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Kirkland staff warn public defense costs could roughly double as new caseload standards take effect
Summary
City staff told the council that Washington's reduced public-defender caseload standards will require substantially more attorneys and drive up contract costs, and outlined regional, legislative and program options to limit budget impacts.
Kirkland officials warned the City Council on May 25 that recent state-level changes to public defense caseload standards will substantially raise local costs and complicate budgeting.
Deputy City Manager Tracy Dunlap and interim senior management analyst Julianne De Cruz told the council that Washington moved from the Supreme Court's 2012 unweighted misdemeanor cap of 400 cases per full-time defender to a 2024 Washington State Bar Association recommendation of 120 unweighted misdemeanors per year, a change the state Supreme Court has adopted but with a different implementation timeline. "Ultimately, they get down to the same number, but the speed at which they decrease varies," De Cruz said, noting the WSBA recommended a…
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