Midwestern States Up Funding For Public Defenders And Legal Aid

A pair of states buck the trend and increase public defender budgets.

onJuly 28, 2015 at 1:05 PM

Regular readers are surely aware by now that public defenders’ offices and legal aid programs are often severely underfunded, and that finding more money for them can be difficult, especially with many states severely slashing their budgets. It may surprise you, then, to learn that Wisconsin (home of notorious budget-carving Governor-slash-presidential-candidate Scott Walker) is actually increasing its public defender budget to allow for hiring new PDs.

Wisconsin spent about $84.2 million on indigent criminal defense in 2014-2015. In the final budget that Governor Walker just signed into law, it appears that number will rise to about $86.9 million in 2015-2016 and then $85.9 million in 2016-2017. And the whole point of this budget bump is to hire new PDs — the Governor’s original budget proposal called for an increase of almost 46 full-time-equivalent positions, though that number may have changed given that the amount allocated for PD hiring changed from the proposal to the final budget. But either way, the bulk of the hiring should be lawyers: an article from back in February suggested that 35 of the 46 planned positions would be assistant PDs. Why would Governor Walker support such a large increase in PD spending? Those new positions are expected to allow the state to spend far less on outside counsel for indigent criminal defense — the article suggests that Governor Walker expected to save $6.71 million over two years.

Of course, not everyone is happy about increased PD funding. David O’Leary, the president of the Wisconsin District Attorneys Association, called it “the ultimate insult,” given that funding and staffing levels for prosecutors in the state remain low (a situation I’ve written about before). But in the end, O’Leary’s complaint seems to be less about increasing PD funding and more about keeping DA funding stagnant.

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At the same time, Wisconsin’s neighbor to the west, Minnesota, is also digging deep to increase funding for public defenders; as an added plus, Minnesota is bolstering its legal aid budget too.

In its 2013 biennial budget, Minnesota appropriated about $73.6 million for indigent criminal defense in 2015. In the final “public safety” budget signed by Governor Mark Dayton back in May, that number jumps to $77.4 million in 2016 and $82.7 million in 2017. That’s a huge boost and, according to a column by Minnesota lawyer James Manahan, it’s supposed to include funding for 36 new public defender positions. The same column spells out some of the increase’s other expected benefits: “The new appropriation by the legislature will provide funds to give public defenders their first pay raise in a long time, hire additional attorneys and support staff, and improve the overall standard of representation.” That sounds good to me.

And, again, Minnesota is appropriating more money for legal aid too. From 2015 to 2016, legal aid funding will increase from $12.3 million to $13.1 million. Manahan’s column suggests some of this money will go “to help victims of domestic violence”; let’s hope so, especially in the wake of Slate’s recent (and right on) article about how great the legal need is among domestic violence victims.

What’s the ultimate takeaway from all this? Well, for you, readers, the biggest might just be that there should be some 70 new PD positions — and maybe some new legal aid positions too — across Wisconsin and Minnesota. Looking for a job? Look there! (And if you happen to be graduating next year from a Wisconsin law school, you may be doubly in luck — not only might there be a raft of new PD jobs waiting for you, but you can even take advantage of Wisconsin’s “diploma privilege” to enjoy a bar exam-free summer 2016.)