Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
House Judiciary hears bill to create public‑defender family defense units for parents and children
Summary
Sen. Dennis Lehi and Office of State Public Defender witnesses told the House Judiciary Committee that Senate Bill 151 would create dedicated Office of Public Defender units to represent parents and children in dependency and neglect cases, shifting work from contract attorneys to in‑house FTEs over a multi‑year transition.
Senator Dennis Lehi, sponsor of Senate Bill 151, told the House Judiciary Committee on April 1 that the bill would direct the director of the Office of State Public Defender (OPD) to establish discrete organizational trial units to provide counsel to parents and children in dependency and neglect proceedings.
The change is intended to move representation away from the mixed contract model toward state-employed attorneys who would follow standardized practices developed by OPD’s family defense bureau. "What this bill does is direct them to provide no more than 2 organizational trial units, provide counsel to parents, and on line 9, establish organizational trial units, provide counsel to children," Lehi said during his opening remarks.
Why it matters: Committee members heard that dependency and…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
