The Ohio Supreme Court today announced changes to avoid delays in the implementation of local court technology rules.

Under Rule 27 of the Rules of Superintendence for the Courts of Ohio, before adopting any local rule concerning information technology, courts had to file a copy of the proposed rule with the Supreme Court’s Commission on Technology and the Courts (CTC). The CTC would then have to approve the rule before it could go into effect.

However, since the adoption of this requirement, the CTC has determined that while being informed of technology implemented in local courts would inform the CTC of technology trends, local courts should not be delayed in their implementation of necessary technologies by a requirement to await CTC approval of proposed technology rules.

In September 2017, the CTC recommended the elimination of Sup.R. 27, a recommendation the Court has approved.  As a result, local courts are no longer required to file proposed technology rules with the CTC for approval. Rather, the court will instead include the new rule as part of the current requirement under Sup.R. 5 that they annually notify the Supreme Court of all new local rules adopted by the court that year.