FINAL BILL REPORT

SHB 1460

                                  C 188 L 88

BYHouse Committee on Judiciary (originally sponsored by Representatives Armstrong, Locke and May; by request of Office of the Administrator for the Courts)

Revising jury selection and summoning.

House Committe on Judiciary

Senate Committee on Law & Justice

SYNOPSIS AS ENACTED

BACKGROUND:

Washington law provides for the selection and summoning of jurors by several different methods.  A petit jury is selected randomly by a superior court judge from an annual list of registered voters.  A grand jury is selected by the court from the petit jury panel or from a panel of 100 individuals drawn by lot in a manner provided for petit jury panels.  A jury of inquest is comprised of six persons summoned by the coroner.  In a trial for condemnation of property, if a jury trial is requested but not available, the court may wait until the next regular jury term or direct the sheriff to summon qualified persons to form a jury.

SUMMARY:

A uniform jury selection process is provided for all courts and juries of inquest in the State of Washington.

The county auditor is to prepare a list of all registered voters in the county.  This list is filed with the superior court at least annually.

Upon receipt of the list of registered voters, the court uses that list as the jury source list and compiles a master jury list that is filed with the county clerk.

The master jury list may be randomly selected from the source list or may be an exact duplicate of the source list.  Superior courts are authorized to use any fair and random means to select jurors from the master jury list.  Persons selected to serve are summoned by mail or personal service.

The qualifications for jurors are updated and changed.  References to "elector and taxpayer" are removed.  A one year residency requirement is eliminated, as is a "full possession of faculties" requirement and an ability to read and write English requirement.  Instead, a juror must be at least 18, be a citizen of the United States, be a resident of the county in which he or she is to serve, and be able to communicate in English.  A convicted felon may not be a juror unless his or her civil rights have been restored.

Employers are required to provide leave of absence time for an employee who has been summoned to jury duty.  Employers may not take adverse action against an employee because of the employee's jury duty.  Employers who do not provide leave or who do take adverse action are guilty of a misdemeanor.  In addition, an employee whose rights are violated may sue for damages and attorneys' fees.

The office of the administrator for the courts is to study possible expansion of the juror source list beyond the registered voter list.  The study is to be completed by January 9, 1989.

Courts of limited jurisdiction may contract with superior courts for jury management services.

VOTES ON FINAL PASSAGE:

      House 97   0

      Senate    47     0 (Senate amended)

      House 98   0 (House concurred)

EFFECTIVE:January 1, 1989

            March 22, 1988 (Section 19)