The Superior Court of San Benito County is seeking community-oriented individuals to serve on the 2026-2027 Civil Grand Jury.
Applications for serving on the civil grand jury are available now on the court’s website (sanbenito.courts.ca.gov/civil-grand-jury) and county residents are encouraged to apply for the role, court officials said in a press release.
The civil grand jury is an official judicial body with independent authority to investigate local government including city and county departments, special districts and other tax-supported agencies. The jury is both a deliberative body and a fact-finding body designed to serve as a “citizen watchdog” with the independence to select the topics it intends to investigate, says the release.
It also functions to weigh allegations of misconduct against public officials and determine whether to present formal findings on such matters.
Appointment to the civil grand jury provides citizens with an opportunity to contribute to the local community and learn how local government departments and agencies operate. Additionally, the civil grand jury is tasked with evaluating the conditions of the local jail and juvenile detention facilities.
“The civil grand jury is a wonderful way to serve your local community,” said Tim Newman, Court Executive Officer for the Superior Court of San Benito County. “People who serve on the grand jury truly enjoy the experience and often volunteer to serve a second term. I would encourage anyone interested in becoming a grand juror to take the opportunity to apply.”
To be eligible, applicants must meet the following requirements:
▪ Age 18 or older
▪ A United States citizen
▪ Possess sufficient knowledge of the English language
▪ Possess natural faculties, ordinary intelligence, is of sound judgment, and of fair character
▪ A resident of San Benito County.
Those selected for the grand civil jury service must make a time commitment of an average of 15-20 hours per week for 12 months, the court said. The term of the 2026-27 Civil Grand Jury will begin on July 1, and end on June 30, 2027.
Applications are available online and at the courthouse located at 450 Fourth Street in Hollister. For inquiries or additional information, email the court at ad***@************rt.org or call 831.636.4057.
Applications should be submitted by May 1.
Dear Friends, Hats off to all the civic minded citizens of SBC who over the years have volunteered their time and effort to the SBC Civil Grand Jury. From what I’ve seen, it’s a thankless job, and we don’t give them enough credit for helping make our local government work for the taxpayers. As I’ve recommended in many past years, if their suggestion box is open, why not do what the SCC Civil Grand Jury did, and make a felony indictment of taxpayer abuse for the fraud, waste and abuse committed by the transit agency. They indicted VTA five times in ten years; not that it did any good because VTA just gave them the royal Single Finger Salute, and continued, and still continue, to gang-rape the taxpayers, motorists paying historic high gas taxes, which are diverted from highways to insolvent, boondoggle public sector transit. Long ago I concluded that they are powerful vested interests who reap for themselves the intolerable (and illegal, if not downright unconstitutional) subsidies. Are leaders in SBC proud of the empty bus seat transport for which motorists are gouged more and more each passing year? Anybody? Joe Thompson, Charter Member, SBCCOG Citizens Transit Task Force and Citizens Rail Advisory Committee; E-Mail: Tr******@*****ll.Net; Past-President, 1999-2001, 2006, Gilroy-Morgan Hill Bar Assn., Post-doc student transport law & policy, Norman Y. Mineta International Institute for Surface Transportation Policy Studies, SJSU; Transportation Research Board, Georgetown U.; and Library of Congress
Erik, Why do SBCBOS block public comment when you send them an E-Mail Message? Does that violate the Brown Act? I sent this question to the SBC Grand Jury today, and cc:d you, and cc:d
SBCBOS & SBCCOG. When we refuse public comment to local government, we deny ourselves
an opportunity to replace error with truth. Isn’t that a better solution for democracy? We suffer old fools because they just might have a good idea that elected reps missed. I mailed you J.S. Mill’s quote.
Joe Thompson