HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	2263
TWENTY-NINTH LEGISLATURE, 2018
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

 

relating to jury duty exemptions.

 

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 

     SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that the minimum age requirement to claim an automatic exemption from jury duty in the State is eighty years old.  Many residents of Hawaii at this advanced age have medical disabilities and health issues that make jury service a hardship.  However, even before eighty, many individuals have already begun to experience deteriorating health and are forced to provide a note from a physician in order to be excused or exempt from jury service.  This causes additional stress and hardship for these kupuna that could be alleviated by reducing the minimum age for exemption.

     The legislature also finds that at least twenty-one states allow seniors aged seventy or older to be excused or exempt from jury duty without a note from a physician.

     The purpose of this Act is to reduce the minimum age required to claim an automatic exemption from jury duty in the State from eighty to seventy years of age.

     SECTION 2.  Section 612-6, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

     "§612-6  Exempt when.  A person may claim exemption from service as a juror if the person is:

     (1)  An elected official while the legislature is in session, or a judge of the United States, State, or county;

     (2)  An actively practicing physician or dentist;

     (3)  A member of the armed forces or militia when on active service and deployed out-of-state;

     (4)  An active member of a police or fire department;

     (5)  A person who has served as a juror, either in a court of this State or the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii, within one year preceding the time of filling out the juror qualification form;

     (6)  An active member of an emergency medical services agency;

     (7)  A person living more than seventy miles from the court for which jury service is required;

     (8)  A person [eighty] seventy years of age or older; or

     (9)  A woman who is breastfeeding a child or expressing breast milk for a period of two years from the birth of the child.

     For purposes of this section, "emergency medical services agency" means any government agency, private agency, or company that provides ambulance services, emergency medical services, or disaster medical services."

     SECTION 3.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken.  New statutory material is underscored.

     SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

 

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

 

 

Report Title:

Jury Duty; Exemption; Kupuna

 

Description:

Lowers the automatic jury duty exemption age from eighty to seventy.

 

 

 

The summary description of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.