Davis Seeks Funds for ‘One-Day’ Jury Service

For prospective jurors, a closer look at Gov. Gray Davis’ proposed budget will simultaneously raise and dash hopes.

Embedded in that $77.5-billion spending plan is $1.2 million to help counties prepare for next year’s launch of a program that lets jurors serve only one day unless they are selected for a trial.

But the budget for fiscal 1999-2000 has no funds for other reforms recommended in recent years to make jury service more palatable, including a raise from the $5-per-day pay--among the lowest in the nation--or reimbursement for child care costs.

Still, judicial officials hope that it is just a matter of time. A bill that would triple jurors’ pay and provide up to $50 a day for child care is scheduled to be introduced in the Legislature this week.

“We’re going to try to treat jurors better,” said Dan Reeves, chief of staff to the bill’s author, Assemblywoman Carole Migden (D-San Francisco). “This is just the very start.”

Nearly three years ago, the state Judicial Council, the court’s policy setting agency, reported that the jury system was “on the brink of collapse” because potential jurors were fed up with the long delays and meager pay. In Los Angeles County, only about one in 10 people who got court questionnaires by mail reported for duty--some legally excused, but with at least a third ignoring the subsequent summons.

In September, Gov. Pete Wilson signed into law the first of the council’s suggestions, requiring that, beginning next January, jurors be seated on their first day of duty or they are free of jury obligations for the rest of the year.

Nearly half the state’s counties had already moved in that direction, but Los Angeles was not among them--still requiring jurors to return for up to 10 days to sit and wait in a jury room to find out if they would be selected for a trial.

The $1.2-million budget increase fulfills counties’ requests for assistance, primarily to issue more summonses to ensure they have a steady flow of jurors under the new law.

But legislation to address the juror pay issue was less successful last year. Initially, the bill called for daily pay to be raised to the judicial panel’s recommended $40 after the first day, based on a survey of other states.

In 1996, the National Conference of State Legislatures found that California and New Jersey had the lowest juror pay, at $5 a day, and Colorado had the highest, at $50 a day after three days of service. Most states pay at least $10 a day. “California hasn’t changed its juror fees in 40 years, so it’s no wonder that they’re so low,” said council spokeswoman Lynn Holton.

Trial lawyers persuaded legislators to reduce the judicial panel’s recommendation to $16 a day because in civil cases lawyers must pay court costs. By the time the bill passed the Legislature, jury pay had been pared back to $10 a day, and in a pilot program in three counties.

Even so, Wilson vetoed it, saying he did not believe that a $5-a-day raise would increase juror turnout.

Migden, who was a co-author of that bill, is coming back with Round 2: a proposal to not only raise jury pay to $15 a day, but also increase the child care stipend to $50 a day. The estimated cost of the pay increase is about $20 million a year, and the child care component would cost about an additional $4.5 million.

The child care allotment, provided to those who furnish a baby-sitting receipt, would be even more than the $40 a day recommended by the Judicial Council. Migden aide Reeves said the increase was his doing.

His sister-in-law has two small children, he said, and pays at least $7 an hour for temporary child care. “That’s more than $40 [a day],” he said.

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Jury Duty Dues in Western States

Jury duty pay varies widely across the nation, but only one other state is as low as California, which pays $5 a day. Some states begin jurors at low or no pay, but give them significantly more if they get seated on a trial.

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State Daily pay Arizona $12 California $5 Colorado $50 (after three days) Idaho $10 (for each half-day increment) Montana $12 to $25* Nevada $9 to $30* New Mexico $4.75/hour Oregon $10 Texas $6 Utah $17 Washington $10 Wyoming $30

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* If selected

Source: National Conference of State Legislatures, 1996