AN ACT TO raise the pay rate of jurors.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  G.S. 7A‑312(a) reads as rewritten:

(a)      A juror in the General Court of Justice Justice, including a petit juror, or a coroner's juror, but excluding and a grand juror, shall receive twelve dollars ($12.00) for the first day of service and twenty dollars ($20.00) per day afterwards, except that if any person serves as a juror for more than five days in any 24‑month period, the juror shall receive forty dollars ($40.00) per day for each day of service in excess of five days. A grand juror shall receive twenty dollars ($20.00) per day. pay in an amount equal to the minimum wage required by G.S. 95‑25.3(a) for each hour of service as a juror. A juror required to remain overnight at the site of the trial shall be furnished adequate accommodations and subsistence. If required by the presiding judge to remain in a body during the trial of a case, meals shall be furnished the jurors during the period of sequestration. Jurors from out of the county summoned to sit on a special venire shall receive mileage at the same rate as State employees. Persons summoned as jurors shall be exempt during their period of service from paying a ferry toll required under G.S. 136‑82 to travel to and from their homes and the site of that service.

SECTION 2.  This act becomes effective December 1, 2023, and applies to jurors serving on or after that date.