Committee recognizes March 18 as Public Defender Day after trimming appropriations language

Under 'any other business' the House Judiciary Committee took up House Resolution 143, which recognizes March 18, 2025, as Public Defender Day in the Commonwealth. Committee counsel said an amendment introduced by the chair removes language referring to appropriations and focuses the resolution solely on recognition.

Chairman Kaufman moved the amendment, which the committee accepted after a roll-call vote. The roll call recorded several explicit ‘no’ votes in the transcript (Representative Miller registered a “no,” and Representatives Raab and Kinkade said they opposed removal of appropriations language), and committee leadership announced the amendment passed; the transcript contains two inconsistent announced tallies (first “26 to 3,” later “23 to 3”) before counsel and the chair recorded the resolution as adopted and reported to the floor.

Representative Raab said he opposed removing the appropriations language because including funding context appropriately recognizes the struggles public defenders face and provides important context; Representative Kinkade likewise opposed removing that language and urged that funding shortfalls remain a key policy issue to address.

Committee counsel described the amendment as removing appropriations language and focusing the resolution on recognition only. After the amendment passed, the committee recorded no negative votes on the resolution as amended and reported it to the floor.

The chair also reminded members to RSVP for a March 31 roundtable at SCI Coal Township; the meeting was adjourned.