To amend sections 2313.11, 2313.12, 2313.13, 2313.15, 2313.16, 2313.18, 2313.30, 2313.34, and 2313.99 and to enact section 2313.48 of the Revised Code to change the penalties for failure to attend as required by a notice for jury service and to serve as a juror, to change the circumstances under and methods by which jury service may be postponed, to provide protections for employees and small employers when employees are summoned for jury service, to shorten the period of jury service after which a juror may be discharged, and to create a fund to compensate individuals who serve as petit jurors for more than ten days.

Section 1. That sections 2313.11, 2313.12, 2313.13, 2313.15, 2313.16, 2313.18, 2313.30, 2313.34, and 2313.99 be amended and section 2313.48 of the Revised Code be enacted to read as follows:

Sec. 2313.11.  (A) If a prospective juror fails to attend as specified in the notice referred to in section 2313.10 of the Revised Code, for any cause except physical disability, or if he a prospective juror refuses to be sworn, or to answer any legal and pertinent question put to him the prospective juror by a commissioner of jurors, such fact shall be reported by the commissioner shall report that fact to the court and such person shall be dealt with as for contempt of court. One or more successive notices may be served upon the same person when he the person fails to attend as required by the former notice and he shall be liable to punishment as for contempt of court for each failure to attend. A commissioner may dispense with the personal attendance of a person so notified, when another person cognizant of the facts is produced and testifies in his stead. When a person has so attended twice for examination, he the person cannot be required to attend again in the same jury year.

(B) No prospective juror shall fail to attend as specified in the notice referred to in section 2313.10 of the Revised Code.

(C) No prospective juror shall fail to answer any legal and pertinent question put to the prospective juror by a commissioner of jurors.

Sec. 2313.12.  It is the policy of this state that all qualified citizens have an obligation to serve on petit juries when summoned by the courts of this state unless the citizen is excused as provided in sections 2313.01 to 2313.46 of the Revised Code. The granting of an excuse or postponement to a juror shall be permitted as prescribed by sections 2313.01 to 2313.46 of the Revised Code and the general statutes of the state. The commissioners of jurors, upon request, shall issue to a person who is granted an excuse or postponement a certificate of that fact, and the certificate shall excuse the person to whom it is granted from jury service during the time specified in the certificate or shall postpone the time for jury service of the person to whom it is granted to the time specified in the certificate. The commissioners shall keep a record of all proceedings before them or in their office, of all persons who are granted an excuse or postponement, and of the time of and reasons for the excuse or postponement.

Sec. 2313.13. (A) The court of common pleas of a county or the judge of the court of common pleas of a county may discharge, for the term of a court or for part of a term of a court, one or more jurors summoned for jury duty whose attendance is not required for the trial of issues at that term or part of a term.

(B)(1) The court of common pleas of a county or a judge of the court of common pleas of a county may, upon a request made by a juror who appears in person or who contacts the clerk of the court by telephone, in writing, or by electronic mail, shall postpone the whole or a part of a juror's time of service on the juror's initial appearance for jury duty, after summoning the juror for jury duty, to either if both of the following apply:

(a) To a later date during the same term of court or part of a term of court;

(b) To a subsequent term of court or part of a term of court of the same jury year.

(2) Each (1) The juror has not previously been granted a postponement.

(2) The juror and the clerk of court agree to a specified date on which the juror will appear for jury service. The specified date shall be one on which the court is in session and that is not more than six months after the date for which the juror was originally called to serve.

(B) The court of common pleas of a county or the judge of the court of common pleas of a county may grant a second or subsequent postponement of jury service to a juror only in the event of an extreme emergency, such as a death in the juror's family, a sudden illness of the juror, or a natural disaster or national emergency in which the juror is personally involved, that could not have been anticipated at the time the initial postponement was granted. Before receiving a second or subsequent postponement, the juror shall agree to a specified date on which the juror will appear for jury service. The specified date shall be one on which the court is in session and that is not more than six months after the date of the postponement.

