Committee reduces BIDS reappropriation and trims enhancement requests; approves amended budget

The Committee on Appropriations voted to reduce a proposed reappropriation lapse for the Board of Indigent Defense Services (BIDS) and to approve amended committee recommendations for BIDS' budgets for FY2025 and FY2026.

Representative Sutton moved to reduce the reappropriation lapse rolling forward for BIDS from roughly $7.8 million to $3,000,000; the motion was seconded and approved by voice vote. Committee members debated the appropriate lapse amount: some members, including Chairman Anderson, cautioned that BIDS is bound by constitutional obligations to provide counsel and noted that even with deletions the agency would receive a significant increase over FY2024 levels. Supporters of the motion said BIDS can manage with a smaller reappropriation and that final budget adjustments could occur during the formal budget week in February.

For FY2026 the agency had requested enhancements totaling about $11.0 million (including $6.7 million for attorney pay parity and $4.3 million and 29 FTEs to expand attorney and non‑attorney staff). The Legislative Budget Committee deleted both the pay‑parity funding and the staffing enhancement; the Appropriations Committee concurred with the LBC deletions and approved the committee recommendations for FY2025 and FY2026 as amended.

Committee members discussed accounting lines, noting administration totals can appear large because initial reappropriations and transitional operating costs are recorded in administration before being allocated to assigned counsel, expert fees and capital defense. The committee approved the amended motions and recorded voice votes; no roll‑call tallies were recorded in the transcript.