OHIO LEGISLATIVE SERVICE COMMISSION
Office of Research Legislative Budget
www.lsc.ohio.gov and Drafting Office
S.B. 302 Bill Analysis
135th General Assembly
Click here for S.B. 302’s Fiscal Note
Version: As Introduced
Primary Sponsor: Sen. Gavarone
Effective date:
Aida S. Montano, Research Analyst
Ashley F. Dean, Attorney
SUMMARY
▪ Requires the following rules adopted by municipal court judges to be in accordance with
the Rules of Superintendence for the Courts of Ohio: (a) rules of practice and procedure,
(b) rules relating to the administration of the court, and (c) generally those types of
rules of judges of a municipal court’s housing or environmental division.
▪ Removes the provision in existing law authorizing a party defendant to withhold setting
up a statement of counterclaim and make the counterclaim the subject of a separate
action.
▪ Eliminates the current law requirement that a county court clerk keep a separate
account of all receipts and disbursements in criminal cases and, on the expiration of the
clerk’s term, deliver those records to the clerk’s successor.
▪ Modifies current law by requiring a guardian to keep a signed guardianship guide in
accordance with the Rules of Superintendence for the Courts of Ohio instead of keeping
it in the court’s guardianship file.
▪ Allows a party to a tort action from whom the plaintiff seeks recovery to raise an
affirmative defense that a percentage of the tortious conduct is attributable to persons
from whom recovery is not sought, in accordance with the Rules of Civil Procedure and
other rules of practice and procedure applicable to civil actions, instead of at any time
before trial under existing law.
▪ Eliminates the requirement under existing law that the court of common pleas must
appoint one of the members of the grand jury as foreperson.
▪ Removes the provision in current law generally requiring an accused person to be
arraigned by the clerk of the court of common pleas reading the indictment or
information to the accused.
November 4, 2024
Office of Research and Drafting LSC Legislative Budget Office
Outright repeals
▪ Outright repeals the sections of the Revised Code described as follows:
 Prescribing the powers of judges of a municipal court that consists of more than one
judge.
 Permitting a municipal court to order the disposition of files of cases finally disposed
of for at least five years; generally requiring the files’ reproduction prior to their
disposition and the retention of specified records for at least 25 years; and requiring
the clerk to retain documentation of each criminal conviction and plea of guilty.
 Requiring a county court clerk to keep an alphabetical index of the docket to which
names of the parties to each judgment are entered.
 Requiring a county court or common pleas court clerk to retain documentation of
each criminal conviction and plea of guilty generally for 50 years after entry of
judgment.
 Requiring the probate court to keep a guardian’s docket, a record of wills, a
marriage record, a naturalization record, a permanent record of all births and deaths
in the county, and a record of adoptions among other records and dockets.
 Permitting a probate court to maintain records by record-keeping methods other
than bound volumes of paper pages; and requiring the court to make available to
the public equipment necessary for the examination of records other than bound
volumes of paper pages and to maintain indices that permit such records to be
retrieved readily.
 Requiring all pleadings and other papers in any proceeding in the probate court to
be preserved in a specified manner for future reference and examination, and all
marriage certificates and similar papers to be preserved separately in the order of
their dates or in which they were filed.
 Requiring vouchers in support of expenditures or distribution in a filed account be
disposed of five years after the account’s approval or after such vouchers are
microfilmed and recorded; and permitting other papers filed by fiduciaries and
entries for the determination of estate tax be disposed of after 21 years or after
being microfilmed.
 Preventing a party from testifying when the adverse party is the guardian or trustee
of an incompetent, or of a child of a deceased person, or is an executor or
administrator, or claims or defends as heir, grantee, assignee, devisee, or legatee of
a deceased person, subject to specified exceptions.
 Permitting evidence taken orally by an official stenographer of a party or witness
who subsequently dies, cannot be found, or is unable to testify due to physical or
mental infirmity, to be read in evidence; and generally requiring testimony of an
imprisoned person to be taken by deposition.
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As introduced
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 Providing for the competency of a record of an act if the person who made the
record testifies to its identity and mode of preparation, and if it was made in the
course of business, at or near the time of the act, and if, in the court’s opinion the
sources of information justify its admission.
 Providing that official reports of officers of Ohio on a matter within their duty are
admitted as evidence of the matters stated in the reports.
 Providing the composition and the method of selecting grand jurors.
 Permitting the official reporter or a designated reporter to take notes of or
electronically record testimony before the grand jury, and generally requiring the
reporter to take an oath to maintain secrecy to not disclose testimony.
 Prohibiting a grand juror from testifying in court in what manner any grand juror
voted or what opinion was expressed by a juror on a question before the grand jury.
 Requiring the concurrence of at least 12 grand jurors in the finding of an indictment,
and requiring the foreman to indorse “A true bill” on the indictment.
 Permitting an offense not punishable by death or life imprisonment to be
prosecuted by information if the defendant, after being advised by the court of the
charge and defendant’s rights, waives in writing and in open court prosecution by
indictment.
