The Santa Barbara County Grand Jury will consider increasing its juror per diem to address high turnover rates and keep in step with the county’s high cost of living.
The Civil Grand Jury is made up of volunteers who commit to serving for twelve months with a weekly time commitment of 25-30 hours.
For Santa Barbara County to remain in compliance with Section 23 of Article 1 of the California
Constitution, a grand jury must “be drawn and summoned at least once a year in each county.”
“A diverse pool of applicants is desirable as this would provide for a more representative body of
jurors. To ensure the functional success of the jury, taking into consideration the high cost of
living in Santa Barbara County, an increase in the per diem for Civil Grand Jurors is pivotal to
achieving this goal,” according to the Grand Jury statement.
The daily compensation (per diem) for members of the Civil Grand Jury of Santa Barbara County is currently set at $25 per day for any day that the Jury member works for at least one hour, plus a nontaxable mileage reimbursement.
The $25 stipend Jury members receive for their hour plus of daily work has not increased in at least 25 years. This report shows clearly how inflation has changed the value of the dollar and both the minimum wage and the cost of living.
This per diem has remained unchanged since before 2000.
This Jury’s goal is to expand the number of Jury applicants and balance the demographics of Grand Jury membership to more fairly represent the population of Santa Barbara County. To reach this goal, the Jury recommends Santa Barbara County to reconsider increasing the per diem pay in relation to the time commitment expected.
“Santa Barbara County is required to support a Civil Grand Jury with 19 jurors. When the Jury loses so many members that it exhausts not only the pool of alternates but also must ask former members to return, Santa Barbara County has a problem. The recommended changes this Grand Jury proposes will help Santa Barbara County better reach its goal of maintaining a viable and diverse Civil Grand Jury to better represent the citizens of the County,” the Grand Jury report stated.
The report recommends increasing the daily per diem to $50 and make room in Santa Maria or offer virtual options for jurors in the North County.
The full report can be read here.
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It appears to be, from the data, that since the majority of jurors who volunteer for the Grand Jury are retired and do not need the money as an incentive to serve on the Grand jury? I know for myself it is the time, my other volunteer commitments and the number of hours we need to work is a big disincentive to volunteering for this important task.
Work for 5-6 hr for $25. That would really narrow the applicant pool.
Better to work at McDonald for $100 – $120/day for the same hours.
The city council seems to give themselves regular raises why not the jurors?
They should look at the pay for regular jury duty as well.
Bring them both up to at least minimum wage and then tie increases to coast of living.
These are civic duties, not jobs. Pay should just be for incidentals like bus fare or parking.