- Posted February 13, 2012
- Tweet This | Share on Facebook
New laws enhance minority representation on area juries; encourage volunteer service
Gov. Rick Snyder last week signed bills that encourage more minority representation on juries and allow retired, volunteer optometrists to serve Michigan's uninsured.
House Bill 4403, sponsored by state Rep. Shanelle Jackson, helps reverse the under-representation of minorities on juries, particularly in Wayne County. Under the bill, potential jurors cannot be disqualified from service simply because they did not return juror questionnaires. Jury boards now will be required to send questionnaires to each person on a jury list, regardless of whether that person has failed to return a questionnaire in the past.
"This new law addresses a contributing factor to the under-representation of minorities on juries," Snyder said. "A stronger, fairer judicial system benefits our entire state."
The bill now is Public Act 3 of 2012.
Snyder also signed legislation that allows retired optometrists to obtain a volunteer license, enabling them to provide eye care for uninsured or underinsured Michiganders.
Other volunteer licenses already exist for retired medical doctors, osteopathic physicians, podiatrists and dentists.
H.B. 4893, sponsored by state Rep. Mike Callton, now is P.A. 4.
Go to www.legislature.mi.gov for more information on the bills.
Published: Mon, Feb 13, 2012
headlines Washtenaw County
- MSU Law 1L elected as Member-At-Large for National Black Law Students Association
- Michigan Law Professor Daniel Fryer joins Washtenaw County Advisory Council on Reparations
- Cooley Law School’s Lansing campus holds honors convocation
- Simon & Schuster to publish Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s book in July
- Attorney’s work includes multi-million dollar cases
headlines National
- New Legalese: You may have heard a deepfake, but what about ‘Twiqbal’?
- From Intake to Outcome: An in-house lawyer’s guide to matter management solutions
- 2 BigLaw firms in merger talks that could produce 1,600-lawyer firm with top 50 revenue
- Send in the paralegals
- Lawyer reprimanded after mistakenly emailing opposing counsel with plan to avoid judge’s call
- ‘I don’t play well’ judge who threatened to track down, jail misbehaving litigant gets tossed from case