NW Ohio Times

COLUMBUS –State Representatives Roy Klopfenstein (R-Haviland) and Angie King (R-Celina) announced that the Ohio Senate passed House Bill 34, legislation to exempt nursing mothers from jury duty.

Under current law, there are only a few exemptions for mothers and jurors who are suffering from a disease or illness. House Bill 34 will create a new exemption for breastfeeding mothers to be excused from jury duty. 

"The motivation behind this legislation came from a young mother who reached out to me after she was summoned for jury duty not long after she gave birth," said Klopfenstein. "She then requested to be excused and was denied, placing her in an impossible decision of complying with the law or taking care of her child."

House Bill 34 will establish a jury duty exemption for a mother breastfeeding a child under the age of one. To be excused, all a mother would need to do is submit a signed affidavit.

“As a mother, I was surprised to learn this was a problem,” said King. “Current law already includes exemptions for reasons such as age and illness. It seems to me that this is a simple issue that may have been overlooked when the original exemptions were created. We want to make sure this problem is corrected.”

House Bill 34 now heads to Governor Mike DeWine for his signature.