§3050. Lengthy Trial Fund

A. The Judicial Council shall promulgate rules to establish a Lengthy Trial Fund that shall be used to provide full or partial wage replacement or wage supplementation to jurors who serve for more than ten days on civil petit juries and criminal petit juries if conviction of the alleged crime carries a sentence of twenty years or more at hard labor.

B. The court rules shall provide for the following:

(1) The selection and appointment of an administrator for the fund.

(2) Procedures for the administration of the fund, including payments of salaries of the administrator and other necessary personnel.

(3) Procedures for the accounting, auditing, and investment of money in the fund.

(4) A report by the Judicial Council on the administration of the fund in its annual report on the judicial branch, setting forth the money collected for and disbursed from the fund.

C. The administrator shall use the fees deposited in the Lengthy Trial Fund to pay full or partial wage replacement or supplementation to jurors whose employers pay less than full regular wages when the period of jury service lasts more than ten days.

D. The court may pay replacement or supplemental wages of up to three hundred dollars per day per juror beginning on the eleventh day of jury service. In addition, for any jurors who qualify for payment by virtue of having served on a jury for more than ten days, the court may, upon finding that such service posed a significant financial hardship to a juror, even in light of payments made with respect to jury service after the tenth day, award replacement or supplemental wages of up to one hundred dollars per day from the fourth to the tenth day of jury service.

E. The form for payment shall disclose the juror's regular wages, the amount the employer will pay during the term of jury service starting on the eleventh day and thereafter, the amount of replacement or supplemental wages requested, and any other information the administrator deems necessary for proper payment.

F. The juror also shall be required to submit verification from the employer as to the wage information provided to the administrator, for example, the employee's most recent earnings statement or similar document, prior to initiation of payment from the fund.

G. If an individual is self-employed or receives compensation other than wages, the individual may provide a sworn affidavit attesting to his or her approximate gross weekly income, together with such other information as the administrator may require, in order to verify weekly income.

Acts 2003, No. 678, §1.

NOTE: Acts 2003, No. 678, §3, provided that §3050 would become effective when the supreme court completes its report as requested by HCR 149 of the 2003 R.S. and transmits its recommendations to the legislature and the legislature provides for a source of funding. HCR 149 failed to pass.