On April 7, 2026, Ohio lawmakers rolled out a bipartisan plan that would require criminal and traffic courts across the state to send text and email reminders before hearings, borrowing from a Cleveland pilot that court officials say has sharply cut missed appearances. Backers call it a low cost, common sense way to prevent unnecessary warrants, arrests and the administrative drag that piles up when someone misses a court date. The push arrives as national researchers and advocates argue that simple design tweaks, including better timing, plain language and automatic enrollment, can significantly increase court appearance rates.
House Bill 626, carried in the Ohio House by Rep. Josh Williams, would direct the administrative director of the Ohio Supreme Court to develop, make available and require every municipal, county and common pleas court to use an automated reminder program. The bill appropriates $6,000,000 for fiscal 2026 and $1,000,000 for fiscal 2027 to implement the system, as introduced in a filing with the Ohio Legislature. The measure spells out basic content requirements for reminders and orders courts to document enrollment and delivery data for publication.
Toledo area Rep. Josh Williams said in a statement that each missed court appearance costs taxpayers almost $1,500 and that better reminders would mean “fewer unnecessary police interactions, less time spent on processing, and more officers available for the work that truly matters for public safety,” according to Signal Cleveland. The outlet also reports that a companion bill has been filed in the Ohio Senate by Sen. Louis Blessing.
Cleveland Municipal Court officials say the court began sending text and email reminders in 2020 and that its failure to appear rate dropped from roughly 42% in 2018 to about 24% in 2024. “It makes it much more likely that they’ll communicate with us,” Ron Hampton, director of the court’s pretrial division, told Signal Cleveland. Supervisors say reminders go out the day before scheduled hearings and include links for virtual appearances when appropriate.
Research backs reminders
The Pew Charitable Trusts 2025 survey found that 18 states plus Washington, D.C., report having statewide court reminder programs, and that many states still underuse reminders or rely on opt in enrollment. A joint guide from ideas42 and Pew estimates that reminder programs can cut missed hearings by up to about 40% and notes that systems can produce large savings of roughly $1,500 per missed appearance in some estimates when they reduce unnecessary warrants and jail time.
How the Ohio plan would work
H.B. 626 lays out operational requirements for courts that sign on. Courts would send up to three reminders before each hearing, with at least one going out the day before. If someone still misses a date, the court would have to post a notice within one day explaining how to resolve the missed appearance and remove a warrant. The measure would require courts to offer reminders in a defendant’s chosen language and to automatically enroll defendants who have provided contact information, while still giving people an option to opt out.
The bill also instructs courts to collect contact details at intake, track delivery and enrollment metrics, and transmit that data to the administrative director of the Supreme Court for publication. In its budget language, the Ohio Legislature names the appropriation item the “Automated Court Appearance Reminder Program.”
Practical hurdles
Researchers and advocates caution that the details will determine whether the program works. Pew’s review showed that opt in designs often produce low enrollment, while automatic enrollment, paired with solid intake processes and plain language messaging, tends to produce better results. The bill tries to close those gaps by requiring coordinated intake between law enforcement, courts and defenders, but courts will still have to solve language access, data accuracy and consent issues to make the technology reach the people who need it most. Ideas42 recommends multiple reminders, clear instructions about consequences and simple steps to cure a missed appearance to maximize impact.
If lawmakers and judicial leaders can work through funding, privacy and outreach questions, the statewide model would give smaller courts access to a tool that Cleveland officials say already eases court operations and spares people from arrests over missed dates. Whether the legislature adopts H.B. 626 will determine if Ohio scales that pilot beyond Cleveland and into communities that still struggle with missed court dates.
