AB 23

Under current law, the state public defender is required to appoint counsel to

a person entitled to representation under the Children's Code or the Juvenile Justice

Code without first determining whether the person is indigent and therefore eligible

for such an appointment. Under current law, indigency can be determined in these

cases after the eligible person is appointed an attorney. This bill specifies that a

determination of indigency is not required before the state public defender may

appoint an attorney to represent a child in a proceeding under the Children's Code

or the Juvenile Justice Code.