Ohio HB 58 tracker

Ohio does not yet regulate treatment marketing through a copy rule, but it carries one referral duty already in force. R.C. 5119.396, operative January 1, 2025, bars a certified community addiction services or community mental health services provider from referring a client to a recovery housing residence unless that residence is on the OMHAS registry under R.C. 5119.394 on the date of the referral, and it requires the provider to keep records of its referrals. This is a conduct duty, not a claim ban, so a copy scan cannot verify it: whether your organization is a certified provider, and whether a residence you route clients to is on the registry, are business-status questions outside the words on a page. If a campaign points people to specific recovery residences, that is the moment to confirm registry status and referral records with counsel, because the obligation attaches to the referral itself, not to the ad, and the disciplinary consequence sits in OMHAS provider oversight rather than the four corners of the section.

The bill to watch is House Bill 58 of the 136th General Assembly. It cleared the Ohio House 92 to 0 on February 25, 2026 and was referred to the Senate Addiction and Community Revitalization Committee, where, as of this update on July 23, 2026, it remains pending and is not yet law. HB 58 would do three things that reach treatment and recovery-housing marketing: first, create a certificate-of-need program for recovery housing, run through OMHAS, gating new buildings, purchases, major renovations, and added bed capacity; second, per the Ohio House, criminalize compensation for patient referrals or for the use of services; and third, add recovery-housing certification standards and a state task force. The bill would enact new R.C. 5119.398 and 5119.399 and amend R.C. 5119.394, 5119.396, 2925.01, and 5119.99.

• In forceR.C. 5119.396, operative January 1, 2025: a certified provider may not refer a client to a recovery residence that is not on the OMHAS registry, and must keep referral records. The consequence sits in OMHAS provider oversight, not in a copy pattern.
• Pending (watch)H.B. 58 would add new R.C. 5119.398 and 5119.399 and, per the Ohio House, criminalize compensation for patient referrals, alongside a recovery-housing certificate-of-need program. Passed the House 92 to 0 on February 25, 2026; pending in the Senate as of July 23, 2026.

For a marketer, the practical read does not wait on the Senate. The enacted duty already means that if your Ohio campaign routes clients to named recovery residences, you should confirm those homes are on the OMHAS registry and that your client keeps referral records. And the compensation model to adopt now is the one that survives whatever HB 58 becomes: fixed pay that does not move with referrals or admissions, which federal EKRA already requires for treatment placements regardless of Ohio's timeline. Because this is a moving target, treat the page as a tracker: if HB 58 is enacted, its new sections would turn referral compensation into a state crime, and this guide will be updated to cite the chaptered law and its effective date. Until then, the House-passed text is a signal, not a rule, and a clean scan cannot certify conduct that turns on registry status and how you are paid.

The scanner cannot see your referral records or how your fee is structured. It reads the pay a pitch advertises, and volume-based referral pay flags on the federal rule that already applies in Ohio.

Pre-Trip is a rigorous screen, not legal advice. Counsel decides; we help you arrive prepared.