Each juror whose time of service on jury duty is postponed until a specified date may be required to attend the opening of court on that day and on each day after that day until the juror is discharged, without additional summons from the court.

(C) The court of common pleas of a county, or a judge of the court of common pleas of a county, may excuse until a specified date one or more jurors summoned for jury duty whose attendance is not required for the trial of issues until that day. Each juror excused until a specified date may be required to attend the opening of court on that day and on each day after that day until the juror is discharged, without additional summons from the court.

(D) The court of common pleas of a county or a judge of the court of common pleas of a county may excuse a juror, after summoning the juror for jury duty, from service on jury duty at that term of court for not more than three days at a time, if the exigencies of the juror's business require the juror's temporary excuse.

Sec. 2313.15.  The commissioners of jurors shall report the names of all jurors granted a postponement or temporarily excused to a subsequent part of a term or to a subsequent term as provided in section 2313.13 of the Revised Code, to the officers attending the drawing of the jurors for that term or part of a term, and each such name shall be placed upon the list of jurors drawn as provided by sections 2313.01 to 2313.46 of the Revised Code. Such juror shall be made one of the total number directed to be drawn for that term or part of a term, and no more names shall be drawn from the jury wheel, or drawn by use of the automation data processing equipment and procedures described in section 2313.07 of the Revised Code, than are sufficient to make up the number ordered by adding the names of the jurors so excused to the names then drawn.

Sec. 2313.16.  (A) Except as provided by section 2313.13 of the Revised Code, the court of common pleas shall not excuse a person who is liable to serve as a juror and who is drawn and notified, unless it is shown to the satisfaction of the judge by either the juror or another person acquainted with the facts that one or more of the following applies:

(A) The juror is then necessarily absent from the county and will not return in time to serve.

(B)(1) The interests of the public or of the juror will be materially injured by the juror's attendance.

(C) The juror is physically unable to serve.

(D) The juror's spouse or a near relative of the juror or the juror's spouse has recently died or is dangerously ill.

(E) The juror had been called as a juror for trial in a court of record in the county within the same jury year.

(F) The juror is a cloistered member of a religious organization.

(2) The prospective juror has a mental or physical condition that causes the prospective juror to be incapable of performing jury service. The prospective juror, or the prospective juror's personal representative, must provide the court with documentation from a physician licensed to practice medicine verifying that a mental or physical condition renders the prospective juror unfit for jury service for a period of up to twenty-four months.

(3) 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. A judge of the court for which the prospective juror was called to jury service shall make undue or extreme physical or financial hardship determinations. The judge may delegate the authority to make these determinations only to court officials or personnel who are authorized by the laws of this state to function as members of the judiciary.

(B) A prospective juror who requests to be excused from jury service under this section shall take all actions necessary to obtain a ruling on that request by no later than the date on which the prospective juror is scheduled to appear for jury duty.

(C)(1) For purposes of this section, undue or extreme physical or financial hardship is limited to circumstances in which any of the following apply:

(a) The prospective juror would be required to abandon a person under the prospective juror's personal care or supervision due to the impossibility of obtaining an appropriate substitute caregiver during the period of participation in the jury pool or on the jury.

(b) The prospective juror would incur costs that would have a substantial adverse impact on the payment of the prospective juror's necessary daily living expenses or on those for whom the prospective juror provides the principle means of support.

(c) The prospective juror would suffer physical hardship that would result in illness or disease.

(2) Undue or extreme physical or financial hardship does not exist solely based on the fact that a prospective juror will be required to be absent from the prospective juror's place of employment.

(D) A prospective juror who asks a judge to grant an excuse based on undue or extreme physical or financial hardship shall provide the judge with documentation, including, but not limited to, federal and state income tax returns, medical statements from licensed physicians, proof of dependency or guardianship, and similar documents, that the judge finds to clearly support the request to be excused. If a prospective juror fails to provide satisfactory documentation, the court shall deny the request to be excused.

