Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Public Defender topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Senate concurs in cleanup bill for Office of Public Defender after questions on structure and positions
Summary
House Bill 102, a technical cleanup bill for the Office of Public Defender with a $0 fiscal note, was heard and later concurred in by the committee. Senators pressed the office on whether the changes create new positions and on moving practice standards out of statute; the office said no new positions are created and standards remain mandatory under memoranda.
Representative Jade Suptis introduced House Bill 102 as a cleanup bill for the Office of Public Defender that consolidates statutes and updates language without substantive policy changes and with a $0 fiscal note.
Cohen Mercer, Central Services Division Administrator for the Office of Public Defender, told the committee HB102 was drafted at the office’s request to update and consolidate statutory language. Mercer said the bill does not create new positions: “There are no new positions in this bill,” he told senators, explaining that several statutorily named roles are being moved into the central services division rather than newly created.
Senators raised concerns across three areas: whether antiquated location requirements (for example, citing Butte) had been cleaned up, whether national practice standards for representing children should remain in statute during a transition to a proposed children’s bureau, and whether consolidating administrative roles represented bureaucratic growth. Mercer said the office retains the practice standards internally and that contract attorneys are bound by memoranda to adhere to those standards; he also said many managerial positions have existed and are not newly created by HB102.
After the hearing, the committee proceeded to executive action. Senator Espin moved that the Senate concur in House Bill 102. The committee took a voice vote; the chair announced recorded no votes by Senators Lehi and Mandeville and stated the number of noes totaled three. The chair then announced that "House Bill 102 has been concurred in Senate Finance and Claims." The committee adjourned.
What happens next: The bill was concurred in committee and will move forward according to the legislative process; committee members requested follow-up information about executive and managerial positions’ caseloads and compensation levels.
