Ohio House Bill HB101

Ohio 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 2/12/25

Caption

To establish the Law Student Encouragement Scholarship Pilot Program and to make an appropriation.

Summary

HB 101 would create the Law Student Encouragement Scholarship Pilot Program within the Ohio Department of Higher Education, funded by a $350,000 General Revenue Fund appropriation for fiscal year 2027. The Chancellor of Higher Education would distribute the money to the Ohio State Bar Association, which would administer the pilot program and set the procedures and criteria for awarding scholarships. The program is designed to support Ohio resident undergraduate students from groups underrepresented in the legal profession who are enrolled full-time at an in-state baccalaureate institution and are pursuing admission to law school. The Ohio State Bar Association would select an initial cohort of 10 to 20 students and provide each with a $4,000 annual scholarship, along with mentoring, law school and legal career programming, LSAT preparation materials, academic support, and LSAT registration assistance. The bill also allows the Bar Association to use some funds for staffing and requires a detailed report to legislative leaders and the Chancellor by January 30, 2028.

Impact

HB 101 would create a new state-funded pilot scholarship program and appropriate $350,000 from the General Revenue Fund to support it. It would direct the Chancellor of Higher Education to administer the appropriation through the Ohio State Bar Association, which would take on program design, student selection, scholarship distribution, and related support services. The bill would not amend existing substantive higher education or licensing statutes, but it would add a new temporary program and reporting requirement within state appropriations law, affecting the Department of Higher Education, the Ohio State Bar Association, and participating students.

Sentiment

Because the bill was only introduced and there are no recorded committee transcripts or votes in the provided materials, there is no documented floor or committee sentiment to assess. The bill’s stated purpose suggests a generally supportive policy goal of expanding access to the legal profession for underrepresented students, but the available record does not show formal debate, amendments, or opposition. Its placement in the House Finance Committee indicates it was still in the early stages of consideration.

Contention

No specific points of contention are documented in the provided record. Potential areas of debate, based on the bill text alone, could include the use of state General Revenue Fund dollars for a pilot program, the decision to route administration through the Ohio State Bar Association rather than a state agency, the limited size of the initial cohort, and whether the eligibility criteria sufficiently target underrepresented groups in the legal profession. However, none of these issues are shown to have been raised in the available transcripts or votes.