(E) When a person prospective juror who is liable to serve is excused in a case specified in this section, the prospective juror can be excused only by the judge presiding in the case or a representative of the judge. An excuse approved pursuant to this section shall not extend beyond that term. Every approved excuse shall be recorded and filed with the commissioners of jurors. After twenty-four months, a person excused from jury service shall become eligible once again for qualification as a juror unless the person was excused from service permanently. A person is excused from jury service permanently only when the deciding judge determines that the underlying grounds for being excused are of a permanent nature.

Sec. 2313.18.  (A) No employer shall discharge or threaten to discharge any permanent employee who is summoned to serve as a juror pursuant to Chapter 2313. of the Revised Code or otherwise subject any permanent employee to any adverse employment action as a result of the employee's service as a juror if the employee gives reasonable notice to the employer of the summons prior to the commencement of the employee's service as a juror and if the employee is absent from employment because of the actual jury service.

(B) No employer shall require or request an employee to use annual, vacation, or sick leave for time spent responding to a summons for jury duty, time spent participating in the jury selection process, or for time spent actually serving on a jury. Nothing in this division requires an employer to provide annual, vacation, or sick leave to employees under the provisions of this section who otherwise are not entitled to those benefits under the employer's policies.

(C) A court shall automatically postpone and reschedule the service of a summoned juror of an employer with five or fewer full-time employees, or their equivalent, if another employee of that employer has previously been summoned to appear during the same period. Such postponement will not constitute the excused individual's right to one automatic postponement pursuant to section 2313.13 of the Revised Code.

(D) Whoever violates this section shall be punished as for a contempt of court pursuant to Chapter 2705. of the Revised Code.

Sec. 2313.30.  When a No person whose name is drawn and who is notified, fails shall fail to attend and serve as a juror at a term of a court of record, without having been excused, the court, besides imposing a fine as prescribed in section 2313.29 of the Revised Code, may direct the sheriff to arrest him and bring him before the court; and when he has been so brought in, it may compel him to serve, or it may punish him as for contempt of court.

Sec. 2313.34.  (A) A person who is summoned as a juror and who has actually served as a juror in any county of the state under sections 2313.01 to 2313.46 of the Revised Code for three consecutive calendar weeks one day shall be discharged by the court, except that the person shall not be so discharged until the close of a trial in which the person may be serving when the person's jury term expires.

(B)(1) The board of county commissioners by resolution shall fix the compensation of each juror, not to exceed forty dollars for each day's attendance, payable out of the county treasury.

(2) After ten days of actual service, except as otherwise authorized by division (B)(2) of this section, the compensation of a juror shall be fixed for each additional day of actual service at an amount equal to the greater of fifteen dollars or one and one-half times the compensation fixed pursuant to division (B)(1) of this section. The board of county commissioners by resolution may set the compensation at a greater amount that shall not exceed two times the compensation fixed pursuant to division (B)(1) of this section.

(3) Residents of townships that are comprised entirely of islands shall be reimbursed for the additional transportation costs they incur to serve as a juror, in the amount certified to be due by a judge of the court in which the jury service is performed.

(C) A person who is discharged as prescribed in this section is thereafter prohibited from jury service in any court of the state until the second jury year after the day of the person's last service, except in counties of less than one hundred thousand population, in which cases the court shall make rules in the county applicable to subsequent jury service by persons of that nature.

(D) Whenever the certificates of the clerk of the court of common pleas show that a person is entitled to a discharge as prescribed in this section, the commissioners of jurors, upon request, shall certify to that fact. No person shall be exempted from jury service for any reason, but a person may be excused from jury service or have the person's jury service postponed in accordance with sections 2313.01 to 2313.46 of the Revised Code and the general statutes of the state.

(E) No person shall be exempted or excused from jury service or be granted a postponement of jury service by reason of any financial contribution to any public or private organization.

