The House Courts and Criminal Code Committee heard HB 1466 authored by Rep. Davis on juror compensation. The bill does the following:
- Increases the jury fee collected from a defendant who has committed a crime or committed certain violations to $6. The current jury fee is $2.
- Requires the clerk to collect a jury fee of $75 from a party filing a civil tort or plenary action. Increases the jury appearance fee to $30 per day for each day a juror is in attendance until the jury is impaneled. The current rate is $15 per day.
- Increases the juror payment rate to $80 per day for the first five days of trial and to $90 per day starting on the sixth day of trial until the jury is discharged. The current rate is $40 per day.
Judge Dowling, Delaware Circuit Court 2, and Judge Cappas, Lake Superior Court, of the Indiana Judicial Conference Jury Committee testified to the need to increase juror compensation and the Committee’s work on the proposal. A prosecutor and the Indiana Trial Lawyers Association testified in support of the bill. The Indiana Public Defender Council testified in opposition to the provision imposing an additional $4 on convicted defendants. The bill passed 11-0.
Read the bill at: https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2023/bills/house/1466