JURY DUTY: EXEMPT NURSING MOTHERS S.B. 519: COMMITTEE SUMMARY
Senate Bill 519 (as introduced 5-19-05)
Sponsor: Senator Wayne Kuipers
Committee: Judiciary
Date Completed: 12-6-05
CONTENT
The bill would amend the Revised Judicature Act (RJA) to provide an exemption from jury duty for a nursing mother.
Under the RJA, a county's jury board must supply a juror qualifications questionnaire to people on the first jury list (which is compiled using procedures outlined in the Act). The questionnaire must contain blanks for information the board desires concerning qualifications for, and exemptions from, jury service.
The bill would require that, in addition to any other information requested by a jury board, the juror questionnaire ask whether a potential juror is a nursing mother. The questionnaire also would have to inform the potential juror that if she were a nursing mother, she could be excused from jury service for the period during which she was nursing her child, if she provided a letter from a physician or a certified nurse midwife verifying that fact.
The RJA provides that, on the basis of answers to the juror qualifications questionnaires, the board may excuse from service people on the first jury list who claim exemption and give satisfactory proof of that right. The bill would require the board to excuse from service a nursing mother who complied with the requirements described above.
"Physician" would mean an individual licensed by the State to engage in the practice of medicine or osteopathic medicine and surgery. "Certified nurse midwife" would mean an individual licensed as a registered professional nurse who has been issued a specialty certification in the practice of nurse midwifery by the Board of Nursing.
MCL 600.1313 & 600.1314 Legislative Analyst: Patrick Affholter
FISCAL IMPACT
The bill would have no fiscal impact on State or local government.
Fiscal Analyst: Stephanie Yu
Analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent. sb519/0506