SB 331 Ohio Senate · 136th Legislature (2025-2026)

Allow certain public hospitality employees to accept gratuities

SB 331 allows certain public hospitality employees, such as those working in state-run hotels or event venues, to accept tips or gratuities from customers. The bill creates a new section (102.10) in the Revised Code to legally permit this practice, which was previously restricted under state policy. It directly affects public employees in hospitality roles by enabling them to receive voluntary customer payments. The provision clarifies that this applies only to specified public sector positions, not private businesses. The change updates state law to align with common practices in the broader hospitality industry.

Issues: ✓ Labor & Employment

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Nov 2025

Committee Review

Jun 2026

Senate Passage

Jun 2026

House Passage

Governor

Introduced Nov 25, 2025 Last action Jun 9, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

As Introduced → As Passed by the Senate · 4 edits · Jun 3, 2026

MODERATE

The bill underwent significant formatting and structural changes as it moved from introduction to the Senate, including the addition of multiple new cosponsors and the reorganization of the legal text into a clearer, itemized format. The core policy allowing public hospitality employees to accept gratuities remains intact, but the language was expanded to explicitly state that both the act of giving and the act of accepting are permitted, while the prohibition on agencies using these gratuities to offset minimum wage requirements was tightened.

Scope change

The scope of eligibility for cosponsors expanded significantly, adding seven new senators to the list of supporters.

TECHNICAL

Added seven new cosponsors (Senators Ingram, Craig, DeMora, Gavarone, Hicks-Hudson, Huffman, Johnson, Lang, O'Brien, Reineke, Smith, Timken, Wilkin) to the bill's sponsorship list.

Changed the formatting of the bill header and section numbering to reflect Senate amendments, including breaking lines into shorter, more readable segments.

REQUIREMENT

Reorganized the legal text to explicitly list that a person may give a gratuity and an employee may accept it as separate, clear conditions, replacing the previous single sentence.

Strengthened the restriction on public agencies by changing the language from a prohibition on two specific actions to a single, broader prohibition on claiming the gratuity as a credit toward minimum wage.

Floor votes · Senate Jun 4, 2026

How they voted

31–0

Passed

Total votes 31

Jun 4, 2026

D Democratic8

8 Yea

100% Yea

R Republican23

23 Yea

100% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Jun 9, 2026

Committee

Referred to committee

lower

Jun 8, 2026

Introduced

lower

Jun 4, 2026

Senate · Passed

Senate Vote: pass (31-0)

senate

Jun 3, 2026

Upper · Passed

Passed

upper

May 19, 2026

Introduced

Reported - Amended

upper

Feb 11, 2026

Committee

Referred to committee

upper

Nov 25, 2025

Introduced

upper

2 primary · 2 co-sponsors