Jury duty.

Existing law establishes the Trial Court Trust Fund for the purpose of funding trial court operations. For purposes of those provisions, court operations are defined to include, among other things, juror expenses such as travel reimbursement. Existing law also specifies the travel reimbursement to be paid to jurors in civil and criminal cases at $0.34 per mile for each mile traveled in attending court after the first day, in going only. This bill would require the mileage reimbursement provision described above to apply to travel both going and leaving court. The bill would require that all jurors and prospective jurors who have been summoned be provided access to existing public transit services at no cost, as specified. The bill would authorize courts to partner with public transit operators to provide this no-cost service or to determine an alternate method of reimbursement up to a daily maximum of $12. The bill would exempt from this requirement a court located where a public transit operator does not provide existing service that is reasonably available to the court facility. The bill would require a court to consider certain factors in determining whether transit service is reasonably available to the court facility. The bill would require a court, prior to determining that transit service is not reasonably available, to contact the public transit operator to inquire whether new transit options may be implemented near the court. The bill would require the Judicial Council to sponsor a pilot program for 2 fiscal years to study whether increases in juror compensation and mileage reimbursement rates increase juror diversity and participation. The bill would require the Judicial Council to provide a report to the Legislature describing the findings of the pilot program and providing information for promoting juror diversity.