Defender General tells Appropriations caseloads, hiring gaps strain public defense; requests targeted increases

Defender General Matt Valerio told the House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday that his office is managing a post‑pandemic surge in incoming criminal and juvenile cases, ongoing hiring challenges and several unfunded needs that could affect services unless addressed in the budget.

Valerio, who introduced himself as the state—s defender general, said the governor—s recommended budget is "over $28,000,000" for the Defender General's Office and would continue current service levels while covering salary and benefit rollouts. He told the committee he requested a larger increase for assigned‑counsel contractors than was included in the recommendation: "I had asked for a 4% increase for the assigned counsel contractors. When it came through, we got 2% instead of 4%."

The request comes as the office handles roughly 22,000 case matters a year and saw a more than 7% increase in added cases in fiscal year 2024, Valerio said. He told members the increase continued into fiscal 2025, reporting a nearly 6% rise in added cases in the first quarter of FY25 compared with the same quarter the prior year. He also said charges rose about 4.4% in that quarter.

Why it matters: Valerio said the added caseloads are feeding into the existing pandemic backlog and increasing demand for serious, resource‑intensive work. He highlighted particular case types that have grown sharply, saying termination‑of‑parental‑rights cases rose "almost 50%" (and in one reference nearly 60%) and probation‑violation matters rose roughly 60% in places. He described termination cases as "the murder case of the juvenile justice system," noting they require substantial resources.

Valerio said the statewide clearance rate in December was 89%, meaning the system was reducing 89% of incoming matters and leaving an 11% shortfall for that month; the backlog was uneven across counties, with smaller counties making more progress while the larger counties lost ground.

Recruiting and staffing: Valerio said the office is short of attorneys and has increasingly recruited outside Vermont. He attributed part of the problem to Vermont Law School producing fewer lawyers who join the Vermont bar and to a national trend in rural states toward fewer lawyers entering public defense work. He said recent press outreach improved applicant numbers. He reported hires from outside the state, including candidates from Kansas, Maryland and New Hampshire, and said openings remain in several offices.

Structure and costs: Valerio explained the office operates through four delivery methods: state public defender staff offices, public defender contract offices, assigned‑counsel conflict contractors and ad‑hoc counsel. He said his office has largely reduced ad‑hoc work over the last two decades, estimating ad‑hoc spending has fallen by about 92% since the early 2000s and that current ad‑hoc spending is roughly $250,000 compared with about $1.2 million previously. He described the assigned‑counsel minimum payment as $150,000 per lawyer‑equivalent caseload (LEC) in order to make contract work viable for private lawyers.

Unfunded items and emergent concerns: Valerio identified several items he called unfunded or emergent: the training line item (he asked the committee to restore an in‑person training allocation that existed prior to the pandemic), an estimated shortfall in spending authority for the public defender special fund (he estimated a shortfall in the range of about $275,000), a needed expansion of cloud storage for digital discovery (approximately $30,000), and a possible need to open a staff office in Orleans County if contracting arrangements fall through (he estimated that would cost about $87,500 more than contracting the service).

Leases and administrative costs: He told the committee that lease increases negotiated by the state Department of Buildings and General Services (BGS) have sometimes exceeded the budget assumptions his office must use, creating tension when rent rises faster than budgeted rollouts. He described trying to negotiate reductions with landlords because the state provides guaranteed payment.

Legal duties and scope: Valerio emphasized the office—s statutory duties: representing most people in criminal court and nearly everyone in juvenile court who qualify, representing people in custody of the commissioner of corrections in parole and medical matters, conducting independent investigations of deaths and serious incidents in Department of Corrections custody, and handling immigration issues that intersect with criminal cases. He said the office cannot decline constitutionally required criminal cases for eligible people.

What he asked for: Valerio asked the committee to consider restoring the 4% requested increase for assigned counsel (the governor—s recommended budget included 2%) and to restore a line for in‑person training. He said the recommended budget could be made to work but that doing so would require holding positions open or otherwise delaying activities he considers important.

Committee members asked clarifying questions during the presentation about immigration caseloads (Valerio said the caseload is concentrated in Chittenden County and is not a major portion of total work but has grown enough to warrant a dedicated staff person), the office—s role on probation violations (he said the office defends those matters and that they are constitutionally required public defense work), and about the metrics and graphs Valerio used to illustrate backlog and clearance trends.

Ending: Valerio closed by reiterating that his office aims to stay within budget and manage emergent needs, but said modest targeted funding changes would ease pressure on contractors and training and reduce the need for ad hoc or stopgap measures.