RCRC is opposing Assembly Bill 78, authored by Assembly Member Christopher Ward (D-San Diego), unless it is amended. As introduced, this measure would require the grand jury per-meeting fee to be equal to 70% of the county median daily income for each day’s attendance. This proposal is a re-introduction of Assembly Bill 1972, (Ward, D-San Diego) in 2022 which died in the Senate Appropriations committee.
While RCRC appreciates the desire to encourage increased diversity and greater participation on grand juries, RCRC is opposed to AB 78 because it lacks a mechanism to cover the low-end estimate of $16.9 million in new and unanticipated county general fund costs. Costs could be considerably higher given that (1) the estimate reflects a conservative projection of the number of meetings per county; (2) it assumes the bill language does not expand the number of days the stipend applies to, and (3) it assumes that the number of grand jury meetings will remain static. Further, the estimate is based on information reported by counties on civil grand juries only, although the bill would also apply to criminal grand juries.
While the state is experiencing a revenue shortfall after gains that have exceeded expectations and historical precedent year after year, in most counties, in real dollars, per capita revenues have never recovered from the Great Recession of 2007 to 2009. RCRC, along with coalition partners CSAC and UCC, has requested that the author amend the bill by providing for increased compensation to apply only in years the state budget has provided a sufficient appropriation for the purpose. Doing so would provide county governments with the fiscal resources to meet their obligations under this measure.
AB 78 has been referred to the Assembly Public Safety Committee. The letter of opposition is available here. For more information, please contact RCRC Policy Advocate, Sarah Dukett.