AB 145

Courts and procedure

Public defender

Under current law, the Public Defender Board may promulgate rules to assure

that representation of indigent clients by the private bar is at the same level as the

representation provided by the state public defender. Under this bill, the board's

authority to promulgate rules is expanded to include setting standards for and

imposing conditions upon private bar attorney certification, decertification, or

recertification to represent clients. The bill also adds the following list of reasons as

grounds for which the office of the state public defender may exclude a private bar

attorney from a public defender list: 1) the attorney has failed to meet minimum

attorney performance standards adopted by the state public defender; 2) the

attorney has failed to comply with the supreme court rules of professional conduct

for attorneys; 3) the attorney has engaged in conduct that is contrary to the interests

of clients, the interests of justice, or the interests of the state public defender; or 4)

the state public defender learns of any information that raises a concern about the

attorney's character, performance, ability, or behavior.

The bill changes the rate at which the public defender must pay a private local

attorney to whom a case is assigned from $40 per hour for time spent related to a case

to $70 per hour for time spent related to a case. The bill provides $16,612,700 in each

fiscal year of the 2019-21 biennium for the rate increase.

The bill provides $1,767,900 GPR in fiscal year 2019 and $3,535,800 in fiscal

year 2020-21 to fund the assistant state public defender pay progression plan, which

is a plan in current law that consists of 17 hourly salary steps, with each step equal

to one-seventeenth of the difference between the lowest hourly salary and the

highest hourly salary for the salary range for the assistant state public defender

positions.

The bill directs the Public Defender Board to conduct a student loan payment

pilot program for private bar attorneys who accept public defender appointments.

The program would provide a payment to private bar attorneys that they may use

to repay student loans of up to $20,000 per year for attorneys in counties with a

population of 25,000 or less who agree to accept at least 50 state public defender

appointments per year. The bill provides $250,000 in each fiscal year of the 2019-21

biennium for the program.

District Attorneys

The bill creates an independent prosecutor board that oversees and sets policies

for a state prosecutors office, also created in the bill. Under the bill, the executive

director of the state prosecutors office manages the office; prepares personnel

policies,