Amendments to House Bill No. 2

Committee Study Bill Copy

Requested by Representative Emma Kerr-Carpenter

For the House Appropriations Committee

Prepared by Marci Lewandowski

March 11, 2021 (10:25am)

1. Page D-3: .

Following: line 17

Insert: "a. Caseload Growth Contingency" 

Insert: "134,385 138,061"  [General Fund FY22 FY23]

Following: line 19

Insert: "a. Caseload Growth Contingency" 

Insert: "13,300 13,699"[General Fund FY22 FY23]

Following: line 21

Insert: "a. Caseload Growth Contingency" 

Insert: "49,641 51,130"[General Fund FY22 FY23]

2. Page D-4: .

Following: line 8

Insert: "It is the intent of the legislature that the Office of the Public Defender report each quarter of FY 2022 and FY 2023 to the Office of Budget and Program Planning on the number of new cases filed and the number of cases worked on by Office of the Public Defender employees. Cases worked on are defined as follows:

·    A case was opened.

·    An Office of Public Defender employee charged time directly related to the case.

·    An Office of Public Defender contractor submitted a valid and approved claim for work related to the case

·    Two or more of the following events took place during a calendar month:

o the case was in an open status.

o the case went from inactive status to closed status.

o an Office of Public Defender employee generated a document related to the case; and

o a non-continued, non-vacated court or client-related event took place.

Caseload growth contingency may be expended only after the budget director certifies that the number of cases worked on meets or exceeds 0.5% growth as compared to the same quarter in the prior fiscal year. The amount of funding available each quarter is limited to $49,332 in FY 2022 and $50,723 in FY 2023."

 

- END -

 

Explanation - This amendment creates a line item for caseload growth contingency for operating expenses at 0.5% growth in general fund for $134,385 in FY 2022 and $138,061 in FY 2023 in the Public Defender Division, $13,300 in FY 2022 and $13,699 in FY 2023 in the Appellate Defender Division, and $49,641 in FY 2022 and $51,130 in FY 2023 in the Conflict Coordinator Division in the Office of the Public Defender. This amendment adds language on the caseload growth contingency including that the amount available each quarter is limited to $49,332 in FY 2022 and $50,723 in FY 2023 in general fund for the Office of the Public Defender.