Kent Smith

As an Ohio State Senator, voted for Senate Bill 297. It strengthened state laws against antisemitism and ethnic intimidation. It passed the Senate 27-4.

December 12, 2024Supports Public Safety and Crime Control

Source: ohiosenate.gov · researched July 15, 2026

As an Ohio State Senator, voted for Senate Bill 297. It strengthened state laws against antisemitism and ethnic intimidation. It passed the Senate 27-4.

December 12, 2024Supports Civil Rights

Source: ohiosenate.gov · researched July 15, 2026

Voted to pass House Bill 173 in the Ohio Senate. The bill would have taken submetering companies out of Ohio's legal definition of a public utility. Submetering is when a landlord or vendor measures and bills each unit after power reaches the building's main meter. That would have freed those companies from full oversight by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. The bill set separate rules instead, including a tenant discount of at least three percent. The Senate passed it 24-9, the House agreed the next day, and the governor vetoed it on June 24, 2026.

June 10, 2026Opposes Corporate Accountability

Source: search-prod.lis.state.oh.us · researched August 24, 2026

Ohio Senate news reported that Kent Smith gave sponsor testimony on Senate Bills 245 and 246 to reform public-utility regulation and protect consumers on November 5, 2025.

November 5, 2025Supports Corporate Accountability

Source: ohiosenate.gov · researched August 21, 2026

Voted against passing S.B. 50, which would have let employers schedule 14- and 15-year-olds to work until 9 p.m. year-round with a parent's or guardian's written approval, loosening the work-hour limits for young teens during the school year. It passed the Ohio Senate 24-9 and was vetoed by the Governor.

April 9, 2025Supports Corporate Accountability

Source: search-prod.lis.state.oh.us · researched August 24, 2026

Voted against passing House Bill 492 in the Ohio Senate on the vote that sent it to the governor. The law widens the crime of interfering with an officer arresting someone for any motor-vehicle offense. Its penalty rose from a minor misdemeanor to a second-degree misdemeanor. It also makes it a crime to refuse to give an officer your name, address, or birth date. The Senate passed it 24-9 and the governor signed it on July 7, 2026.

June 10, 2026

Source: search-prod.lis.state.oh.us · researched August 24, 2026

Voted against passing S.B. 278, which expanded the damages available against a municipal corporation that enacts or enforces gun control measures to include punitive or exemplary damages. It passed the Ohio Senate 24-9.

April 15, 2026

Source: search-prod.lis.state.oh.us · researched August 24, 2026

Voted against the conference report on S.B. 56, which sent to the Governor a law that rewrote Ohio's marijuana laws into a single Marijuana Control Law, barred possession or use of marijuana not bought from a licensed Ohio dispensary or grown at the user's own home, and ended the state's authority to approve new forms of adult-use marijuana. It passed the Ohio Senate 22-7 and was signed into law.

December 9, 2025

Source: search-prod.lis.state.oh.us · researched August 24, 2026

Voted against accepting the House's changes to Senate Bill 293 at the Senate's last step on the bill. The law makes mailed absentee ballots reach the county elections board by the close of polls on Election Day. That repealed the old four-day grace period for ballots postmarked earlier. It also orders monthly checks of the voter list for registered voters who may not be U.S. citizens. The Senate agreed 23-10 and the governor signed it on December 19, 2025.

November 19, 2025

Source: search-prod.lis.state.oh.us · researched August 24, 2026

Voted against accepting the House's changes to Senate Bill 1 at the Senate's last step on the bill. The law bars Ohio's public universities from keeping or opening diversity, equity, and inclusion offices. It also bans full-time faculty at those schools from striking, and adds reviews of tenured professors. The Senate agreed 20-11 anyway, and the governor signed it on March 28, 2025.

March 26, 2025

Source: search-prod.lis.state.oh.us · researched August 24, 2026