Sec. 2313.48. (A) The supreme court shall promulgate rules to establish a lengthy trial fund that shall be used to provide full or partial wage replacement or wage supplementation to jurors who serve as petit jurors for more than ten days. The court rules shall provide for all of the following:

(1) The selection and appointment of an administrator for the fund;

(2) Procedures for the administration of the fund, including payments of salaries of the administrator and other necessary personnel;

(3) Procedures for the accounting, auditing and investment of money in the lengthy trial fund;

(4) A report by the supreme court of Ohio on the administration of the lengthy trial fund in its annual report on the judicial branch, setting forth the money collected for and disbursed from the fund.

(B) Notwithstanding any other compensation or fees payable under the laws of this state, each trial court in the state shall collect from each attorney who files a civil case, unless otherwise exempted under the provisions of this section, a fee of twenty dollars per case to be paid into the lengthy trial fund. An attorney shall be considered to have filed a case at the time the first pleading or other filing on which an individual attorney's name appears is submitted to the court for filing and opens a new case. The trial court shall forward all fees collected under this section to the administrator of the lengthy trial fund for deposit into that fund.

(C) The administrator shall use the fees deposited in the lengthy trial fund to pay full or partial wage replacement or supplementation to jurors whose employers pay less than full regular wages when the period of jury service lasts more than ten days.

(D) The court may pay replacement or supplemental wages of up to three hundred dollars per day per juror beginning on the eleventh day of service. This wage replacement or supplementation shall be granted in addition to any reimbursements for expenses or other payments a juror may receive under section 2313.34 of the Revised Code. In addition, for any jurors who qualify for payment by virtue of having served on a jury for more than ten days, the court may, upon finding that such service posed a significant financial hardship to a juror, even in light of payments made with respect to jury service after the tenth day, award replacement or supplemental wages of up to one hundred dollars per day from the fourth to the tenth day of jury service.

(E) Any juror who is serving or has served on a jury that qualifies for payment from the lengthy trial fund, provided the service commenced on or after the effective date of this section, may submit a request for payment from the lengthy trial fund on a form that the administrator provides. Payment shall be limited to the difference between the state paid jury fee and the actual amount of wages a juror earns, up to the maximum level payable, minus any amount the juror actually receives from the employer during the same time period.

The form shall disclose the juror's regular wages, the amount the employer will pay during the term of jury service starting on the eleventh day and thereafter, the amount of replacement or supplemental wages requested, and any other information the administrator deems necessary for proper payment.

The juror also shall be required to submit verification from the employer as to the wage information provided to the administrator, for example, the employee's most recent earnings statement or similar document, prior to initiation of payment from the fund.

If an individual is self-employed or receives compensation other than wages, the individual may provide a sworn affadavit attesting to his or her approximate gross weekly income, together with such other information as the administrator may require, in order to verify weekly income.

(F) The following attorneys and causes of action are exempt from payment of the lengthy trial fund fee:

(1) Government attorneys entering appearances in the course of their official duties;

(2) Pro se litigants;

(3) Cases in small claims court;

(4) Claims seeking social security disability determinations; individual veterans' compensation or disability determinations; recoupment actions for government backed educational loans or mortgages; child custody and support cases; actions brought in forma pauperis; and any other filings designated by rule that involve minimal use of court resources and that customarily are not afforded the opportunity for a trial by jury.

Sec. 2313.99.  (A) Whoever violates section 2313.29 of the Revised Code may be fined not less than twenty-five nor more than two hundred fifty dollars.

(B) Whoever violates section 2313.30 or 2313.47 of the Revised Code shall be fined not less than fifty nor more than five hundred dollars, imprisoned not less than thirty nor more than ninety days, or both.

(C) Whoever violates division (B) or (C) of section 2313.11 of the Revised Code is guilty of a misdemeanor of the third degree. If successive notices are served on a prospective juror pursuant to section 2313.11 of the Revised Code, each failure in violation of division (B) of section 2313.11 of the Revised Code to attend as specified in the successive notices is a separate offense.

Section 2. That existing sections 2313.11, 2313.12, 2313.13, 2313.15, 2313.16, 2313.18, 2313.30, 2313.34, and 2313.99 of the Revised Code are hereby repealed.