A San Francisco lawmaker is pushing ahead with a bill to increase criminal jury salaries.
Assemblyman Phil Ting (D-San Francisco) plans to expand a pilot program by the City of San Francisco that will increase criminal jury wages from $15 to $100 per day.
Ting believes the move would ensure all Californians have access to a jury of their own kind, as promised by the US Constitution. He said the bill would make juries across the state “fairer and a more accurate reflection of their communities.”
“Unfortunately, if you look at who’s coming through the criminal justice system, they’re disproportionately people of color … they’re disproportionately low-income, working families … and that doesn’t reflect on our jury,” Ting said during a news conference Wednesday in San Francisco.
Under the Be The Jury Act (AB 881), jurors qualify for the $100 daily stipend if their household income is less than 80% of their regional median income and they meet any of the following additional criteria:
- Your employer does not pay for jury service
- Your employer will not compensate for the estimated length of the process
- You are self-employed
- You are unemployed
Both prosecutors and public defenders support the proposal.
