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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 obligations through the end of FY2025). Cessna asked the committee to consider reducing the lapse to $4.6 million — effectively restoring another $1.4 million of carried funds — to allow the agency to pay current obligations and address a small number of IT security items identified in a recent audit.
For FY2026 the agency requested roughly $73.1 million and proposed two large enhancements: a $6.7 million request to provide a 28% pay increase for public defense attorneys (and a 10% increase for non‑attorney staff) to improve pay parity with prosecutors, and a $4.3 million request plus 29 FTEs to address ethical caseloads and add attorney and non‑attorney staff. Molly Pratt said the agency’s analysis showed trial‑level public defenders had averaged about 58 cases in FY2024; the ABA recommends an attorney spend between 35 and 250 hours per case depending on severity, a standard BIDS said Kentucky cannot meet under current staffing.
Cessna explained the practical recruiting timeline: offers often must be made to students during the third year of law school to have them onboard after graduation and the bar exam. She said delays or restrictions on using carryforward salary authority can materially hinder the agency’s ability to make early offers and therefore to hire in a competitive market.
Committee members asked for details on the reappropriation numbers and historical caseload and vacancy metrics. KLRD confirmed the governor recommended a smaller pay increase (10%) than the agency requested and that neither the LBC special committee nor the House fully funded the agency’s larger pay or FTE enhancement requests.
