Report Title:

Juries

Description:

Conforms State law to federal practice of granting a permanent exemption from jury service for persons more than 70 years of age.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

1364

TWENTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2005

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

RELATING TO JURY SERVICE.

 

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

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that, while the federal and state constitutions guarantee the right to jury trial, this right is meaningless if qualified persons do not fulfill their civic duty to serve as jurors. In order to encourage service by as broad a cross-section of the community as possible, only a small number of groups are permitted to claim exemptions from jury service in federal or state courts. These include, among others, members of the armed forces, police departments, and fire departments.

The legislature also finds that, unlike the practice in the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii, state law does not permit persons over the age of seventy to claim an exemption from jury service. Many elderly people have already provided years of service to the community and may no longer be able to serve as jurors without great hardship. Having to prove that hardship in order to be excused from jury service may, in itself, cause undue hardship for a person in their seventies or eighties.

The purpose of this Act is not to exclude persons over the age of seventy from jury service, but to permit them to claim an exemption from service if they so choose.

SECTION 2. Section 612-6, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§612-6 Exempt when. [(a) No person shall be authorized to claim an exemption from service as a juror in the courts of the first circuit from January 1, 1989, through December 31, 1990, and in the courts of all circuits, other than the first circuit from January 1, 1990, through December 31, 1991.

(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] 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 state or federal judge[, of the United States, State or 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) More than seventy 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 upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:

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