Public defender warns Supreme Court caseload standards will require hires; asks for one attorney in 2026
The director of Cowlitz County's Office of Public Defense told commissioners a 10-year Supreme Court caseload standard tied to a RAND study will effectively reduce allowable case credits each year by 10 percent and that he will ask the board to fund one additional attorney in 2026 to respond to the phase-in.
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Cowlitz County's Office of Public Defense director told the Board of Commissioners that new statewide caseload standards adopted by the Washington Supreme Court, informed in part by a RAND study, will require counties to lower the number of case credits assigned to each public defender over a decade and that the county should add personnel to comply during the phase-in.
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