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ENGROSSED HOUSE
BILL NO. 2972 By: West (Rick) of the House
and
Burns of the Senate
An Act relating to jurors; amending 38 O.S. 2021,
Section 28, which relates to jury service exem ptions;
authorizing physician assistant to verify medical
exemption; authorizing advanced practice registered
nurse to verify medical exemption; and providing an
effective date.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
SECTION 1. AMENDATORY 38 O.S. 202 1, Section 28, is
amended to read as follows:
Section 28. A. It is the policy of this state that all
citizens qualified for jury service pursuant to this section have an
obligation to serve on petit juries w hen summoned by the courts of
this state, unless excused.
B. All citizens of the United States, residing in this state,
having the qualifications of electors of this state, are competen t
jurors to serve on all grand and petit juries within their counties;
provided, that persons over seventy (70) years of age and persons
who have served as a grand or petit juror during the last five (5)
immediately preceding calendar years shall not be co mpelled to serve
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as jurors in this state and the court may excuse or d ischarge any
juror drawn and summoned as a grand or petit juror if:
1. The prospective juror has a mental or physical condition
that causes him or her to be incapable of performing jury service.
The juror, or the juror 's personal representative, shall pr ovide the
court with documentation from a physician , physician assistant or
advanced practice registered nurse licensed to practice medicine
verifying that a mental or physical conditio n renders the person
unfit for jury service for a period of up to twen ty-four (24)
months; or
2. Jury service would cause undue or extreme phy sical or
financial hardship to the prospective juror or a person under his or
her care or supervision. A judge o f the court for which the
individual was called to jury service shall make undue or extreme
physical or financial hardship determinations. The authority to
make these determinations is delegable only to court officials or
personnel who are authorized by t he laws of this state to function
as members of the judiciary. A pers on requesting to be excused
based on a finding of undue or extreme physic al or financial
hardship shall take all actions necessary to have obtained a ruling
on that request by no later t han the date on which the individual is
scheduled to appear for jury d uty. For purposes of this section,
"undue or extreme physical or financi al hardship" is limited to
circumstances in which an indi vidual would be required to abandon a
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person under his or her personal care or supervision due to the
impossibility of obtaini ng an appropriate substitute caregiver
during the period of participation in the jury pool or on the jury,
incur costs that would have a substantial adverse impact on the
payment of the individual's necessary daily living expenses or on
those for whom he or she provides the principal means of support, or
suffer physical hardshi p that would result in illness or disease.
Undue or extreme physical or financial hardship does not exist
solely based on the fact that a prospective juror will be required
to be absent from his or her place of employment. A person
requesting a judge to grant an excuse based on undue or extreme
physical or financial hardship shall be required to provide the
judge with documentation, such as, but not limited to, federal and
state income tax returns, medical statements from licensed
physicians, proof of dep endency or guardianship, and similar
documents, which the judge finds to clearly support the request to
be excused. Failure to provide satisfactory documentation shall
result in a denial of the request to be excused.
After two (2) years, a person excused from jury service shall
become eligible once again for qu alification as a juror unless the
person was excused fro m service permanently. A person is excused
from jury service permanen tly only when the deciding judge
determines that the underlying grounds f or being excused are of a
permanent nature.
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C. Persons who are not qualified to serve as jurors are:
1. Justices of the Supreme Court or the Court of Civil Appeals;
2. Judges of the Court of Criminal Appeals or the district
court;
3. Sheriffs or deputy sheriffs;
4. Municipal or state law enforcement officer s employed in any
county with a population of two hundre d fifty-five thousand
(255,000) or more;
5. Federal law enforcement o fficers;
6. Licensed attorneys engaged in the practice of law;
7. Persons who have been convicted of any felony or who have
served a term of imprisonment in any penitentiary, state or federal,
for the commission of a felony; provided, any such citizen
convicted, who has been fully restored to his or her civil rights,
shall be eligible to serve as a juror; and
8. Legislators during a session of the Legislature or when
involved in state business.
D. Jailers, or municipal or state law enforcement officers in a
county with a population of less than two hundred fifty -five
thousand (255,000), shall be eligible to serve on noncriminal
actions only.
E. Upon his or her request, a person shall be exempt from
service as a juror if the person is:
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1. A member of the Armed Forces of the United States who is
serving on active duty during a time of war or declared hostilities;
or
2. A mother who is breast-feeding a baby.
F. The district court may provide electronic resources for
persons summoned for jury duty to obtain information about their
jury service and to submit information to the court, including but
not limited to communications via te lephone, text messag e,
electronic mail and website. The court may utilize an approved
electronic jury management system to record, process, respond to,
and maintain juror communications. The court clerk and the trial
court administrator, under the superv ision and control of the
presiding judge or chief judge, or any district judge acting as his
or her designee, may be authorized to make determinations regarding
juror excusals, exemptions, disqualifi cations, postponements and
deferrals. However, determina tions regarding extr eme physical or
financial hardship shall be made as provided in paragraph 2 of
subsection B of this section.
G. Information provided to the court pursuant to this section
by persons summoned for jury service shall be used exclusively f or
purposes of determining jury disqualifications or excusals. No
person shall disclose, copy or permit any person to copy this
information for purposes other than jury management.
SECTION 2. This act shall become effective November 1, 20 22.
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Passed the House of Representatives the 14th day of March, 2022.
Presiding Officer of the House
of Representatives
Passed the Senate the ___ day of __________, 2022.
Presiding Officer of the Senate