The Senate Judiciary Committee heard HB 1466 authored and presented by Rep. Davis on juror compensation. The bill:
- Increases the jury fee collected from a defendant who has committed a crime or committed certain violations from $2 to $6.
- 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 from $15 to $30 per day for each day a juror is in attendance until the jury is impaneled.
- 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.
An amendment was adopted by consent to provide a prospective juror, who is summoned for jury duty and who reports to the summoning court on the day, regardless of whether the prospective juror is not seated or is removed under IC 35-37-1, is in actual attendance on that day, would receive a juror payment.
Judge Marla Clark, Chair of the Judicial Conference of Indiana Jury Committee, testified in favor of the bill. Judge Heather Welch read comments from jurors about the hardship of serving on a civil trial jury for three weeks at the current pay amount. Representatives from the Indiana Public Defender Council and the Trial Lawyers Association testified in support of the bill. The legislation passed as amended, 10-0. The chair explained the bill would be recommitted to Senate Appropriations.
Read the bill at: https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2023/bills/house/1466