A Senate judiciary committee on Wednesday approved a bill doubling pay for jury duty and another allowing courts to make fathers pay for a wider range of pregnancy and childbirth expenses, but committee members said they were actively working on changes.
Jurors earn less than minimum wage for an eight-hour day and haven’t gotten a pay increase in at least 25 years, according to bill author Michelle Davis, R-Whiteland.
The pregnancy expenses bill, meanwhile, began life as a proposal that would’ve let expectant mothers claim child support beginning at conception, in the wake of Indiana’s much-litigated abortion ban. But Rep. Elizabeth Rowray, R-Yorktown, previously introduced changes scaling that back among legal fears.
Davis’ House Bill 1466 would boost pay — but would hike an existing fee and create a brand-new fee to help local units of government cover the new expenses.
Lawmakers had some quibbles.
Hoosiers who show up for jury selection currently earn $15 per day. Those chosen to serve earn $40 per day — about $5 dollars hourly for an eight-hour workday, significantly less than the state and federal minimum of $7.25 hourly.
The bill would double daily appearance pay to $30 and jury pay itself to $80 for the first five days. Starting day six, jury pay would increase to $90 daily. One amendment — easily approved — ensured people who are eliminated from the jury for reasons laid out in law would still get paid for their service.
But the bill...
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