New State Public Defender seeks millions to cover transfers, transcripts and staffing amid rollout

The new State Public Defender office asked the Joint Finance‑Appropriations Committee for multiple one‑time and ongoing appropriations to fund operations, absorb counties into the statewide system and cover transcript and expert costs tied to higher‑complexity cases.

Budget analyst Christopher Lahoset explained the office was created in Title 19, Chapter 60 (presentation cited statutory creation language) and that the State Public Defense Fund — established in statute and seeded by a $39 million transfer from the tax relief fund — is the agency’s primary dedicated fund. Lahoset said the base appropriation after initial enhancements is about $49 million and that total authorized appropriation for the current fiscal year was roughly $52,000,015.30.

Lahoset outlined the agency’s enhancement requests: a one‑time supplemental of $2.5 million in the current year to fully utilize a $39 million cash transfer (the appropriation for spending the cash was omitted during prior budget formulation), a governor’s supplemental for transcript costs (one time $390,200) after the Idaho Supreme Court’s Dec. 5,…