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Committee reviews Defender General requests: office fit-up, servers, contract pay increases
Summary
Appropriators examined funding requests from the Defender General regarding office fit-up, IT servers, and higher contract rates for private attorneys to address a backlog; members were generally sympathetic and discussed converting some requests to one-time funding.
Conference Committee members reviewed several requests from the Defender General’s offices May 6, including modest fit-up costs for a new Addison office location, a $30,000 request for IT server expenses, and funds to raise contract payments for private attorneys handling backlog cases.
Members said the Addison office needs a fit-up because its prior lease ended and staff must relocate to a new space. Committee staff described the $30,000 server request as a lower-cost alternative to more expensive contracted cloud storage. The defender offices also requested increased contract pay for private attorneys; committee staff said there is a backlog of about 14,000 cases and that low contract rates make it hard to recruit private attorneys. The committee discussed increasing contract compensation by roughly $57,851 to ease recruitment and training.
Why it matters: members said raising contract pay could help clear the backlog and ensure defendants receive timely representation. At the same time, the committee discussed whether some items should be base funding or one-time funding; one member expressed willingness to keep fit-up and related AG funds as one-time appropriations rather than recurring increases.
Discussion and direction: the presenter said the committee did not find anything in the Defender General’s request that justified cutting the offices’ funding; members debated whether to treat training and other items as one-time funding. A committee member said they would be flexible on base versus one-time treatment for training money.
Next steps: staff will reflect committee direction in the draft budget language and consider one-time treatment where members suggested it. Committee members asked for confirmation of contracted cost estimates and for details on the backlog and recruitment challenges.
