Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Public Defender And Prosecutor Funding topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Public defenders and prosecutors warn of staffing crisis as case-management deadlines tighten
Summary
The state public defender and district attorneys told the Legislative Finance Committee that rising felony filings, discovery volume and the Supreme Court—ase management order are straining offices; LOPD asked for a just-over-10% increase and district attorneys proposed a coordinated 20% pay lift to recruit and retain prosecutors.
Chief Public Defender Bennett Bauer told the committee that his office's workload study showed the system needs substantially more attorney hours to meet legal standards and deliver effective representation. "It found is we need almost three times the attorney hours," Bauer said, arguing that recruitment, retention and better compensation for contract attorneys are central to providing constitutionally effective defense.
LOPD's ask: Bauer said the Office of the Public Defender is requesting just over a 10% increase in its FY27 budget to hire staff attorneys, raise contract rates where necessary and expand juvenile representation. CFO Debbie O'Dell explained that LOPD has been temporarily moving contractual (300-level) funds into personnel (200-level) categories to cover salary shortfalls, a practice she said is no longer sustainable without regular funding.
Prosecutors' perspective: Rick Tedrow, director of the Administrative Office of the District Attorneys (AODA), told the committee the AODA needs major investments in IT and cybersecurity for statewide case-management systems, and multiple district attorneys described rapidly rising felony caseloads and trial workloads. Several district attorneys asked for targeted position additions; Marcus Montoya, president of the District Attorneys Association, led a unified proposal in principle for about a 20% pay increase for prosecutors to narrow a growing wage gap with the private sector and other state agencies.
Case management order (CMO) impacts: Multiple prosecutors said the Supreme Court's phased case management orders (local rule LR 3-3-03 and related procedures) compress work that was done over months into 30-day discovery windows, creating a front-loaded workload that demands more attorneys and support staff. District attorneys in high-volume districts reported hundreds of trials and significant increases in expert and transcription costs.
Committee concerns and follow-up: Legislators asked for breakdowns of how supplemental and deficiency appropriations were covered, documentation for vacancy rates and more granular proposals showing how requested funds would convert to hires and retention. The committee also discussed short-term fixes including the possibility of carving out exceptions for retired attorneys to return as contractors, expanded remote hearings to reduce travel burden, and procurement of evidence-surfacing tools to speed discovery review.
Ending: The committee signaled it will follow up on IT procurement proposals, the feasibility of a uniform prosecutor pay increase, and data to quantify how much of the workload pressure is staffing versus policy-driven timelines.
