Chapter 430

2003 -- H 5582 SUBSTITUTE A

Enacted 08/06/03

A N A C T

RELATING TO COURTS AND CIVIL PROCEDURE - JURY LISTS

Introduced By: Representatives Anguilla, Williamson, Almeida, Lewiss, and Dennigan

Date Introduced: February 11, 2003

It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

SECTION 1. Sections 9-9-1 and 9-9-1.1 of the General Laws in Chapter 9-9 entitled

"Jury Lists" are hereby amended to read as follows:

9-9-1. ~~Persons liable to service -- Voting, operator's licenses, Rhode Island~~

~~identification card lists as evidence~~ Persons liable to service - - Voting operator’s licenses,

Rhode Island identification card, state income tax returns and unemployment compensation

as evidence. - -

(a) A person is liable to serve as a juror if the person is:

(1) A citizen of the United States; and

(2) At least eighteen (18) years of age; and

(3) A resident of Rhode Island who either:

(i) Resides in the county where the person is registered to vote;

(ii) Is licensed to operate a motor vehicle within this state; or

(iii) Possesses a Rhode Island identification card issued pursuant to the provisions of

sections 3-8-6 and 3-8-6.1. ;or

(iv) Is an individual filing a state income tax return; or

(v) Is an individual recipient of unemployment compensation.

(b) The list of qualified electors of each town and city as made up by the board of

canvassers thereof, at its last meeting prior to the Tuesday after the first Monday in November in

each even numbered year, and the duly certified records of the administrator of the division of

motor vehicles shall be conclusive evidence of the liability of each person to serve as provided in

this chapter, unless in the case of a qualified elector the name of the person has been removed

from the list of qualified electors of that town or city on which the name of that person appears

prior to being summoned to appear in court as a juror, and except as provided in this chapter. The

jury commissioner shall notify the clerk of the board of canvassers and registration of each

particular city or town when it appears that a person on a list of qualified jurors does not reside at

the address on the list. The board of canvassers and registration, after due notice to the person,

shall challenge the listing thereof and after a hearing thereon may remove that person from the

list.

licensed drivers and the names of those persons who possess Rhode Island identification cards

issued pursuant to the provisions of sections 3-8-6 and 3-8-6.1 in the state on a yearly basis.

(d) The division of taxation shall forward to the jury commissioner the names of all

individuals who have filed a state income tax return, on a yearly basis.

(e) The department of labor and training shall forward to the jury commissioner the

names of all individuals who are receiving unemployment compensation, on a yearly basis.

9-9-1.1. Qualifications of jurors. –

(a) A person is qualified to serve as a juror if the person is:

(1) A citizen of the United States; and

(2) A resident of Rhode Island who either:

(i) Resides in the county where the person is registered to vote; or

(ii) Is licensed to operate a motor vehicle within this state; or

(iii) Possesses a Rhode Island identification card issued pursuant to the provisions of

sections 3-8-6 and 3-8-6.1; or

(iv) Is an individual filing a state income tax return; or

(v) Is an individual recipient of unemployment compensation.

(3) At least 18 years of age;

(4) Able to understand and participate in the court proceedings; and

(5) Physically and mentally capable of performing in a reasonable manner the duties of a

juror.

(b) No person shall be allowed to serve as a juror if he or she has been lawfully

adjudicated to be non compos mentis.

of such felon's sentence, served or suspended, and of parole or probation regardless of a nolo

contendere plea.

(d) Notwithstanding subdivisions (a)(4) and (5), a person with a disability shall not be

ineligible to serve as a juror solely on the basis of his or her disability, and if that person meets

the above requirements, with reasonable accommodations if necessary, he or she shall be deemed

a qualified juror.

(e) Nothing in this section shall prevent the court from disqualifying a prospective juror

because he or she lacks a faculty or has a disability which will prevent the potential juror from

being a competent juror in a particular case.

(f) Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit a party's right to preemptorially

challenge jurors.

SECTION 2. Section 28-42-38 of the General Laws in Chapter 28-42 entitled

"Employment Security - General Provisions" is hereby amended to read as follows:

28-42-38. Records and reports -- Confidentiality of information. -- (a) Every

employer and every employing unit employing any person in employment in this state shall keep

true and accurate employment records of all persons employed by him or her, and of the weekly

hours worked for him or her by each, and of the weekly wages paid by him or her to each person;

and every employer and employing unit will keep records containing any other information that

the director may prescribe. Those records shall at all times be available within this state and will

be open to inspection by the director or his or her authorized representatives at any reasonable

time and as often as the director deems necessary.

(b) The director may require from any employer, or employing unit, employing any

person in this state, any reports covering persons employed by him or her, on employment,

wages, hours, unemployment, and related matters which the director deems necessary to the

effective administration of chapters 42 -- 44 of this title.

department obtained from any individual pursuant to the administration of those chapters, shall be

held confidential by the director and shall not be published or be open to public inspection in any

manner revealing the individual's or employing unit's identity, but any claimant at a hearing

provided for in those chapters will be supplied with information from those records of the extent

necessary for the proper presentation of his or her claim, and any department employee guilty of

violating this provision is subject to the penalties provided in chapters 42 -- 44 of this title;

provided, that nothing contained in this section shall be construed to prevent the:

(i) Director, or any qualified attorney whom the director has designated to represent him

or her in any court of this state, or the attorney general, from making any record, report, or other

information referred to in this section, available in any proceeding before any court of this state in

any action to which the director is a party;

(ii) Director from making any record, report, or other information referred to in this

section, available to any agency of this state or any agency of a political subdivision of this state

charged with the administration of public assistance within this state, or any political subdivision

of these;

(iii) Director from making any record, report, or other information referred to in this

section available to the railroad retirement board or to employees of the internal revenue service

in the performance of their public duties, and the director will furnish, at the expense of the

railroad retirement board or the internal revenue service, copies of those records, reports, or other

information referred to in this section;

(iv) Director from making available upon request and on a reimbursable basis, any

record, report, or other information referred to in this section to the federal department of health

and human services in accordance with the provisions of United States P.L. 100-485, Family

Support Act of 1988, or to the federal department of housing and urban development and to

authorized representatives of public housing agencies in accordance with the Stewart B.

