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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR

HJCS

DATE TYPED 3/10/05

HB 875/aHJCS

SHORT TITLE

Create Lengthy Trial Fund

SB

ANALYST Hanika-Ortiz

APPROPRIATION

Appropriation Contained Estimated Additional Impact Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY05

FY06

FY05

FY06

None

$0.1

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Substitute Bill

The House Judiciary Committee Substitute amends Section 7-1-8 NMSA 1978 and changes jury

operations in several ways.

Section 1:

•

The committee substitute requires the Taxation and Revenue Department (TRD) to pro-

vide an electronic database of personal income tax filer names and addresses to the in-

formation systems division of the General Services Department that will be used to pro-

duce a random jury source list.

•

The committee substitute allows TRD to confirm that a person is a registered taxpayer

but does not allow the Department to disclose whether a person has filed a tax return. The

only information TRD will provide is name and address. No tax information will be

transferred.

Section 2:

•

The committee substitute adds a legislative declaration to the Jury Enabling Statute (Sec-

tion 38-5-1 NMSA 1978). “It is the policy of this state that all qualified citizens have an

obligation to serve on juries and to give truthful information [when] they are called to

serve.”

House Bill 875/HJCS-- Page 2

Section 3:

•

The committee substitute adds personal income tax filers to the existing jury source list of

registered voters and driver’s licenses.

Section 4:

•

The committee substitute streamlines existing language regarding excusing or postponing

an individual from jury service. The judge or the judge’s designee is authorized to excuse

or postpone individuals summoned for jury duty.

Section 5:

•

The Supreme Court is given the authority to set the appropriate length of jury terms for

all state courts. This will be done by rule and the Supreme Court must consider the num-

ber of trials held, the availability of jurors, and the administrative and financial impact on

the courts.

Section 6:

•

The committee substitute replaces the manual process for random jury selection with ge-

neric language that will be accurate as technology changes.

Section 7:

•

If an employer provides annual, vacation, or sick leave, the employer cannot request or

require the employee to use that leave for jury duty.

Significant Issues:

The current jury source list is compiled from registered voters and licensed drivers. Adding per-

sonal income tax filers will add unique names to the jury source list that are not on the jury

source list today, and will add updated addresses yearly through the income tax filing process.

The AOC anticipates that this bill will make the jury source list more diverse and the number of

undeliverable summons will decline as the use of old addresses will decrease.

PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS

AOC notes that this bill may impact the Department’s performance based budgeting measures

identified for FY06.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

AOC reports there will likely be a minimal administrative cost for statewide update, distribution,

and documentation of the statutory changes in this bill. This change has the potential to increase

the workload of Courts, thus requiring additional resources to handle the increase. However, a

more efficient jury pool selection process could positively impact the resources of the Courts.

WHAT WILL BE THE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT ENACTING THIS BILL.

Existing State policies regarding jury pool selection will remain.

AHO/lg