JUROR QUALIFICATION QUESTIONNAIRE H.B. 4054: COMMITTEE SUMMARY






House Bill 4054 (as passed by the House)
Sponsor: Representative Steve Bieda
House Committee: Judiciary
Senate Committee: Judiciary


Date Completed: 3-14-05

CONTENT
The bill would amend the Revised Judicature Act (RJA) to allow the name of a person who has been convicted of a felony to be removed from the list of people in a county who receive a juror qualification questionnaire. (Under Public Act 739 of 2002, a convicted felon is disqualified from jury service.)


Under the RJA's juror selection procedures, a county's jury board must compile a "first jury list", based on random selection from a list of people in that county who have a Michigan driver's license or personal identification card. The board then must supply a juror qualifications questionnaire to people on the first jury list. The bill would allow the jury board, with the approval of the chief circuit judge, to remove from the first jury list the name of any person who is disqualified from serving as a juror because he or she has been convicted of a felony.


MCL 600.1312

BACKGROUND


Public Act 739 of 2002 was part of a package of legislation that addressed juror compensation and funding. The Act amended the Revised Judicature Act to increase the minimum rate of compensation. The amendment also revised a provision regarding the disqualification of felons from jury service. Previously, the RJA disqualified a person who was serving a sentence for a felony at the time of juror selection. Public Act 739, instead, disqualifies a person who ever has been convicted of a felony.

Legislative Analyst: Patrick Affholter

FISCAL IMPACT
To the extent that the bill would decrease the number of juror qualification questionnaires mailed by local governments, by exempting convicted felons, it could nominally decrease postage costs.

Fiscal Analyst: Bethany Wicksall

Analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent. hb4054/0506