Oklahoma 2024 2024 Regular Session

Oklahoma House Bill HB2430 Amended / Bill

Filed 03/04/2023

                     
 
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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES - FLOOR VERSION 
 
STATE OF OKLAHOMA 
 
1st Session of the 59th Legislature (2023) 
 
HOUSE BILL 2430 	By: May and Wallace of the 
House 
 
   and 
 
  Weaver of the Senate 
 
 
 
 
AS INTRODUCED 
 
[ fees - jurors' fees - effective date ] 
 
 
 
 
 
 
BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA: 
SECTION 1.    AMENDATORY     28 O.S. 2021, Section 86, is 
amended to read as follows: 
Section 86.  A.  Jurors shall be paid the fo llowing fees out of 
the local court fund: 
1.  For each day's attendance before an y court of record, Twenty 
Dollars ($20.00) Seventy-five Dollars ($75.00) ; and 
2.  For mileage going to and returning from jury service each 
day, pursuant to the provisions of the State Travel R eimbursement 
Act.   
 
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B.  The Court Fund Boa rd of the district cour t may contract for 
or provide reimbursement for parking for district court jurors to be 
paid from the Court Fund.  Parking so provided to jurors shall be in 
lieu of any reimbursement to jurors for parking fees. 
C.  The provisions of this section shall not apply to any person 
who is summoned for jury du ty and who is excused from serving 
pursuant to the provisions of subsection A of Section 28 of Title 38 
of the Oklahoma Statutes, beginning on the day the person is excused 
from service. 
D.  The Supreme Court shall promulgate rules to establish a 
Lengthy Trial Fund that shall be used to provide full or partial 
wage replacement or wage supplementation to jurors who serve as 
petit jurors for more than ten (10) days. 
1.  The court rules shal l provide for the selec tion and 
appointment of an Administrator for th e fund; procedures for the 
administration of the fund, including payments of salaries of the 
Administrator and other necessary personnel; procedur es for the 
accounting, auditing and inve stment of money in the Lengthy Trial 
Fund; and a report by the Supreme Court on the administration of the 
Lengthy Trial Fund included in its annual report on the judicial 
branch, setting forth the money collected for and disbursed from the 
fund. 
2.  The clerk of the court shall collect from each attorney who 
files a civil case, unless otherwise exempted under the provisions   
 
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of this section, a fee of Ten Dollars ($10.00) per case to be paid 
into the Lengthy Trial Fund.  A lawyer will be deemed to have filed 
a case at the time the first pleading or other filing on which an 
individual lawyer's name appears is submitted to the court for 
filing and opens a new case.  All such fees shall be forwarded to 
the Administrator of the Lengthy Trial Fund for deposit. 
3.  The Administrator shall use the fees deposited in the 
Lengthy Trial Fund to pay full or partial wage replacement or 
supplementation to jurors whose employers pay less than full regular 
wages when the period of jury s ervice lasts more than ten (10) days. 
4. The court may pay rep lacement or supplemental wages of up to 
Two Hundred Dollars ($200.00) per day per juror beginning on the 
eleventh day of jury service.  In addition, for any jurors who 
qualify for payment by se rving on a jury for more than ten (10) 
days, the court may, upo n finding that such service posed a 
significant financial hardship to a juror, even in light of payments 
made with respect to jury service after the tenth day, award 
replacement or supplemental wages of up to Fifty Dollars ($50.00) 
per day from the fourth to the tenth day of jury service. 
5.  Any juror who is serving or has served on a jury that 
qualifies for payment from the Lengthy Trial Fund, provided the 
service commenced on or after January 1, 2005, may submit a request 
for payment from the Lengthy Tri al Fund on a form provided by the 
Administrator.  Payment shall be limited to the difference between   
 
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the state-paid jury fee and the actual amount of wages a juror 
earns, up to the maximum leve l payable, minus any amount the juror 
actually receives from th e employer during the same time period.  
The form shall disclose the juror 's regular wages, the amount the 
employer will pay during the term of jury service starting on the 
eleventh day and the reafter, the amount of replacement or 
supplemental wages reques ted, and any other information the 
Administrator deems necessary for proper payment.  The juror shall 
be required to submit verification from the employer as to the wage 
information provided to the Administrator, including but not li mited 
to the employee's most recent earnings statement or similar 
document, prior to initiation of payment from the fund.  If an 
individual is self-employed or receives compensation other than 
wages, the individual m ay provide a sworn affidavit attesting t o his 
or her approximate gross weekly income, together with such other 
information as the Administrator may require, in order to verify 
weekly income. 
6.  The following attorneys and causes of action are exempt from 
payment of the Lengthy Trial Fund fee: 
a. government attorneys entering appearances in the 
course of their official duties, 
b. pro se litigants, 
c. cases in small claims court or the state equivalent 
thereof, or   
 
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d. claims seeking Social Security disability 
determinations, individual veterans ' compensation or 
disability determinations, recoupment actions for 
government backed educational loans or mortgages, 
child custody and support cases, actions brought in 
forma pauperis, and any other filings designated b y 
rule that involve minimal use of court resources and 
that customarily are not afforded the opportunity for 
a trial by jury. 
7.  Until June 30, 2021, the Office of Management and Enterprise 
Services shall, at the request of the Administrative Director of the 
Courts, transfer any monies from the Lengthy Trial Fund to the 
Supreme Court Administrative Revolving Fund or the Interagency 
Reimbursement Fund as necessary to perform the duties imposed upon 
the Supreme Court, Court of Civil Appeals and district cour ts by 
law. 
SECTION 2.  This act shall become ef fective November 1, 2023. 
 
COMMITTEE REPORT BY: COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS AND BUDGET, dated 
03/02/2023 - DO PASS, As Amended and Coauthored.