By: Harris S.B. No. 562

(In the Senate - Filed February 9, 2007; February 26, 2007, read first time and referred to Committee on Jurisprudence; March 26, 2007, reported adversely, with favorable Committee Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 4, Nays 0; March 26, 2007, sent to printer.)

COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 562 By: Duncan

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to an exemption from jury duty in certain counties.

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

SECTION 1. Section 62.106, Government Code, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 62.106. EXEMPTION FROM JURY SERVICE. (a) A person qualified to serve as a petit juror may establish an exemption from jury service if the person:

(1) is over 70 years of age;

(2) has legal custody of a child younger than 10 years of age and the person's service on the jury requires leaving the child without adequate supervision;

(3) is a student of a public or private secondary school;

(4) is a person enrolled and in actual attendance at an institution of higher education;

(5) is an officer or an employee of the senate, the house of representatives, or any department, commission, board, office, or other agency in the legislative branch of state government;

(6) is summoned for service in a county with a population of at least 200,000, unless that county uses a jury plan under Section 62.011 and the period authorized under Section 62.011(b)(5) exceeds two years, and the person has served as a petit juror in the county during the 24-month period preceding the date the person is to appear for jury service;

(7) is the primary caretaker of a person who is an invalid unable to care for himself;

(8) except as provided by Subsection (b), is summoned for service in a county with a population of at least 250,000 and the person has served as a petit juror in the county during the three-year period preceding the date the person is to appear for jury service; [or]

(9) except as provided by Subsection (b), was previously summoned to appear in the same county during the 36-month period preceding the date the person is to appear as provided by the current summons, regardless of whether the person was selected to serve as a petit juror as a result of the previous summons, and the county in which the person is summoned to appear:

(A) has a population of 1.4 million or more; and

(B) has within its boundaries at least two municipalities that each have a population of 300,000 or more; or

(10) is a member of the United States military forces serving on active duty and deployed to a location away from the person's home station and out of the person's county of residence.

(b) Subsections [Subsection] (a)(8) and (9) do [does] not apply if the jury wheel in the county has been reconstituted after the date the person was summoned to appear for service [served] as a petit juror.

SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only to a person summoned to appear for jury service who is required to appear on or after the effective date of this Act. A person summoned to appear for jury service who is required to appear before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the person is required to appear, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2007.

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