Report Title:

Jury Duty; Exemptions; Seventy Years or Older

 

Description:

Exempts persons from jury duty who are 70 years of age or older.

 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

326

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2003

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

RELATING TO JURORS.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that many of Hawaii's elderly residents, particularly those who are aged seventy and older, have greater difficulty serving as jurors because of their decreased mobility and lack of access to transportation. Many of these residents do not drive, do not have access to public transportation, or have difficulty walking. Therefore, requiring them to appear for jury duty would be a significant hardship in their lives. Accordingly, the purpose of this Act is to exempt persons seventy years of age and over from jury duty.

SECTION 2. Section 612-6, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (b) to read as follows:

"(b) From January 1, 1991, for the courts of the first circuit, and from January 1, 1992, for all other circuits of the State, a person may claim exemption from service as a juror if the person is:

(1) An attorney at law;

(2) A head of an executive department, an elected official, or a judge, of the United States, the State, or a county;

(3) A minister or priest following the minister's or priest's profession;

(4) A practicing physician or dentist;

(5) A member of the armed forces or militia when on active service, or an active member of a police or fire department;

(6) A person who has served as a juror, either in a court of this State or the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii, within one year preceding the time of filling out the juror qualification form[.]; or

(7) A person who is seventy or more years of age."

SECTION 3. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect on January 1, 2004.

INTRODUCED BY:

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