Oregon Public Defense Commission outlines reforms, growth and unrepresented-persons response

Jessica Campey, executive director of the Oregon Public Defense Commission, told the joint Senate and House Judiciary committees that the agency has pursued structural reforms, new oversight tools and expanded state-provided defense since the 2019 6th Amendment Study.

The presentation summarized historical drivers, changes made under 2023’s Senate Bill 337, and near-term implementation steps, including standing up three state trial offices, adopting maximum attorney caseload standards and moving toward a timekeeping model for attorney oversight.

“What we are here today to talk to you all about really falls into four categories,” Campey said, introducing the commission’s work: the history of public defense in Oregon, Senate Bill 337, delivery-system changes and the unrepresented-persons crisis. She described the 2019 6th Amendment Center report as a catalyst that identified four major problems: weak financial oversight, conflicts from a fixed-fee model, commission composition not matching best practices, and municipal-court issues.

Campey said the commission has responded by building data systems to identify who is working on which cases, instituting attorney qualification standards and adopting a maximum attorney caseload (MAC) model in 2022 as a transitional oversight tool. She said the state ended some fixed-fee contracting and is directed by SB 337 to stop fixed-fee contracting by July 2025 and to transition public defenders to state employees, nonprofit public defender offices, or panels of hourly qualified counsel by July 2027.

The commission has opened three regional state public defender offices—metro, Southern Oregon and the Central Valley—and had 20 trial-level state lawyers in place by late 2024. Campey said the state trial division had taken roughly 1,166 cases in its first year and that the trial division serves as a statewide backstop to prevent releases for people who would otherwise be released under a Ninth Circuit rule requiring appointed counsel within seven days in custody.

To address the immediate shortage of counsel, OPDC has operated a temporary hourly increased-rate program that pays higher hourly rates for lawyers, investigators and vendors on time-limited assignments. Campey said that program has provided representation in about 7,600 cases serving more than 5,000 clients and that the commission has identified counsel for about 1,214 persons who otherwise risked release under the Ninth Circuit decision.

Campey told the committees the commission has expanded its hourly-voucher payments substantially: attorney vouchers increased from about $900,000 a month in mid-2023 to roughly $2.6 million a month, and non-attorney vouchers increased from roughly $2.2 million to about $7.6 million a month. She said the agency’s operating budget has grown 60% and state employees by 74% over the past six years as it implements reforms.

Looking ahead, Campey said the commission is building an hourly-panel program slated to launch in July 2025, and it is preparing to replace the MAC transitional tool with a timekeeping model once case-management infrastructure is in place.

Campey also described leadership turnover during the reform period and the recent administrative move of the commission from the judicial branch to the executive branch, which she said provides new access to executive-branch resources for forecasting and implementation. She told members the commission worked with the Department of Administrative Services’ Office of Economic Analysis to produce caseload forecasts and that a six-year implementation plan guides staffing and rate-setting.

The presentation included public-data references and an invitation for members to follow up for additional materials and meetings with the commission’s staff.

Campey said, “We are a mission driven agency, and we are, every day, working to fulfill our mission,” and invited follow-up questions from committee members.

The committees recessed to other business after the informational session.