Alameda and Contra Costa counties are seeking civic-minded East Bay residents to serve on the 2025-2026 Civil Grand Juries.

The Civil Grand Juries are comprised of 19 citizens and are tasked with overseeing local government, with tasks such as examining whether funding is distributed properly, if government agencies are sufficiently transparent, seeing that the conditions of the jails are up to par and investigating reports of misconduct of government officials and employees.

The juries investigate a range of governing bodies and topics in their role as watchdogs.

In Alameda County, a Civil Grand Jury investigation in 2023 determined that there were serious, persistent ethical concerns in county government that continued despite first being flagged about 10 years before. The county was found to be one of the only in the Bay Area without an ethics policy or whistleblower procedure, and the report mentioned instances of nepotism and lack of oversight with spending public funds.

A separate investigation in Alameda County found concerns with the Peralta Community College District’s board of trustees, citing instances of infighting and ineffective leadership. Another investigation found that employees of the district attorney’s office under former District Attorney Nancy O’Malley violated polices by using their work emails to support the DA in her election campaign.

A Civil Grand Jury investigation last year in Contra Costa County found that the county’s emergency warning system was inadequate and could fail to alert up to 70% of residents in the case of imminent danger during natural disasters. On another occasion, the jury investigated whether secret meetings between elected officials in Antioch violated California’s open meeting law, but the jury could not conclusively determine that the meetings discussed city business and thus whether they were violations of the law.

In Alameda County, applications for the position are due April 15. Jurors must have resided in Alameda County for at least one year, have U.S. citizenship, be at least 18 years of age, have English proficiency and have not been convicted of any felonies, according to the grand jury’s website.

Applicants who meet the basic qualifications of the role will be interviewed by Superior Court judges, who will select 30 finalists. The judge can select ten jurors from the previous jury to serve for a second year, then the rest of the jurors will be selected by randomly drawing names out of the 30 finalists.

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The members of the jury will be selected at a public hearing that is held before July 1. Applications can be submitted online via Docusign or via email; for more information, go to grandjury.acgov.org.

In Contra Costa County, applications are due March 7. The position requires residency in the county for at least one year, being at least 18 years of age and being a U.S. citizen. The role also asks that applicants are proficient in English speaking and writing, and asks that they have “ordinary intelligence, sound judgment and good character,” according to the position description.

For last year’s selection process, Superior Court judges interviewed about 75 applicants before selecting 30 finalists and randomly drawing the jurors. Meetings, interviews and inspections will not require attendance in-person in Martinez as they are held both in-person and virtually, according to the court’s website. For more information, visit cc-courts.org/grandjury.