OHIO LEGISLATIVE SERVICE COMMISSION
Office of Research Legislative Budget
www.lsc.ohio.gov and Drafting Office
H.B. 34 Final Analysis
135th General Assembly
Click here for H.B. 34’s Fiscal Note
Primary Sponsors: Reps. Klopfenstein and King
Effective Date: July 23, 2024
Effective date:
Ashley F. Dean, Attorney
SUMMARY
 Expands the circumstances in which a prospective juror can be excused from jury service
to include the prospective juror being a mother who is breast-feeding her baby, and the
baby is one year of age or younger.
 Provides that a signed affidavit provided to the judge and stating that a prospective
juror is a mother who is breast-feeding her baby is satisfactory documentation to
support the request to be excused from jury service.
DETAILED ANALYSIS
Grounds for excusing a juror
Continuing law lists the grounds for generally excusing a person who is liable to serve as
a juror and who is drawn and notified, if the juror or another person acquainted with the facts
shows the specific ground for the excuse to the satisfaction of the judge or the commissioners
of jurors.1 One of these grounds is that jury service would otherwise cause undue or extreme
physical or financial hardship to the prospective juror or a person under the care or supervision
of the prospective juror.2 Undue or extreme physical or financial hardship is limited to specified
circumstances. The act expands these circumstances to include the prospective juror being a
mother who is breast-feeding her baby, and the baby is one year of age or younger.3 The other
circumstances specified in continuing law are:4
1 R.C. 2313.14(A).
2 R.C. 2313.14(A)(5).
3 R.C. 2313.14(C)(1)(d).
4 R.C. 2313.14(C)(1)(a) to (c).
May 9, 2024
Office of Research and Drafting LSC Legislative Budget Office
 The prospective juror would be required to abandon a person under the juror’s personal
care or supervision due to the impossibility of obtaining an appropriate substitute
caregiver.
 The prospective juror would incur costs that would have a substantial adverse impact on
the payment of necessary daily living expenses.
 The prospective juror would suffer physical hardship that would result in illness or
disease.
Required documentation
Under the act, a signed affidavit that a prospective juror provides to the judge that
states that the prospective juror is a mother who is breast-feeding her baby is satisfactory
documentation to support that juror’s request to be excused based on undue or extreme
physical or financial hardship.5 Continuing law requires a prospective juror who asks a judge to
grant an excuse based on undue or extreme physical or financial hardship to provide the judge
with documentation that the judge finds to clearly support the request to be excused, and if a
prospective juror fails to provide satisfactory documentation, the court may deny the request
to be excused.6
Under continuing law, a judge of the court for which the prospective juror was called to
jury service must make undue or extreme physical or financial hardship determinations, or may
delegate the authority to make these determinations to an appropriate court employee
appointed by the court.7
HISTORY
Action Date
Introduced 02-15-23
Reported, H. Civil Justice 03-16-23
Passed House (95-0) 06-27-23
Reported, S. Judiciary 04-10-24
Passed Senate (30-0) 04-10-24
24-ANHB0034EN-135/sb
5 R.C. 2313.14(D)(2).
6 R.C. 2313.14(D)(1).
7 R.C. 2313.14(A)(5).
P a g e |2 H.B. 34
Final Analysis


Statutes affected:
As Enrolled: 2313.14
As Passed By Senate: 2313.14
As Reported By Senate Committee: 2313.14
As Passed By House: 2313.14
As Reported By House Committee: 2313.14
As Introduced: 2313.14