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Lawmakers approve $32.4 million package and multiple supplementals for new State Public Defender office
Summary
The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee approved a set of one-time supplementals and a FY2026 enhancement package for the newly created Office of the State Public Defender, including funding to align Child Protective Act representation, pay transcript costs ordered by the Idaho Supreme Court, and raise contractor rates for defense attorneys.
The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee on March 24 approved multiple supplemental appropriations for the Office of the State Public Defender and a larger FY2026 enhancement package to fund personnel, contractor rates and court-ordered transcript costs.
The committee approved one-time supplementals including $2,500,000 from the Public Defense Fund to align Child Protective Act (CPA) appropriations with statutory transfers, $390,200 from the general fund for transcript costs ordered by the Idaho Supreme Court in State v. Blasek, and $3,799,900 from the general fund to increase state employee salaries and raise the contracted-attorney rate to $125 per hour for the remainder of fiscal year 2025.
Those votes cleared the committee in separate motions. The CPA alignment supplemental passed 15 ayes, 5 nays (combined Senate and House committee totals). The…
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