California Just Made It Legal For Anyone Over 80 To Permanently Skip Jury Duty: No Doctor's Note Required

Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1359 into law in September 2026, allowing Californians aged 80 and older to request a permanent exemption from jury service by simply attesting that an impairment renders them incapable of serving, with no supporting medical documentation required. The law takes effect January 1, 2028, and represents a meaningful improvement over the previous system, in which the Judicial Council allowed individuals 70 and older to request a one-time exemption but could call them back for service as soon as one year later, forcing seniors to navigate the exemption process repeatedly throughout their remaining years. Supporters of the measure cited a 2025 report by the Public Policy Institute of California that found one in three adults over 80 will have difficulty staying home without assistance, and one in five will experience self-care limitations, making the repeated jury summons process a source of genuine and unnecessary stress for a population already managing significant physical challenges. Seniors who wish to continue serving on juries retain that right under the new law, meaning the change expands options rather than removing them. California joins Florida, which has a blanket exemption at 70, and Texas, which has one at 75, in recognizing that seniors above a certain age should not have to repeatedly prove their limitations to be excused from mandatory civic service.

Assembly Bill 1359 was authored by Assemblymember Dawn Addis and had broad support from senior advocacy groups and disability rights organizations. The fact sheet on the measure noted that forcing elderly individuals to repeatedly seek exemptions creates logistical burdens, transportation difficulties, and emotional stress that fall disproportionately on people who are already managing age-related limitations without having chosen them. The self-attestation model, in which a senior simply states under penalty of perjury that an impairment prevents them from serving, without requiring a doctor to document it, reflects a meaningful trust in the honesty of older Californians and removes a barrier that many found both humiliating and logistically difficult to clear. Jury service is a fundamental civic obligation and the law makes no suggestion that seniors are incapable of contributing meaningfully to the justice system: it simply acknowledges that for those 80 and older who find service genuinely difficult, the state should not require them to keep explaining themselves every year. The permanent exemption request can be submitted by mail and does not require any court appearance. For the roughly three million Californians who are currently 80 or older, the process of being summoned for jury duty and seeking exemption has just gotten significantly simpler.

Source:https://www.aol.com/articles/california-law-allows-residents-permanently-172601000.html