Colorado's Elderly Will Still Have to Serve Jury Duty, Thanks to Governor's Veto

Colorado almost became the 42nd state to allow senior citizens to get out of jury duty because of old age, but Governor Jared Polis rejected the policy at the final step.

House Bill 25-1065 would have let Coloradans aged 72 and older choose to opt out of jury duty, temporarily or permanently, beginning in 2026. The bill passed the Colorado Legislature with broad bipartisan support, receiving approval from 73 out of 100 lawmakers and sponsorship from both Republicans and Democrats.

Polis vetoed the bill on Friday, May 16, however.

"Older adults have so much to contribute to our communities and a state law that creates an arbitrary age-based threshold for exclusion from one's civic duty isn't warranted," the governor wrote in his veto letter. "A jury of one's peers means representation from all age groups. This broad brush bill is not consistent with our notion of civic responsibility."

State law lets individuals summoned for jury duty be excused on a case-by-case basis for "serious physical or mental illness," though they must provide a doctor's note. Other accepted excuses include breastfeeding a child, being the sole caretaker of a permanently disabled person, or not being able to read, speak and understand English.

HB 1065 would have let seniors remove themselves from the jury pool even before they are summoned. State-level age exemptions for jury duty are offered in 41 states, ranging from as young as age 65 in Mississippi to as old as eighty in Maine, according to the American Association of Retired Persons.

"Colorado's constitution mandates judges must retire at the age of 72, yet the state will continue forcing elderly citizens older than Colorado's mandatory retirement age for judges to report for jury duty," says Representative Bob Marshall, a prime sponsor of the bill.

Marshall argues that letting older Coloradans opt out of jury duty allows them "the freedom and respect they deserve" to decide whether they are capable of serving. He says multiple senior citizens reached out to him, explaining that it is a burden to get a doctor's note proving they are not well enough for jury duty.

Polis defends the jury duty process, burdens and all.

"This responsibility is not meant to be treated lightly, nor is it necessarily convenient," his veto letter reads. "It is intended to ensure that 'we the people' are active participants in the judicial system to ensure fairness and impartiality."

By 2050, Colorado's population over age 72 is projected to nearly double, growing to just under one million, the governor notes. All 23 of Colorado's district attorneys opposed HB 1065, fearing that letting those one million senior citizens opt out would drastically decrease the state's jury pool.

Polis is open to discussing expanding the ability to postpone jury duty "based on non age-based criteria," he says. Current law lets anyone request to postpone a jury summons for up to six months for business, vacation and health conflicts.

Marshall says he has no plans to bring back the bill next year "absent a change of the governor's philosophical mindset" toward the proposal.

"I understand the governor's reasoning for the veto as his perspective is the same one I had when the issue was first brought to my attention," Marshall adds. "The philosophical view, however, that all citizens should serve on juries unless they have particularized reasons to be excused ultimately was overcome in my mind by the pragmatic considerations of allowing the elderly to self-determine when those reasons have occurred."