Amended in Senate June 1, 2015

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 87

Introduced by Assembly Member Mark Stone

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(Coauthor: Assembly Member Chiu)

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January 7, 2015

An act to amend Section 231.5 of the Code of Civil Procedure, relating to jurors.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 87, as amended, Mark Stone. Jurors: peremptory challenge.

Existing law prohibits a party from using a peremptory challenge to remove a prospective juror on the basis of an assumption that the prospective juror is biased merely because of his or her race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, or similar grounds.

This bill would also prohibit a party from using a peremptory challenge to remove a prospective juror on the basis of ethnic group identification, age, genetic information, or disability.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

Section 231.5 of the Code of Civil Procedure is
amended to read:

231.5.  

A party shall not use a peremptory challenge to remove
a prospective juror on the basis of an assumption that the
prospective juror is biased merely because of a characteristic listed
or defined in begin delete subdivision (a) of end delete Section 11135 of the Government
Code, or similar grounds.