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State Appellate Public Defender requests permanent deputy slot to curb contracting costs
Summary
The State Appellate Public Defender asked IdahoJoint Finance-Appropriations Committee to fund an additional attorney position, saying hiring in-house would be cheaper than continuing to contract overflow appeals work.
Christopher Lahoset, a budget and policy analyst with the Legislative Services Office, began the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committeebriefing by outlining the Office of the State Appellate Public Defenderand its funding and staffing profile.
The office has 26 authorized full-time positions and reported no vacancies as of Dec. 15, with average personnel appropriations of about $2.8 million over five years. Lahoset told the committee the office spent about 85% of total expenditures on personnel and that a legislatively authorized supplemental in 2023 for a large influx of cases remains reappropriated but not part of the base budget.
Eric Leighton, director of the State Appellate Public Defender, told committee members the agencyhas seen a post-pandemic increase…
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