Latest news with #IdahoPublicDefender'sOffice
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Idaho House passes budget for new statewide public defense system
Idaho State Capitol building on January 11, 2023. (Otto Kitsinger for Idaho Capital Sun) The Idaho House of Representatives approved more than $32 million in additional funding for the new statewide public defense system on Tuesday at the Idaho State Capitol in Boise. The funding was included in Senate Bill 1202, which includes budget enhancements for the fiscal year 2026 budget for the Idaho Public Defender's Office and supplemental funding for the current fiscal year 2025 budget. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Over the last two years, the Idaho Legislature's Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee has been setting budgets differently by breaking the budgets into two pieces. The first piece is called a maintenance of operations budget. The maintenance budget represents a bare-bones version of the previous year's budget with all of the one-time funding and new funding requests stripped out. The maintenance budget is simply intended to keep the lights on for state agencies. The maintenance budget for the Idaho Public Defender's Office was included in an earlier bill, Senate Bill 1109, which Gov. Brad Little signed into law March 18. The second piece of the budget is referred to as budget enhancements, or the enhanced budget. Budget enhancements include new funding requests or requests for additional staff positions. The budget enhancements for the Idaho Public Defender's Office were included in Senate Bill 1202, which the Idaho House took up Tuesday. Combined with the maintenance budget, the budget enhancements bring total funding for fiscal year 2026 for the Idaho Public Defender's Office to $83.2 million. The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, or JFAC, cut about $5 million from Gov. Brad Little's $88.6 million funding request. One of the differences between Little's budget request and Senate Bill 1202 has to do with funding for personnel costs. Little sought to increase the rate for contracted attorneys from $100 per hour to $150 per hour. Senate Bill 1202 sets that rate at $125 per hour. In October, Idaho transitioned from paying counties for public defense to a single, statewide system, the Idaho Capital Sun previously reported. The transition to a new statewide system came following a 2015 ACLU of Idaho lawsuit alleging Idaho's previous county-run public defense system violated low-income Idahoans' Sixth Amendment right to legal counsel. Although the transition to a new statewide system is designed to address many of the concerns with the old system, the Sun has reported the process of moving from 44 different county systems to one statewide system has been rocky and troublesome. Rep. Dustin Manwaring, R-Pocatello, acknowledged frustrations with the transition, but said the new funding in the budget is necessary to help get the statewide system up, running and staffed to ensure Idahoans' right to legal representation is honored. 'We have over 1,200 cases without an assigned attorney today, and we still have an obligation to correct and fix this problem and make sure we're not leaving clients without that representation,' Manwaring said. After a 25-minute debate, the Idaho House voted 51-19 to pass Senate Bill 1202. The day before, the Idaho Senate voted 23-12 to pass Senate Bill 1202. Having passed both legislative chambers, Senate Bill 1202 heads next to Gov. Brad Little's desk for final consideration. Once the budget bill reaches his desk, Little will have five days to sign it into law or veto it, otherwise it will become law without his signature. Even though the Idaho House passed the public defense budget Tuesday, the House killed two other budgets. On Tuesday morning the Idaho House killed Senate Bill 1192, the budget enhancements for the Idaho State Liquor Division. That budget included new funding for shrink wrap that is required under the state's new freight contract. In addition, the Idaho House on Tuesday also killed Senate Bill 1193, the budget enhancements for the Office of Information Technology Services. Senate Bill 1193 included $11.1 million in additional funding for new office space, security enhancements, emergency connectivity network enhancements, IT infrastructure investments, software and IT personnel transfers. The Idaho House was not alone in killing budgets. On Monday, the Idaho Senate killed House Bill 450, the budget enhancements for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. House Bill 450 included $800,000 in money from a settlement agreement with Idaho Power to help pay for restoration of wildlife habitat burned in the Valley Fire in the Boise foothills in October. Any of the budgets that were killed may still be rewritten before the Idaho Legislature adjourns for the year. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
24-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Idaho Legislature's budget committee sets budget for new state office of public defender