McKinney Homeless Assistance Act, 42 U.S.C. section 11301 et seq.;

(v) Director from making, and the director shall make, reports in the form and containing

the information that the federal social security administration may from time to time require, and

complying with those provisions that the federal social security administration may from time to

time find necessary to assure the correctness and verification of those reports, and the director

will make available, upon request, to any agency of the United States charged with the

administration of public works or assistance through public employment, the name, address,

ordinary occupation, and employment status of each recipient of unemployment compensation

and a statement of that recipient's rights to further compensation under that law;

(vi) Director from conducting any investigations he or she deems relevant in connection

with this section; or

(vii) Director from conducting any investigations he or she deems relevant in connection

with the performance of his or her duties pursuant to the administration of the chapters 29, 32, 33,

34, 36, 37 and 41 of this title, or from making any record, report, or other information referred to

in this section available to the Workers' Compensation Fraud Prevention Unit for use in the

performance of its duties under section 42-16.1-12.; or

(viii) Director from forwarding, and the director shall forward to the jury commissioner

the names and addresses of all individuals who are receiving unemployment compensation on a

yearly basis in accordance with section 9-9-1(e).

(2) The director may publish in statistical form the results of any investigations without

disclosing the identity of the individuals involved.

SECTION 3. Section 44-30-95 of the General Laws in Chapter 44-30 entitled "Personal

Income Tax" is hereby amended to read as follows:

44-30-95. General powers of tax administrator. -- (a) General. - The tax administrator

shall administer and enforce the Rhode Island personal income tax and is authorized to make such

rules and regulations, and to require such facts and information to be reported, as he or she may

deem necessary to enforce the tax. The provisions of chapter 1 relating to the tax administrator

shall be applicable to the Rhode Island personal income tax.

(b) Examination of books and witnesses. - The tax administrator, for the purpose of

ascertaining the correctness of any return, or for the purpose of making an estimate of Rhode

Island income of any person where information has been obtained, shall have the power to

examine or to cause to have examined, by any agent or representative designated by the tax

administrator for that purpose, any books, papers, records, or memoranda bearing upon the

matters required to be included in the return, and may require the attendance of the person

rendering the return or any officer or employee of the person, or the attendance of any other

person having knowledge in the premises, and may take testimony and require proof material for

its information, with power to administer oaths to the person or persons.

divulge or to make known to any person in any manner whatever not provided by law the amount

or source of income, profits, losses, expenditures, or any particular thereof set forth or disclosed

in any return, or to permit any return or copy thereof or any book containing any abstract or

particulars thereof to be seen or examined by any person except as provided by law; and it shall

be unlawful for any person to print or publish in any manner whatever not provided by law any

return or any part thereof or source of income, profits, losses, or expenditures appearing in any

return. Any offense against the foregoing provision shall be punished by a fine not exceeding one

thousand dollars ($1,000) or by imprisonment not exceeding one year, or both, at the discretion of

the court; and if the offender be an officer or employee of the state of Rhode Island, the offender

may be dismissed from office or discharged from employment.

(d) Interstate and federal agreements. - The governor or the tax administrator may enter

into agreements with tax officials of other states and the federal government to provide for the

exchange of information and to apportion or otherwise equitably determine taxes for the purposes

of carrying out the provisions of section 44-30-18 and otherwise avoiding multiple taxation.

(e) Income tax claims of other states. - The courts of this state shall recognize and

enforce liabilities for personal income taxes lawfully imposed by any other state which extends a

like comity to this state, and the duly authorized officer of any other state may sue for the

collection of a tax in the courts of this state. A certificate by the secretary of state of the other

state that an officer suing for the collection of a tax is duly authorized to collect the tax shall be

conclusive proof of that authority. For the purposes of this section, the word "taxes" shall include

additions to tax, interest, and penalties, and liability for taxes, additions to tax, interest and

penalties shall be recognized and enforced by the courts of this state to the same extent that the

laws of the other state permit the enforcement in its courts of liability for taxes, additions to tax,

interest, and penalties due this state under this part.

(f) Small tax balances. - The tax administrator is authorized to abate the unpaid portion

of the assessment of any tax, or any liability in respect thereof, if the administrator determines

under uniform rules prescribed by him or her that the administration and collection costs involved

would not warrant collection of the amount due.

(g) Limited disclosure of information. – Retirement board. -- The tax administrator shall

disclose to the retirement board of the state of Rhode Island information needed by said board to

implement the provisions of sections 36-10-17 and 45-21-24. The content and nature of the

information to be disclosed shall be determined and approved by the tax administrator and shall

be kept confidential by the board.

(h) Limited disclosure of information. -- Jury Commissioner. The tax administrator

shall disclose to the jury commissioners of the State of Rhode Island information needed by

him/her to implement provisions of section 9-9-1(d).

SECTION 4. This act shall take effect upon passage.

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LC01916/SUB A

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