The Judicial Administration and Technical Amendments Act of 2008—a bill that contains 18 court improvements endorsed by the Judicial Conference—has passed both Houses of Congress and was signed October 13 by the President as Pub. L. No. 110-406.

“Our independent Judiciary is the envy of the world. Yet in these changing times and circumstances, the Judiciary needs improvements to increase its efficiency and administrative operations,” said Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. “With passage of this bill, the Senate has taken an important step to ensure that the federal Judiciary has the tools to keep up with the changes and challenges of the 21st century.”

The bill contains five different provisions relating to jurors and juror service. It provides that:

• a juror is eligible to receive a $10 supplemental fee after ten days of service or a trial, rather than the previous requirement of 30 days;
• a district court has the discretion to decide whether to bring into court those individuals who fail to respond to a jury summons, instead of having their appearance mandated by statute;
• the maximum fine is increased for failure to respond to a jury duty summons and for lying on a questionnaire to avoid jury duty from $100 to $1,000 and a potential penalty of community service is added;
• the maximum civil penalty is increased from $1,000 to $5,000 for an employer who retaliates against an employee serving on jury duty, and a potential penalty of community service is added; and
• a district court is not required to hold a public drawing for the selection of names for jury wheels, a function now performed by computers, but a public notice must be posted explaining the selection process.

Other provisions in the legislation will:

• establish a mechanism to increase the case compensation maximums for representation of Criminal Justice Act defendants in non-capital cases by the same percentage as any increases in the hourly compensation rates;
• allow a circuit chief judge to delegate to any senior circuit judge the review of CJA vouchers in excess of the statutory maximums;
• update a 1948 statute to allow the assessment against the losing party of the costs of electronic versions of certain items listed in the statute;
• update a 1939 statute to officially include magistrate judges among the judges who may be invited to attend circuit judicial conferences;
• clarify the availability of intermittent confinement and community confinement as possible conditions of supervised release; and
• authorize the Director of the Administrative Office to provide goods and services to pretrial defendants and clarifiy similar authority for post-conviction offenders.

“S. 3569 is necessary to improve the functioning of the U.S. courts, which will ultimately benefit the country and the American people,” said Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX), the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee.

“This bill’s passage was the result of a lot of hard work by the AO’s Legislative Affairs staff,” said AO Director James C. Duff. “The bill’s provisions will help make the Judiciary more efficient, more accountable, and more public-service oriented.”