The door to the JFAC committee room at the Idaho State Capitol building is pictured on Jan. 6, 2023. (Otto Kitsinger for Idaho Capital Sun) The Idaho Legislature's Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee set the budget for the new Idaho Public Defender's Office on Monday. But after current and former public defenders expressed concern last fall over the transition to the new statewide public defense system, the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, or JFAC, cut about $5 million in funding from Gov. Brad Little's budget request on Monday. JFAC, is a powerful legislative committee that sets every budget for every state agency and department. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Little sought almost $88.6 million in total funding for the public defender's office's fiscal year 2026 budget enhancements, and JFAC voted to provide $83.2 million. The office itself requested even less, asking for $69.8 million. One of the differences is that JFAC did not approve a cash transfer that Little requested. JFAC did vote to approve almost $1.3 million in new funding for additional transcription costs after the Idaho Supreme Court ruled in December that the Idaho Public Defender's Office is required to cover the cost of appeal transcripts for indigent defendants, the Idaho Capital Sun previously reported. In October, Idaho transitioned from paying counties for public defense to a new state-run public defense system, the Idaho Capital Sun previously reported. The move followed a 2015 lawsuit ACLU of Idaho filed that alleged Idaho's public defense system violated low income people's Sixth Amendment right to counsel. The state public defender is appointed by the governor, and the Idaho Public Defender's Office is responsible for providing qualified attorneys to provide public defense to indigent Idahoans. In October 2023, Little appointed Eric Fredericksen as state public defender. In October 2024, several current and former public defenders told the Sun the transition of combining 44 county systems to one statewide system was rocky and troublesome. The Sun reported there was a series of resignations among the public defenders, and the Sun reported that, for a time between September and October, public defenders could not be contacted by their clients in jail as the phone system between the old and new systems was switched. One of the differences between the budget JFAC passed and Little's recommendation had to do with personnel costs. Little recommended providing funding to increase the rate for contracted attorneys from $100 per hour to $150 per hour. JFAC approved an increase to $125 per hour. On Monday, Rep. Dustin Manwaring, R-Pocatello, said the public defense system lost a lot of contract attorneys when the state took over the system. Manwaring said some rural counties have always been short on attorneys. But Manwaring also said more experienced attorneys weren't willing to do the work for the rate of $100 per hour. 'There's been a lot of discussion on this contract rate and how we get contract attorneys back to work and back taking these cases,' Manwaring said. 'We have a lot of cases where we need to get attorneys assigned and working.' Manwaring said the state should study whether it would save more money by having some of the work performed as contract services or by having them be state employees. In addition to the budget requests, the Idaho Legislature is also considering a new policy bill introduced Thursday, Senate Bill 1181, which supporters said seeks to address the transition from the county to the statewide public defense system. Rep. Steven Miller, R- Fairfield, said he has heard many concerns about the transition to the new statewide system. 'There were a number of hearings where there was a lack of a defender,' Miller said Monday. 'There wasn't a smooth transition from the counties to the public defender's office. There was a real lack of communication with the institutional counties in regards to the attorneys, the staff, what they were going to get paid and, to a good extent, where they were going to be placed.' But Miller voted against a supplemental budget request and the fiscal year 2026 budget enhancements for the Idaho Public Defender's Office on Monday. Miller said he was frustrated the state is being asked to approve additional spending 'to try to get the same job done.' 'My difficulty with it is it's not just money that we're dealing with here and I'm not sure, in my mind, that just throwing more money at it is going to fix it,' Miller said. The budgets for the Idaho Public Defender's Office still must pass the Idaho House of Representatives and Idaho Senate and not be vetoed by Little. So far, multiple unfinished fiscal year 2026 state budgets have prevented the Idaho Legislature from adjourning the annual legislative session for the year. On Monday, JFAC co-chairs said they were closing in on finishing setting the 2026 budget. JFAC is scheduled to reconvene at 8 a.m. Tuesday to resume setting budgets. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
