COLUMBUS — Bipartisan parenting legislation co-sponsored by two northwest Ohio lawmakers easily passed in the Ohio Senate but could have more trouble making it through the Ohio House.

Senate Bill 174, co-sponsored by state Sens. Theresa Gavarone (R., Bowling Green) and Paula Hicks-Hudson (D., Toledo), passed the legislature’s upper chamber by a vote of 29-2 in mid-November after receiving six hearings in the Senate Judiciary Committee. The legislation includes significant reforms to how parenting responsibilities are allocated when there is a divorce or separation.

“We are re-centering the focus on the children,” Ms. Gavarone said. “When parents are going through a divorce, or they’re separating, kids can really suffer. So we need to make sure that what we’re doing is really going to be

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