HB2637

HB2637 changes rules for grand juries, which consider criminal accusations, and petit juries, which hear trials. For grand juries, it changes the age-based ground from “older than 70” to 75 or older, and requires courts to excuse qualified people who claim an exemption to which they are entitled. The child-care ground now requires that a child under 18 would lack adequate supervision during service. Student grounds remain, as does the court’s ability to recognize another reasonable excuse. For trial juries, the age language changes from “over 75” to 75 or older, expressly including someone who is 75. These are exemptions people may claim, not a ban on older people serving. Final law, Sections 1–4 and 9.

The act creates a permanent age-based grand-jury exemption: someone 75 or older can file a signed statement with the district clerk electronically, by mail or in person. The clerk keeps a register; listed people cannot be selected or summoned for grand-jury service in the county. A person can rescind the exemption through the district clerk and reclaim it later. For the existing permanent trial-jury age exemption, the act moves the direct filing and register duties from the voter registrar to the district clerk and adds monthly reporting to the secretary of state. The enacted trial-jury age-exemption rescission provision still names the voter registrar; it should not be confused with the grand-jury rescission route. Final law, Sections 5 and 10–11.

For trial-jury exemptions based on a physical or mental impairment or difficulty comprehending or communicating in English, the act lets the district clerk as well as a district judge grant a permanent or temporary exemption. The required affidavit remains, as does a physician’s statement for an impairment-based request. The clerk keeps a list including the exemption period, and listed people must not be summoned or placed in the jury-selection pool during that period. Rescission for this type of exemption goes to the district clerk. Other existing requirements remain, including special in-person affidavit requirements for the English-language ground and the unchanged voter-registrar notification provision for permanent exemptions. Final law, Section 12; full exemption procedure.

The law separates misdemeanor-theft and felony convictions into distinct numbered qualification provisions and retains the recent-trial-service restriction rather than abolishing it. It adds an express grand-jury list for people disqualified by those convictions and bars summoning people on that list. For the existing trial-jury conviction list, removal from the jury-selection pool changes from optional to mandatory. That trial-jury statute still contains exceptions for specified deferred-adjudication dismissals, early termination of community supervision, pardons and restoration of civil rights; HB2637 does not repeal those exceptions. The Department of Public Safety source-list cross-references and the distinction between exemptions and disqualifications are also updated. Final law, Sections 3, 5–6, 8 and 15; retained trial-jury exceptions.

Different records go to different recipients. By the third business day of each month, grand-jury citizenship disqualifications go to the secretary of state, voter registrar and prosecutor; residency disqualifications go to the secretary of state and registrar. Felony-conviction records go to those three recipients, while felony-indictment and misdemeanor-theft indictment/conviction records go to the secretary of state and prosecutor, not the registrar under that provision. For both grand- and trial-jury conviction lists, the registrar receives the felony-conviction subset, not the entire misdemeanor-theft list. The act also revises monthly age-exemption reporting and trial-jury citizenship/residency list wording. Final law, Sections 3, 5, 10–11 and 13–15.

The jury-questionnaire disclosure rule excludes citizenship, residency and specified criminal-history answers from the provision allowing disclosure to voter registrars; that does not abolish the separate statutory disqualification reports. Nor does a jury exemption itself mean someone is ineligible to vote: voting qualifications are governed by separate law, including rules for people who have completed felony sentences or received relevant relief. The act took effect September 1, 2025 and applies to people summoned to appear for jury service on or after that date, with earlier summons governed by former law as specified in its transition clause. Final law, Sections 7 and 16–17; separate voter qualifications.