 Specifying the pleas to an indictment or information as: guilty, not guilty, former
judgment of conviction or acquittal of an offense, once in jeopardy, and not guilty by
reason of insanity, and permitting the court, for good cause, to allow a change of
plea before trial begins.
 Permitting pleas of guilty or not guilty to be oral, and requiring pleas in all other
cases to be in writing, subscribed by the defendant or counsel.
 Permitting a person indicted for a misdemeanor to be tried in absence upon written
request and generally prohibiting any other person to be tried unless personally
present.
 Requiring the judgment and sentence for a misdemeanor be pronounced as if
defendant were personally present; and requiring the case be continued until the
accused appears if the offense is a felony.
 Allowing the court to order a sick juror to receive medical attendance and requiring
the payment of a reasonable charge for the medical attendance out of the judiciary
fund.
 Permitting the court to order the jurors to be kept in charge of officers or to
separate during the trial, and allowing the court to permit the temporary separation
of jurors in case of necessity.
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As introduced
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 Requiring the jurors to be kept together upon final submission of a case until they
agree on a verdict or are discharged by the court and generally prohibiting the
officer in charge to permit communication made to them.
 If the offense charged is punishable by death, requiring the jurors to be kept in
charge of an officer with arrangements for their care and maintenance.
 Requiring that jurors who are permitted to separate during trial be admonished not
to engage in conversation on the subject of the trial nor form or express any opinion
on the subject until the case is submitted to them.
 Requiring the clerk of the common pleas court to issue writs of subpoena for
witnesses directed to the sheriff of the county where the court or the witnesses are
located, and permitting the sheriff to depute a disinterested person to serve the
subpoena.
 Permitting the prosecution or defendant to apply to the court for a commission to
take the deposition of any witness after an issue of fact is joined upon an
indictment, information, or affidavit.
 Providing that rules of evidence in civil cases, where applicable, govern in criminal
cases.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Outright repeals .................................................................................................................... 2
Courts and court procedures.................................................................................................. 5
Powers of municipal judges ........................................................................................................ 5
Civil actions in municipal court ................................................................................................... 6
Powers and duties of county court clerk .................................................................................... 6
Guardianship guide ..................................................................................................................... 6
Percentage of a party’s tortious conduct in a tort action ........................................................... 6
Grand jury .................................................................................................................................... 7
Arraignment ................................................................................................................................ 7
Outright repealed R.C. sections.............................................................................................. 7
Municipal, county, and common pleas courts; records .............................................................. 7
Powers when more than one judge ....................................................................................... 7
Retention and destruction of case files .................................................................................. 8
Alphabetical index to docket ....................................................................................................... 9
Documentation of criminal convictions retained in admissible form ......................................... 9
Probate court; records .............................................................................................................. 10
Records required to be kept by the probate court .............................................................. 10
Probate court’s record-keeping methods ............................................................................ 11
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As introduced
Office of Research and Drafting LSC Legislative Budget Office
Care and preservation of probate court papers................................................................... 12
Disposal of probate court records ........................................................................................ 12
Evidence .................................................................................................................................... 13
Cases in which a party generally cannot testify ................................................................... 13
Records as evidence ............................................................................................................. 14
Official reports or certified copies as evidence .................................................................... 15
Grand jury .................................................................................................................................. 15
Grand jury selection and composition ................................................................................. 15
Official reporter .................................................................................................................... 16
Testimony of grand juror ...................................................................................................... 16
Concurrence by 12 grand jurors for indictment ................................................................... 16
Crimes – procedure ................................................................................................................... 16
Offenses prosecuted by information ................................................................................... 16
Pleas to indictment ............................................................................................................... 16
Form of plea.......................................................................................................................... 17
When accused is tried in absence ........................................................................................ 17
Medical attendance of juror ................................................................................................. 17
Separation of jurors .............................................................................................................. 17
Supervision of jury after submission of case ........................................................................ 17
Admonition if jurors separate during trial............................................................................ 18
Subpoenas to issue to any county ........................................................................................ 18
Application for deposition in criminal cases ........................................................................ 18
Evidence rules applicable in criminal cases .......................................................................... 18
Miscellaneous ............................................................................................................................ 19
DETAILED ANALYSIS
Courts and court procedures
Powers of municipal judges
Current law prescribes the following powers and duties of municipal judges:1
▪ The adoption, publication, and revision of rules for the regulation of the practice and
procedure of their respective courts, and for the selection and manner of summoning
persons to serve as jurors in the court;
1 R.C. 1901.14(A)(2) and (3).
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As introduced
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▪ The adoption, publication, and revision of rules relating to the administration of the
court.
The judges of the housing or environmental division of a municipal court, other than the
judge of the Environmental Division of the Franklin County Municipal Court, have the same
powers and duties as described in the above dot points.2
The bill specifies that the above powers and duties be in accordance with the Rules of
Superintendence for the Courts of Ohio.3
Civil actions in municipal co