A Look at California's Civil Grand Juries,
the Last of Their Kind in the Nation
Excerpt: There is a tenet of American democracy that has fallen by the wayside in most every state except for one: California. It's the convening of civil grand juries, which are bodies of ordinary citizens that investigate issues in public government and then compile a report and make recommendations. Yet few residents are aware of them and what they do.
– Part of the problem is that many people confuse civil grand juries with criminal grand juries, which go over evidence presented by prosecutors to determine if an indictment is warranted. But civil grand juries in California are different in that they carry out a watchdog function over local governments and some nonprofits, which in this state means 58 counties. ...
– Most civil grand jury reports don't rise to the level of exposing city or county corruption, but they do outline serious problems. This year, reports from counties in the greater Bay Area examined lax oversight of cemeteries in the city of Sonoma, huge backups and understaffing at the Monterey County coroner's office, the timeliness -- or lack thereof -- of child abuse and neglect investigations in Alameda County, the lack of affordable housing in Contra Costa County, and the critical teacher shortage in San Francisco, to name a few. ...
– Like any jury duty, the pay is low -- $15 per day plus mileage -- and the job is time-consuming, making the job attractive for intrepid and intellectually curious retirees of means but harder for single moms, students or anyone else who can't devote that much time or money. But for those who do participate, it's rewarding, he said. ...
– A bill is currently in the California Assembly to raise the daily rate for jurors to $100. Sponsored by Assemblymember Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, the bill mimics a pilot program in San Francisco last year that paid $100 a day to jurors for trials and found that 81 percent of them could not have served were it not for the increased pay. This meant that 63 percent of the jurors self-identified as people of color, as well as being a representation of those with an average yearly income of under $40,000. ...
– Civil grand juries have access to basically anything they want in the form of records, personnel files, internal reports or access to key players, and they even have subpoena power. But that doesn't always mean that local governments will comply, as happened recently in Alameda County.
– The turmoil began last year when the Alameda County District Attorney's Office under former District Attorney Nancy O'Malley withdrew its usual assistance for the jury for an investigation into the District Attorney's Office itself, citing a conflict of interest, according to the final report by the jury. Then when new District Attorney Pamela Price took office in January, her office withdrew support for all investigations by the jury entirely. ...
Anyone who wants to learn more about the juries, read their reports, recommend investigations and learn how to participate can go to their county's website and search "civil grand jury." More information is also available at cgja.org.
