Key Jury-Related Legislation in 2021
The Fully Informed Jury Association tracks key, jury-related legislation under consideration in the states' 2021 legislative sessions. This data is supplied for informational and educational purposes only. Inclusion of proposed legislation on this list does not imply support for or opposition to any oppose any particular measure listed.
Click a state's name below to jump to that state's data in the listings below. If a state's name in this list is not in bold type, we have not yet identified any key legislation under consideration in that state's legislative session. If a state's name in this list is in blue, bold type, key, jury-related legislation has been identified in that state's legislative session. If a state's name in this list is in italics and orange, bold type, a jury nullification measure is among the key, jury-related legislation under consideration in that state's legislative session.
Alabama | Alaska | Arizona | Arkansas | California | Colorado
Connecticut | Delaware | Florida | Georgia | Hawaii | Idaho | Illinois
Indiana | Iowa | Kansas | Kentucky | Louisiana | Maine | Maryland
Massachusetts | Michigan | Minnesota | Mississippi | Missouri | Montana
Nebraska | Nevada | New Hampshire | New Jersey | New Mexico | New York
North Carolina | North Dakota | Ohio | Oklahoma | Oregon | Pennsylvania
Rhode Island | South Carolina | South Dakota | Tennessee | Texas | Utah
Vermont | Virginia | Washington | West Virginia | Wisconsin | Wyoming
Alabama
Alabama Legislature
Regular session convenes 2 February 2021 and adjourns 18 May 2021.
HB 202 would remove for grand jury witnesses the requirement that they keep secret several types of information they have knowledge of from the grand jury proceedings, repeal the oath of secrecy for grand jury witnesses, require grand jury proceedings to be recorded by a court reporter or stenographer, and make other related changes.
[grand jury]
REFERRED TO JUDICIARY COMMITTEE (2/2/2021)
SB 210 would abolish civil forfeiture for criminal drug offenses, replace it with criminal forfeiture in such cases, and authorize criminal forfeiture only after proof of a conviction of criminal drug offenses, with some exceptions.
[forfeiture]
RETURNED BY JUDICIARY AS FAVORABLE (2/10/2021)
Alaska
Alaska State Legislature
Regular session convenes 19 January 2021 and adjourns 19 April 2021.
No key legislation has been identified as of 26 February 2021.
Arizona
Arizona State Legislature
Regular session convenes 11 January 2021 and adjourns 23 April 2021.
HB 2185 would allow the presiding judge of a superior court, until 1 January 2023, to reduce the jury size and concurrence in civil cases from 8 jurors, with at least 6 concurring to render a verdict, to 6 jurors, with at least 5 concurring to render a verdict.
[civil jury size, concurrence]
PASSED HOUSE, SECOND READING IN SENATE (2/22/2021)
Arkansas
Arkansas State Legislature
Regular session convenes 11 January 2021 and adjourns 12 March 2021.
SB 197 would end civil forfeiture and replace it with a criminal forfeiture process. It would allow criminal forfeiture to be conducted either upon finding of a defendant’s guilt in the criminal proceeding or at the discretion of the court. It would require that the court order the return of real property or personal property to the owner if the prosecuting attorney does not file an information or indictment against the defendant.
[forfeiture]
REFERRED TO JUDICIARY
California
California Legislative Information
Regular session convenes 4 January 2021 and adjourns 10 September 2021.
No key legislation has been identified yet this session.
Colorado
Colorado General Assembly
Regular session convenes 13 January 2021 and adjourns 13 May 2021.
No key legislation has been identified yet this session (last check 8 February 2021).
Connecticut
Connecticut General Assembly
Regular session convenes 6 January 2021 and adjourns 9 June 2021.
No key legislation has been identified yet this session.
Delaware
Delaware General Assembly
Regular session convenes 12 January 2021 and adjourns 30 June 2021.
No key legislation has been identified yet this session.
Florida
Florida Legislature
Regular session convenes 2 March 2021 and adjourns 30 April 2021.
No key legislation has been identified yet this session.
Georgia
Georgia General Assembly
Regular session convenes 11 January 2021 and adjourns 2 April 2021.
