Wisconsin 2023-2024 Regular Session

Wisconsin Senate Bill SB405 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	LRB-4098/1
2	2	KRP:klm
3	3	2023 - 2024 LEGISLATURE
4	4	2023 SENATE BILL 405
5	5	September 8, 2023 - Introduced by Senators TOMCZYK, MARKLEIN and TAYLOR,
6	6	cosponsored by Representatives PLUMER, BINSFELD, MELOTIK, NOVAK,
7	7	O'CONNOR, RODRIGUEZ, SCHMIDT, BALDEH, CABRERA, ORTIZ-VELEZ and
8	8	WICHGERS. Referred to Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety.
9	9	AN ACT to renumber and amend 756.03 (1); to amend 756.04 (6) (dm) and
10	10	756.04 (9) (a); and to create 756.03 (1) (b), 756.04 (2) (g), 756.04 (6) (c) and
11	11	756.04 (7) of the statutes; relating to: excusing certain persons from jury
12	12	service.
13	13	Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau
14	14	This bill allows a person who is at least 70 years of age to be excused from jury
15	15	service.
16	16	Under current law, the director of state courts annually compiles a statewide
17	17	master list of potential jurors for use by the state circuit courts and provides each
18	18	clerk of circuit court with a list of prospective jurors who reside in the clerk's county
19	19	and who are randomly selected from the master list to be used during the following
20	20	year. Currently, the clerk mails a juror qualification form to each prospective juror
21	21	to be summoned, and the prospective juror must complete and return the form, along
22	22	with any other information the clerk requests, within ten days.
23	23	Under the bill, the clerk must send a notice along with the juror qualification
24	24	form that 1) informs the prospective juror that he or she may elect to be excused from
25	25	jury service if the prospective juror is at least 70 years of age and, 2) if the prospective
26	26	juror is at least 70 years of age, provides the prospective juror with the option to elect
27	27	to be excused from jury service for the following year or to be excused from all future
28	28	jury service.
29	29	Under the bill, the clerk must strike the name of any prospective juror who
30	30	elects to be excused from the list of prospective jurors in the county who are qualified
31	31	1
32	32	2
33	33	3
34	34	4 - 2 -2023 - 2024 Legislature LRB-4098/1
35	35	KRP:klm
36	36	SENATE BILL 405
37	37	as eligible to serve as jurors for the following year. For any prospective juror who
38	38	elects to be excused from all future jury service, the bill requires the clerk to notify
39	39	the director of state courts of the prospective juror's election, and the director of state
40	40	courts must exclude the person from the statewide master list of potential jurors the
41	41	director of state court compiles in future years. Under the bill, a prospective juror
42	42	may revoke his or her election by notifying the director of state courts of the
43	43	revocation.
44	44	Also under current law, a court may excuse a person from jury service if the
45	45	court determines that the person cannot fulfill the responsibilities of a juror. The bill
46	46	allows a court to also excuse a person from jury service if the person is at least 70
47	47	years of age and requests excusal.
48	48	For further information see the state and local fiscal estimate, which will be
49	49	printed as an appendix to this bill.
50	50	The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do
51	51	enact as follows:
52	52	SECTION 1. 756.03 (1) of the statutes is renumbered 756.03 (1) (intro.) and
53	53	amended to read:
54	54	756.03 (1) EXCUSE. (intro.) The court to which a person is summoned for jury
55	55	service may excuse the person from jury service if the any of the following applies:
56	56	(a) The court determines that the person cannot fulfill the responsibilities of
57	57	a juror. The court shall not consider any structural limitations of a facility when
58	58	making that determination.
59	59	SECTION 2. 756.03 (1) (b) of the statutes is created to read:
60	60	756.03 (1) (b) The person is at least 70 years of age and requests excusal.
61	61	SECTION 3. 756.04 (2) (g) of the statutes is created to read:
62	62	756.04 (2) (g) The office of the director of state courts may not include on the
63	63	master list of potential jurors compiled under par. (a) any person who has elected to
64	64	be excused from jury service under sub. (6) (c) 1. b. and has not notified the office that
65	65	the person revokes that election.
