Juror Pay-increase Plan To Get New Look?
From the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin
Weeks after passing a measure to bump jurors’ pay, one lawmaker has introduced a bill to curtail that plan.
Last month, then-Gov. Patrick J. Quinn signed legislation decreasing the number of jurors in every civil trial from 12 to six and increasing their compensation to a minimum $25 on the first day of service and $50 every day thereafter.
The law is slated to take effect June 1.
But the sponsor of that bill has filed a new measure to instead let counties determine their own juror fees based on the previous law, which sets the daily minimum at $4, $5 or $10, depending on population.
Senate Bill 59, sponsored by Sen. John G. Mulroe, doesn’t include consideration for traveling expenses and, as current law does, places the funding burden on individual counties.
But Mulroe, a Chicago Democrat, said the bill is an early draft and he is open to suggestions on it — including asking litigants to pick up the cost of higher juror pay.
“I’m amenable to amending this at any stage before it gets out of the Senate, or when it’s in the House, just to have a more complete conversation about the issue,” he said.
Mulroe said he still wants counties to “do the right thing and find some way to treat our jurors better.”
“At the same time, I don’t want to have this undue burden placed on the county either, so I’m sort of in a little pickle here,” he said.
Read more in our daily News Update...
From the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin
Weeks after passing a measure to bump jurors’ pay, one lawmaker has introduced a bill to curtail that plan.
Last month, then-Gov. Patrick J. Quinn signed legislation decreasing the number of jurors in every civil trial from 12 to six and increasing their compensation to a minimum $25 on the first day of service and $50 every day thereafter.
The law is slated to take effect June 1.
But the sponsor of that bill has filed a new measure to instead let counties determine their own juror fees based on the previous law, which sets the daily minimum at $4, $5 or $10, depending on population.
Senate Bill 59, sponsored by Sen. John G. Mulroe, doesn’t include consideration for traveling expenses and, as current law does, places the funding burden on individual counties.
But Mulroe, a Chicago Democrat, said the bill is an early draft and he is open to suggestions on it — including asking litigants to pick up the cost of higher juror pay.
“I’m amenable to amending this at any stage before it gets out of the Senate, or when it’s in the House, just to have a more complete conversation about the issue,” he said.
Mulroe said he still wants counties to “do the right thing and find some way to treat our jurors better.”
“At the same time, I don’t want to have this undue burden placed on the county either, so I’m sort of in a little pickle here,” he said.
Read more in our daily News Update...