Kansas indigent defense board warns proposed cuts would undermine right to counsel

The Kansas State Board of Indigent Defense Services (BIDS) told the Legislative Budget Committee during a budget hearing that proposed reductions for fiscal year 2026 and the potential lapse of reappropriated funds threaten the state's ability to provide constitutionally required legal counsel to indigent felony defendants.

BIDS Executive Director Heather Sussan and legislative fiscal analyst Molly Pratt presented figures showing major shortfalls in staffing and pay parity that, the agency said, have produced statewide shortages of qualified criminal defense attorneys. "Kansas does not currently have enough experienced, qualified, and available criminal defense counsel to meet the volume of cases currently being charged by local prosecutors across the state," Sussan said.

BIDS told the committee that 84% of adult felony cases in Kansas require appointed counsel; in 2024 that required counsel in 26,417 cases. The agency said the 2024 Legislature appropriated about $61.9 million in all funds for BIDS for fiscal 2025 and that the agency requested $69.8 million for fiscal 2025. Pratt said the agency carried forward approximately $7.8 million in unspent state general fund (SGF) monies into fiscal 2025, including roughly $2.3 million earmarked for expert fees and transcription, $2.1 million transferred into the capital defense account, $1.7 million to the assigned counsel account, $600,000 for leases, $300,000 to lower amortized lease costs, and the remainder for IT security projects. The special committee on legislative budget later removed that reappropriation from the fiscal 2025 budget papers.

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