lot of comments and calls from constituents that are wanting to be able to express their support for candidates on both sides of the aisle," Lorenz said. "These folks want to be able to express their views like anybody else would be able to."

The political signs would still have to adhere to municipal and state laws, which ban signage that threatens harm to another or that aims to intimate people of a specific race or religion.

Lorenz said the legislature will still have to hash out some of the details – such as if HOAs can restrict the number or size of signs and the timeframe they could be displayed – in the committee process.

"HOAs have kind of really gotten carried away with restrictions and things like that," Lorenz said. "We just want people to be able to express their values and show their pride and support."

While the bill was intended for political signage, Lorenz said he would not be opposed to expanding it to include other yard signs, such as graduation banners.

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The bill was assigned to the government oversight committee on Tuesday. With this legislative session ending in December, Lorenz said he hopes the bill gets its first hearing soon, but admits it might not pass this year.

"I'll take a look at it and see how it's received and if it doesn't make it to the governor's desk this year, we'll reevaluate that and I would likely reintroduce it," Lorenz said.

He said he anticipates the bill will receive bipartisan support.