No key legislation has been identified yet this session.
Hawaii
Hawaii State Legislature
Regular session convenes 20 January 2021 and adjourns 9 May 2021.
SB 1346 would increase compensation for a juror or a prospective juror from $30 to $50 for each day of attendance at court after serving five consecutive days.
[juror compensation]
REFERRED TO JUDICIARY COMMITTEE AND WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEE (2/2/2021)
SB 294 would restrict forfeiture to cases involving the commission of a felony offense where the property owner has been convicted of an underlying felony offense and implement other forfeiture-related rules.
[forfeiture]
PASSED SENATE, REFERRED TO JUDICIARY AND HAWAIIAN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE AND FINANCE COMMITTEE IN HOUSE (2/11/2021)
SB 149 would require seized property to be forfeited only when the property owner has been convicted of an underlying covered criminal misdemeanor or felony offense, change the standard of proof that the State must meet in order for property to be forfeited from "preponderance of the evidence" to "beyond a reasonable doubt", requires the State to prove that owners consented to or possessed knowledge of the crime that led to the seizure of their property, and implement other forfeiture-related rules.
[forfeiture]
PASSED PUBLIC SAFETY, INTERGOVERNMENT, AND MILITARY AFFAIRS COMMITTEE UNAMENDED, REFERRED TO JUDICIARY COMMITTEE (2/18/2021)
HB 659 would restrict forfeiture to cases involving the commission of a felony offense where the property owner has been convicted of an underlying felony offense.
[forfeiture]
JUDICIARY AND HAWAIIAN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE RECOMMENDS DEFERRAL (2/9/2021)
Idaho
Idaho Legislature
Regular session convenes 11 January 202 and adjourns 2 April 2021.
No key legislation has been identified yet this session.
Illinois
Illinois General Assembly
Regular session convenes 13 January 2021 and meets throughout the year.
HB 183 would eliminate the trial tax by requiring the prosecutor, after a person is convicted by a jury or judge, to file with the court at the sentencing hearing a statement of the prosecutor's final offer, if any, of any specified sentence and any charge to be dismissed or not charged in exchange for a plea of guilty from the defendant and waiver of his or her right to trial. It would further provide that a defendant shall not be punished by the imposition of a heavier or greater sentence merely because he or she exercises his or her constitutional right to be tried before an impartial judge or jury.
[trial tax]
ASSIGNED TO JUDICIARY-CRIMINAL COMMITTEE (2/23/2021)
Indiana
Indiana General Assembly
Regular session convenes 4 January 2021 and adjourns 29 April 2021.
No key legislation has been identified yet this session.
Iowa
Iowa Legislature
Regular session convenes 11 January 2021 and adjourns 30 April 2021.
No key legislation has been identified yet this session.
Kansas
Kansas Legislature
Regular session convenes 11 January 2021 and adjourns 14 May 2021.
HB 2078 / SB 57 would suspend statutory speedy trial rights until May 1, 2024, in all criminal cases filed prior to the effective date of this act and eliminating such rights in any criminal case filed on or after the effective date of this act.
[speedy trial rights]
HAS HAD HEARINGS IN BOTH HOUSE AND SENATE
Kentucky
Kentucky General Assembly
Regular session convenes 5 January 2021 and adjourns 30 March 2021.
No key legislation has been identified yet this session.
Louisiana
Louisiana State Legislature
Regular session convenes 12 April 2021 and adjourns 10 June 2021.
No key legislation has been identified yet this session.
Maine
Maine State Legislature
Regular session convenes 2 December 2020 and adjourns 16 June 2021.
No key legislation has been identified yet this session (last check 10 February 2021).
Maryland
General Assembly of Maryland
Regular session convenes 13 January 2021 and adjourns 12 April 2021.
No key legislation has been identified yet this session.
Massachusetts
General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Regular session convenes 6 January 2021 and meets throughout the year.
No key legislation has been identified yet this session (last check 10 February 2021).
Michigan
Michigan Legislature
Regular session convenes 13 January 2021 and meets throughout the year.
