(a) At each court facility where jury cases are heard, the court shall provide a deliberation room or rooms for use of jurors when they have retired for deliberation. The deliberation rooms shall be designed to minimize unwarranted intrusions by other persons in the court facility, shall have suitable furnishings, equipment, and supplies, and shall also have restroom accommodations for male and female jurors.
§ 216.Deliberations rooms
Title 3. Persons Specially Invested With Powers of a Judicial Nature · Chapter 1. Trial Jury Selection and Management Act · Last amended 2021 · Last verified July 28, 2026
In one sentenceSection 216 addresses jury deliberation rooms and, absent the jury commissioner’s authorization, restricts jury assembly facilities to use by jurors and jury commissioner staff.
Full Text of § 216
(b) Unless authorized by the jury commissioner, jury assembly facilities shall be restricted to use by jurors and jury commissioner staff.
Plain-English Summary
Section 216 covers the physical space jurors use, from deliberation rooms to the jury assembly area where prospective jurors wait to be called. The section addresses what deliberation rooms need to provide for a jury’s work.
It also limits who can be in a jury assembly facility: unless the jury commissioner authorizes otherwise, use is restricted to jurors and jury commissioner staff, keeping the space free of outside traffic while jurors wait or confer.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who can use a jury assembly room in a California courthouse?
Unless the jury commissioner authorizes otherwise, Section 216 restricts jury assembly facilities to jurors and jury commissioner staff.
What does Section 216 say about deliberation rooms?
It addresses the deliberation rooms courts provide for juries, part of the physical infrastructure this section covers alongside jury assembly facilities.
Can the public wait in the jury assembly room with prospective jurors?
Not without the jury commissioner’s authorization. Section 216 otherwise restricts the assembly facility to jurors and jury commissioner staff.
Amendment History
Added Stats 1988 ch 1245 § 2. Amended Stats 1996 ch 872 § 8 (AB 3472); Stats 2020 ch 210 § 1 (AB 1984), effective January 1, 2021.
Source & verification. Section text is reproduced verbatim from
the Deering's California Codes Annotated / vLex. Enacted by the California Legislature.
Last verified July 28, 2026.
· Official source
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