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A bill sponsored
by Representative Cam Ward and supported by several national
organizations to reform jury service was passed by the Legislature
in the recent Special Session. The bill known as the Jury
Patriotism Act previously passed the House of Representatives in the
Regular Session only to die in the State Senate. State Senator
Wendall Mitchell and Representative Cam Ward passed the bill out of
both chambers during the closing hours of the Special Session.
The bill makes
several changes to the current law. First, the bill makes jury
service more flexible for those called. For example, the bill would
prevent a person from being called for jury service more than once
in a two year period. Currently, Alabama jurors are not protected
from being called repeatedly for jury service. The bill also
prevents an employer from penalizing an employee by requiring them
to use vacation or leave time in order to fulfill their civic duty.
“As a society our participation in the civic process should always
be a priority but we should not have laws that penalize those who
want to serve their community,” said Ward.
The new law
would also instill the notion that people have an obligation to
serve. Nationwide the number of citizens who merely ignore their
jury summonses is increasing. Currently in Alabama failure to
appear for a jury summons is only punishable by a $100 fine, which
less than the cost to enforce the penalty. Under the new law
failure to appear is punishable by a fine of $300 and/or community
service. Ward says that “those who take the time to carry out their
civic duty should not be overburdened by those who do not. This
bill serves as more of a deterrent to those seeking to just not
reply to a jury summons.”
Under the
legislation passed those called for jury service will also have more
structure in place when seeking an excuse not to serve. Citizens
will be required to show specific undue physical or financial
hardships in order to be excused from service. “I believe there are
real reasons to be excused from jury service such as being unable to
find a substitute care giver, your health or undue financial burdens
but just because you are inconvenienced should not be one of them,”
said Ward.
The bill which
was supported by the American Legislative Exchange Council, Council
of State Governments and several national Chambers of Commerce is
expected to be signed into law this week. |