66	66	SECTION 4. 756.04 (6) (c) of the statutes is created to read:
67	67	1
68	68	2
69	69	3
70	70	4
71	71	5
72	72	6
73	73	7
74	74	8
75	75	9
76	76	10
77	77	11
78	78	12
79	79	13
80	80	14
81	81	15 - 3 -2023 - 2024 Legislature
82	82	LRB-4098/1
83	83	KRP:klm
84	84	SECTION 4
85	85	SENATE BILL 405
86	86	756.04 (6) (c) 1. The juror qualification form shall be accompanied by a notice
87	87	that any person who is at least 70 years of age may elect to be excused from jury
88	88	service. The notice shall include all of the following:
89	89	a. An option for the person to elect to be excused from jury service for the jury
90	90	year.
91	91	b. An option for the person to elect to be excused from jury service for the jury
92	92	year and from all future jury service.
93	93	c. Instructions informing the person that, if the person is at least 70 years of
94	94	age, the person may make an election under subd. 1. a. or b. by returning the notice
95	95	with the person's election to the clerk of circuit court along with the juror
96	96	qualification form.
97	97	d. A notice that, by making an election under subd. 1. a. or b., the person
98	98	declares to the best of the person's knowledge that the person is at least 70 years of
99	99	age.
100	100	e. A notice that a person may revoke an election made under sub. 1. a. or b. by
101	101	notifying the office of the director of state courts of the revocation.
102	102	2. Notwithstanding subd. 1., the clerk of circuit court is not required to send
103	103	the notice under subd. 1. to a prospective juror that the clerk has reason to believe
104	104	is less than 70 years of age.
105	105	SECTION 5. 756.04 (6) (dm) of the statutes is amended to read:
106	106	756.04 (6) (dm) If a prospective juror is unable to fill out the juror qualification
107	107	form mailed to the prospective juror under par. (am) and to (cm), another person may
108	108	complete the form and shall indicate why the person has done so. If it appears that
109	109	there is an omission, ambiguity, or error in a returned form, the clerk of circuit court
110	110	1
111	111	2
112	112	3
113	113	4
114	114	5
115	115	6
116	116	7
117	117	8
118	118	9
119	119	10
120	120	11
121	121	12
122	122	13
123	123	14
124	124	15
125	125	16
126	126	17
127	127	18
128	128	19
129	129	20
130	130	21
131	131	22
132	132	23
133	133	24 - 4 -2023 - 2024 Legislature LRB-4098/1
134	134	KRP:klm
135	135	SECTION 5 SENATE BILL 405
136	136	shall return the form to the person with instructions to correct and return the form
137	137	to the clerk of circuit court within 10 days after receiving the form.
138	138	SECTION 6. 756.04 (7) of the statutes is created to read:
139	139	756.04 (7) The clerk of circuit court shall notify the office of the director of state
140	140	courts of all prospective jurors who elect to be excused from jury service under sub.
141	141	(6) (c) 1. b.
142	142	SECTION 7. 756.04 (9) (a) of the statutes is amended to read:
143	143	756.04 (9) (a) During each year, the clerk of circuit court shall provide the court
144	144	with a sufficient number of names of prospective jurors to meet the needs of the court.
145	145	To create a jury array, the clerk of circuit court shall strike from the list provided by
146	146	the office of the director of state courts under sub. (3m) the name of any person whose
147	147	returned juror qualification form shows that the person is not qualified for jury
148	148	service under s. 756.02 and the name of any person who elects to be excused from jury
149	149	service under sub. (6) (c).
150	150	SECTION 8.0Initial applicability.
151	151	(1) The treatment of s. 756.03 (1) (b) first applies to a person summoned for jury
152	152	service on the effective date of this subsection.
153	153	SECTION 9.0Effective dates. This act takes effect on the day after publication,
154	154	except as follows:
155	155	(1) The treatment of s. 756.04 (2) (g), (6) (c), (7), and (9) (a) takes effect on the
156	156	first day of the 3rd month beginning after publication.
157	157	(END)
158	158	1
159	159	2
160	160	3
161	161	4
162	162	5
163	163	6
164	164	7
165	165	8
166	166	9
167	167	10
168	168	11
169	169	12
170	170	13
171	171	14
172	172	15
173	173	16
174	174	17
175	175	18
176	176	19
177	177	20
178	178	21
179	179	22