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Albany County committee accepts $1.36M DCJS grant, approves indigent defense contract amendments
Summary
The Law Committee approved accepting $1,360,697 from the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services for aid-to-defense programs and authorized related budget amendments; it also approved contract amendments to better use Indigent Legal Services funding and noted a statewide expansion amendment increasing settlement-related funding.
The Albany County Legislature’s Law Committee voted to accept $1,360,697 in grant funding from the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services to support the county Public Defender, Alternate Public Defender and Assigned Counsel Program. Speaker 5, the committee presenter, said the funds will support aid-to-defense discovery reform and supplemental programs for the period 04/01/2025 through 03/31/2026 and are expected to recur; there is no county match required.
The committee also approved a requested amendment to Distribution Number 11 with the New York State Office of Indigent Legal Services to adjust contract language and related 2025 budget lines. Speaker 5 told the committee that vacancies in grant-funded assistant public defender positions made a budget modification necessary "to fully utilize the funds provided by the grant." The motion to authorize the Distribution #11 amendment carried by voice vote.
Separately, the committee heard that an amendment to a statewide expansion agreement tied to a court settlement (referred to in the meeting transcript as the "second statewide expansion" of a named settlement) would increase total funding from $29,538,230 to $31,310,523.81 to continue work begun under a prior expansion that started on 04/01/2018. The presenter described the request as an amendment to continue ongoing work under prior statewide expansion terms; committee members raised no substantive objections when it was discussed.
The committee’s actions will allow the public defender office to apply the new DCJS funds and to adjust county budget lines so existing state grant awards are fully utilized. The items passed by voice vote and were recorded as carried; individual member roll-call votes were not read into the transcript for these items.