No key legislation has been identified yet this session.
Minnesota
Minnesota State Legislature
Regular session convenes 5 January 2021 and adjourns 17 May 2021.
No key legislation has been identified yet this session.
Mississippi
Mississippi Legislature
Regular session convenes 5 January 2021 and adjourns 15 March 2021.
SB 2355 among other provisions redefining the age of majority, would the minimum age to serve on a jury from 21 to 18.
[juror eligibility]
PASSED SENATE
HB 607 would have made several changes to forfeiture law including, in most cases, prohibiting civil forfeiture and making a conviction one of the requirements for forfeiture.
[forfeiture]
DIED IN COMMITTEE
SB 2085 would have added two additional requirements to the definition of a competent juror: having a current and valid Mississippi driver's license and having filed state income taxes for at least one of the two previous tax years.
[jury selection]
DIED IN COMMITTEE
SB 2211 would have prohibited use a peremptory challenge to remove a prospective juror on the basis of the prospective juror's race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, or religious affiliation, or the perceived membership of the prospective juror in any of those groups. Additionally, it would have changed the process for assessing whether a challenge over an alleged violation of this prohibition by specifying that the court need not find purposeful discrimination to sustain the objection, codifying a list of reasons for a peremptory challenge that are presumed to be invalid unless demonstrated otherwise, and more.
[jury selection]
DIED IN COMMITTEE
SB 2739 would have required that a jury and not the judge make the determination of whether or not a felony offense with a maximum sentence of no less than five years was a crime of violence.
[fact-finding by the jury]
DIED IN COMMITTEE
Missouri
Missouri General Assembly
Regular session convenes 6 January 2021 and adjourns 30 May 2021.
No key legislation has been identified yet this session.
Montana
Montana Legislative Branch
Regular session convenes 4 January 2021 and adjourns 28 April 2021.
Nebraska
Nebraska Legislature
Regular session convenes 6 January 2021 and adjourns 10 June 2021.
LB 157 would change the requirements of the grand jury process in cases which involve the death of a person while being apprehended by or while in the custody of a law enforcement officer or detention personnel to require that a special prosecutor with specific qualifications be appointed and act as the prosecuting attorney instead of a county attorney or their staff. This would not apply to cases in which the death has been certified by a licensed practicing physician to be from natural causes and the county attorney or a member of their staff present such finding to a grand jury.
[grand jury]
REFERRED TO JUDICIARY COMMITTEE, HEARING SCHEDULED
Nevada
Nevada Legislature
Regular session convenes 1 February 2021 and adjourns 1 June 2021.
No key legislation has been identified yet this session.
New Hampshire
New Hampshire General Court
Regular session convenes 6 January 2021 and adjourns 28 June 2021.
No key legislation has been identified yet this session.
New Jersey
New Jersey Legislature
Regular session convenes 12 January 2021 and meets throughout the year.
No key legislation has been identified yet this session.
New Mexico
New Mexico Legislature
Regular session convenes 19 January 2021 and adjourns 20 March 2021.
No key legislation has been identified yet this session.
New York
New York State Assembly
Regular session convenes 6 January 2021 and meets throughout the year.
No key legislation has been identified yet this session.
North Carolina
North Carolina General Assembly
Regular session convenes 13 January 2021 and adjourns 30 July 2021.
No key legislation has been identified yet this session (last check 14 February 2021).
North Dakota
North Dakota Legislative Branch
Regular session convenes 5 January 2021 and adjourns 28 April 2021.
Ohio
Ohio Legislature
Regular session convenes 4 January 2021 and meets throughout the year.
No key legislation has been identified yet this session.
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State Legislature
Regular session convened 1 February 2021 and adjourns 28 May 2021.
No key legislation has been identified yet this session.
Oregon
Oregon State Legislature
Regular session convened 21 January 2021 and adjourns 11 July 2021.
HB 2210 would require jury verdicts in felony cases to be unanimous and makes various provisions for the review and setting aside of previous guilty verdicts delivered by non-unanimous juries.
