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Board of Indigent Defense Services asks Ways and Means to preserve reappropriated funds and approve pay and staffing increases
Summary
BIDS urged the committee to reduce a $6 million lapse in carried‑forward funds so the agency can meet obligations through the fiscal year and highlighted requests for public‑defender pay parity and additional staff to address caseload pressure.
Heather Cessna, executive director of the Board of Indigent Defense Services (BIDS), and Molly Pratt of KLRD told the Ways and Means Committee that BIDS needs to retain more carryforward funds and requested larger long‑term investments to reduce caseload pressure and raise public‑defender pay.
BIDS reported a carryforward from FY2024 of $7.8 million in reappropriated state funds. House Bill 2007, as drafted, lapses approximately $6.0 million of that amount into fiscal control (a lapse the agency said would leave insufficient funds to meet…
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