HBA-BSM H.C.R. 104 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.C.R. 104
By: Jones, Jesse
Judicial Affairs
3/27/2001
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

While jury service is a civic duty for many Americans, extended jury
service can create significant financial hardship on jurors that not only
tends to limit participation in jury service but ultimately reduces the
representativeness of juries in an increasingly diverse society.  Current
law sets the daily reimbursement of entitled expenses to jurors in an
amount that is not less than $6 a day but not more  than $50 a day. Because
jurors' compensation often falls at the lower end of this reimbursement
schedule, jury duty participation may cause undue financial hardships on
citizens who incur expenses responding to a jury summons.  Additionally,
since Texas law does not require employers to pay workers for time taken to
serve on juries, the financial hardship falls most heavily on hourly wage
earners.  Because of the low reimbursement rate, many lower income
individuals choose not to serve.  Consequently, minorities and young adults
are significantly underrepresented on many Texas juries which may
potentially violate a constitutional requirement that juries represent a
cross section of the community.  House Concurrent Resolution 104 requests
the Congress of the United States to give each person who serves on a jury
under certain circumstances a $40 tax credit for each day of service. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does
not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, department, agency, or institution. 

ANALYSIS

House Concurrent Resolution 104 requests the Congress of the United States
to give each person who serves on a jury under certain circumstances or in
certain localities a $40 tax credit per day of service and to give each
person who is summoned and appears, but does not serve, a one-time $40 tax
credit for that day.