Pilot program: increased fee for low-income jurors: criminal trials.

The Trial Jury Selection and Management Act requires all persons be selected for jury service at random, from a source or sources inclusive of a representative cross section of the population of the area served by the court. The act further requires a juror in a civil or criminal superior court case to be paid a fee of $15 a day for each day's attendance as a juror after the first day, except as specified, plus reimbursement for mileage. This bill would, notwithstanding these payment provisions, authorize the Superior Court of San Francisco, in conjunction with the City and County of San Francisco and their justice partners, as defined, to conduct a pilot program to analyze and determine whether paying certain low-income trial jurors $100 per day for each day they are required to report for service as a trial juror in a criminal case promotes a more economically and racially diverse trial jury panel that more accurately reflects the demographics of the community. The bill would require the pilot program court to be developed and implemented at no cost to the Superior Court of San Francisco and to only fund the $100 fee using funding provided by The Financial Justice Project of the City and County of San Francisco. The bill would require the pilot program court to collect data self-reported by jurors who receive the increased fee and would require the pilot program court and its justice partners to select a third-party entity to prepare an analysis and report of that data and conclusion about the pilot program without any cost to the pilot program court. The bill would require the pilot program court to terminate the pilot program on or before December 31, 2023, or at any time it determines the increased financial reimbursement is causing prejudice to the rights of litigants or the interests of justice. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2025. The bill would also make related findings and declarations.