As Introduced

136th General Assembly

Regular Session H. B. No. 435

2025-2026

To amend sections 3705.01 and 3705.09 of the Revised Code to require an institution to offer genetic testing to confirm paternity when a child is born to unwed parents and to name this act the Right to Know Act.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:

Section 1. That sections 3705.01 and 3705.09 of the Revised Code be amended to read as follows:

Sec. 3705.01. As used in this chapter:

(A) "Live birth" means the complete expulsion or extraction from its mother of a product of human conception that after such expulsion or extraction breathes or shows any other evidence of life such as beating of the heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, or definite movement of voluntary muscles, whether or not the umbilical cord has been cut or the placenta is attached.

(B)(1) "Fetal death" means death prior to the complete expulsion or extraction from its mother of a product of human conception, irrespective of the duration of pregnancy, which after such expulsion or extraction does not breathe or show any other evidence of life such as beating of the heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, or definite movement of voluntary muscles.

(2) "Stillborn" means that an infant of at least twenty weeks of gestation suffered a fetal death.

(C) "Dead body" means a human body or part of a human body from the condition of which it reasonably may be concluded that death recently occurred.

(D) "Physician" means a person licensed pursuant to Chapter 4731. of the Revised Code to practice medicine or surgery or osteopathic medicine and surgery.

(E) "Attending physician" means the physician in charge of the patient's care for the illness or condition that resulted in death.

(F) "Institution" means any establishment, public or private, that provides medical, surgical, or diagnostic care or treatment, or domiciliary care, to two or more unrelated individuals, or to persons committed by law.

(G) "Funeral director" has the meaning given in section 4717.01 of the Revised Code.

(H) "State registrar" means the head of the office of vital statistics in the department of health.

(I) "Medical certification" means completion of the medical certification portion of the certificate of death or fetal death as to the cause of death or fetal death.

(J) "Final disposition" means the interment, cremation, removal from the state, donation, or other authorized disposition of a dead body or a fetal death.

(K) "Interment" means the final disposition of the remains of a dead body by burial or entombment.

(L) "Cremation" means the reduction to ashes of a dead body.

(M) "Donation" means gift of a dead body to a research institution or medical school.

(N) "System of vital statistics" means the registration, collection, preservation, amendment, and certification of vital records, the collection of other reports required by this chapter, and activities related thereto.

(O) "Vital records" means certificates or reports of birth, death, fetal death, marriage, divorce, dissolution of marriage, annulment, and data related thereto and other documents maintained as required by statute.

(P) "File" means the presentation of vital records for registration by the office of vital statistics.

(Q) "Registration" means the acceptance by the office of vital statistics and the incorporation of vital records into its official records.

(R) "Birth record" means a birth certificate that has been registered with the office of vital statistics; or, if registered prior to March 16, 1989, with the division of vital statistics; or, if registered prior to the establishment of the division of vital statistics, with the department of health or a local registrar.

(S) "Certification of birth" means a document issued by the director of health or state registrar or a local registrar under division (B) of section 3705.23 of the Revised Code.

(T) "Certified nurse-midwife" has the same meaning as in section 4723.01 of the Revised Code.

(U) "Genetic testing" has the same meaning as in section 3111.09 of the Revised Code.

Sec. 3705.09. (A) A birth certificate for each live birth in this state shall be filed in the registration district in which it occurs within ten calendar days after such birth and shall be registered if it has been completed and filed in accordance with this section.

(B) When a birth occurs in or en route to an institution, the person in charge of the institution or a designated representative shall obtain the personal data, prepare the certificate, and complete and certify the facts of birth on the certificate within ten calendar days. The physician or certified nurse-midwife in attendance shall be listed on the birth record.

(C) When a birth occurs outside an institution, the birth certificate shall be prepared and filed by one of the following in the indicated order of priority:

(1) The physician or certified nurse-midwife in attendance at or immediately after the birth;

(2) Any other person in attendance at or immediately after the birth;

(3) The father;

(4) The mother;

(5) The person in charge of the premises where the birth occurred.

(D) Either of the parents of the child or other informant shall attest to the accuracy of the personal data entered on the birth certificate in time to permit the filing of the certificate within the ten days prescribed in this section.

