Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Indigent Defense topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee shifts $1.21 million from Superior Court allocation; half routed to Public Defender
Summary
After budget-analyst review and a controller briefing on indigent-defense costs, the committee removed $1,209,997 from the Superior Court allocation and voted to transfer half (roughly $605,000) to the Public Defender to offset cuts; the committee directed the remainder to be decided through the add-back process.
The Budget and Finance Committee approved a reallocation of funds that reduces the Superior Court's FY2009-10 allocation by $1,209,997 and moves half of that amount to the Public Defender to help offset personnel cuts.
The transfer followed a controller report comparing the cost-per-case and case-processing metrics for the public defender and for private conflict counsel. Controller Ben Rosenfield summarized his office's findings and noted ranges rather than precise dollar-for-dollar equivalencies; his analysis found that cost-per-case ranges for conflict counsel and in-house public defenders are generally in the same ballpark, and that case-processing metrics did not show systematic speed advantages for conflict counsel.
Public Defender Jeff Adachi urged the committee to restore funds, describing the operational consequences of the public defender's proposed cuts (he said a $1.9 million reduction would translate into losing over 11 felony attorneys and force the office to withdraw from thousands of cases, which would increase private counsel costs and jail-days delays). The Superior Court and budget analyst explained the indigent-defense increase request reflected rising conflicts and other case-type pressures that require funds for outside counsel.
Supervisor David Campos moved to transfer $1,209,997 from the Superior Court item and direct half of it to the Public Defender. The committee considered questions about the relationship of conflict-counsel costs and in-house representation and accepted a partially amended approach: the committee approved removing $1,209,997 from the court allocation and placing half of that amount in the Public Defender's budget, leaving the remainder for the committee's add-back decisions later in the budget process. The roll-call vote passed 4-1 on the amended motion to move half the funds to the Public Defender.
Next steps: The Public Defender and the budget analyst negotiated modest further adjustments to the Public Defender's budget during the hearing (the public defender and analyst agreed to a set of smaller program cuts to reach a mutually-acceptable target). The committee also asked for continued monitoring of indigent-defense needs and for potential supplemental requests if caseloads and conflicts require it.