[jury unanimity]
FIRST READING/REFERRED TO SPEAKER'S DESK
HJR 1 proposes an amendment to Oregon Constitution to allow juries to impose verdicts in criminal cases only by unanimous agreement.
[jury unanimity]
FIRST READING/REFERRED TO SPEAKER'S DESK
SB 196 directs the Department of Justice to study issues related to disposition of convictions based on non-unanimous jury verdicts and to provide results of study to interim committees of Legislative Assembly no later than December 31, 2021.
[jury unanimity]
INTRODUCTION AND FIRST READING/REFERRED TO PRESIDENT'S DESK
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania General Assembly
Regular session convenes 5 January 2021 and meets throughout the year.
No key legislation has been identified yet this session.
Rhode Island
State of Rhode Island General Assembly
Regular session convenes 5 January 2021.
HB 5228 would increase compensation for grand and petit jurors for each day's attendance on the superior court from $15.00 per day to $25.00 starting on 1 July 2022, and again to $35.00 per day from 1 July 2023 and thereafter.
[juror compensation]
HOUSE FINANCE COMMITTEE RECOMMENDS FURTHER STUDY
HB 5732 would increase compensation for grand and petit jurors for each day's attendance on the superior court from $15.00 per day to $25.00 starting on 1 July 2022, and again to $35.00 per day from 1 July 2023 and thereafter.
[juror compensation]
REFERRED TO JUDICIARY COMMITTEE
HB 5858 would permit county and statewide grand juries to issue public reports under limited conditions with review/acceptance by the superior court. A grand jury report could be submitted only with the concurrence of twelve or more jurors and signatures of each concurring juror.
[grand jury]
REFERRED TO JUDICIARY COMMITTEE
South Carolina
South Carolina Legislature
Regular session convenes 12 January 2021.
No key legislation has been identified yet this session.
South Dakota
South Dakota Legislature
Regular session convenes 12 January 2021 and adjourns 29 March 2021.
SB 164 would establish a process for forfeiture of property with respect to criminal drug offenses that authorizes forfeiture only (with some exceptions) upon conviction of a crime that authorizes the forfeiture of property or when the state establishes by clear and convincing evidence that the property is an instrumentality of, or constitutes proceeds derived directly from, the crime for which the state secured a conviction.
[forfeiture]
REFERRED TO HOUSE JUDICIARY (2/25/2021)
Tennessee
Tennessee General Assembly
Regular session convenes 12 January 2021 and adjourns 6 May 2021.
SB 833 / HB1375 would require a court, at the request of the defendant, to instruct the jury as follows: "If you have a reasonable doubt as to whether the state has proven any one (1) or more of the elements of the crime charged, you must find the defendant not guilty. However, if you find that the state has proven all the elements of the offense charged beyond a reasonable doubt, you should find the defendant guilty. Even if you find that the state has proven all of the elements of the offense charged beyond a reasonable doubt, you may still find that based upon the facts of this case, a guilty verdict will yield an unjust result, and you may find the defendant not guilty."
[jury nullification]
REFERRED TO SENATE JUDICIARY (2/11/2021) / INTRODUCED IN HOUSE (2/4/2021)
Texas
Texas Legislature
Regular session convenes 12 January 2021 and adjourns 31 May 2021.
Utah
Utah State Legislature
Regular session convened 19 January 2021 and adjourned 5 March 2021.
No key legislation has been identified yet this session.
Vermont
Vermont General Assembly
Regular session convened 6 January 2021 and adjourns 15 May 2021.
No key legislation has been identified yet this session.
Virginia
Virginia General Assembly
Regular session convened 13 January 2021 and adjourned 27 February 2021.
Washington
Washington State Legislature
Regular session convenes 11 January 2021 and adjourns 25 April 2021.
West Virginia
West Virginia Legislature
Regular session convenes 13 January 2021 and adjourns 10 April 2021.
No key legislation has been identified yet this session.
Wisconsin
Wisconsin State Legislature
Regular session convenes 4 January 2021.
Wyoming
State of Wyoming Legislature
Regular session convenes 12 January 2021 and adjourns 2 April 2021.
No key legislation was identified this session.