(E) When a birth occurs in a moving conveyance within the United States and the child is first removed from the conveyance in this state, the birth shall be registered in this state and the place where it is first removed shall be considered the place of birth. When a birth occurs on a moving conveyance while in international waters or air space or in a foreign country or its air space and the child is first removed from the conveyance in this state, the birth shall be registered in this state but the record shall show the actual place of birth insofar as can be determined.

(F)(1) If the mother of a child was married at the time of either conception or birth or between conception and birth, the child shall be registered in the surname designated by the mother, and the name of the husband shall be entered on the certificate as the father of the child. The presumption of paternity shall be in accordance with section 3111.03 of the Revised Code.

~~(2)~~(2)(a) If the mother was not married at the time of conception or birth or between conception and birth, the child shall be registered by the surname designated by the mother. ~~The~~ Subject to division (F)(2)(b) of this section, the name of the father of such child shall also be inserted on the birth certificate if both the mother and the father sign an ~~acknowledgement~~ acknowledgment of paternity affidavit before the birth record has been sent to the local registrar.

(b) When a birth occurs in or en route to an institution, the institution shall do the following before providing an acknowledgment of paternity affidavit for the mother and father to sign:

(i) Offer to conduct genetic testing on the child and father to confirm the father's status as the father of the child, to be provided free of charge;

(ii) If the mother or father decline genetic testing, provide an acknowledgment of the offer to conduct genetic testing at no cost, to be signed by both the mother and father.

(c) An institution shall not withhold an acknowledgment of paternity affidavit upon request from the mother or father regardless of the results of any genetic testing conducted under division (F)(2)(b) of this section.

(d)(i) An institution shall not bill either the mother or father for any cost associated with the provision of genetic testing under division (F)(2)(b) of this section.

(ii) Notwithstanding division (F)(2)(d)(i) of this section, an institution may bill any health benefit plan covering the mother, father, or child for any cost associated with the provision of genetic testing under division (F)(2)(b) of this section.

(iii) Any reimbursement made by a health plan issuer shall be considered payment in full, and the institution shall not bill either the mother or father for any difference between the reimbursement and the institution's charge for the genetic testing.

(iv) As used in division (F)(2)(d) of this section, "health benefit plan" and "health plan issuer" have the same meanings as in section 3922.01 of the Revised Code.

(3) If the father is not named on the birth certificate pursuant to division (F)(1) or (2) of this section, no other information about the father shall be entered on the record.

(G) When a man is presumed, found, or declared to be the father of a child, according to section 2105.26, sections 3111.01 to 3111.18, former section 3111.21, or sections 3111.38 to 3111.54 of the Revised Code, or the father has acknowledged the child as his child in an acknowledgment of paternity, and the acknowledgment has become final pursuant to section 2151.232, 3111.25, or 3111.821 of the Revised Code, and documentary evidence of such fact is submitted to the department of health in such form as the director may require, a new birth record shall be issued by the department which shall have the same overall appearance as the record which would have been issued under this section if a marriage had occurred before the birth of such child. Where handwriting is required to effect such appearance, the department shall supply it. Upon the issuance of such new birth record, the original birth record shall cease to be a public record. Except as provided in division (C) of section 3705.091 of the Revised Code, the original record and any documentary evidence supporting the new registration of birth shall be placed in an envelope which shall be sealed by the department and shall not be open to inspection or copy unless so ordered by a court of competent jurisdiction.

(H) Every birth certificate filed under this section on or after July 1, 1990, shall be accompanied by all social security numbers that have been issued to the parents of the child, unless the division of child support in the department of job and family services, acting in accordance with regulations prescribed under the "Family Support Act of 1988," 102 Stat. 2353, 42 U.S.C.A. 405, as amended, finds good cause for not requiring that the numbers be furnished with the certificate. The parents' social security numbers shall not be recorded on the certificate. No social security number obtained under this division shall be used for any purpose other than the purposes specified in division (B)(1) of section 3705.07 of the Revised Code.

Section 2. That existing sections 3705.01 and 3705.09 of the Revised Code are hereby repealed.

Section 3. This act shall be known as the Right to Know Act.