Overview

• Representative Sean Brennan introduced the Real-Time Ride Status Notification Act in mid-August to require permanent Ohio parks to post ride closures and reopenings within five minutes on official apps or websites.
• Enforcement would fall to the Ohio Department of Agriculture, which could levy civil fines on parks that fail to meet the five-minute update requirement.
• The bill applies only to rides that remain part of a park’s permanent premises, excludes temporary carnivals and fair midways, and allows possible exemptions for smaller parks.
• The proposal follows a cable snap that sidelined Cedar Point’s Power Tower earlier this week and left visitors without public status information.
• Brennan says the measure mirrors the real-time transparency expected from transit and airports and counters current practices that hide status data behind guest-only apps or rely on third-party services with mixed accuracy.