The Georgia Public Defender Standards Council voted on May 3rd, 2007 to implement $4,250,000 in budget cuts in order to operate within the $35.4 million appropriation granted by the Georgia General Assembly for fiscal year 2008.  The bulk of the budget cuts -- $3,086,387 -- result from a reduction in force plan that eliminates 41 full-time and all part-time employees.  The Council also eliminated an additional $1,164,665 from its projected 2008 budget through across the board cuts in operating expenses and the termination of several vendor supply contracts.

Because of increased health insurance costs, the expense of adding new assistant public defenders that are required by statute when new superior court judgeships are created, and a need to re-organize the Council’s method of providing representation in cases in which conflicts of interest prevent the state’s full-time public defenders from representing indigent defendants, the Council was already planning to reduce personnel and operating costs by more than $2 million in fiscal year 2008, even if its budget request of $37.4 million had been approved in full.  The additional layoffs beyond those already planned were mandated after the General Assembly appropriated an amount that was $2 million less than the Council’s budget request for fiscal year 2008. 

The positions eliminated in the personnel reduction plan do not include any positions that are required by the 2003 statute that created Georgia’s statewide public defender system.  A total of nine administrative positions were eliminated in the Standards Council’s central office in Atlanta, 22 positions were eliminated in the Council’s conflict defender offices, all nine non-statutory assistant public defender positions were eliminated, and four positions in the office of the Capital Defender, which provides representation in death penalty cases, were removed.  

The cost reductions represent an attempt by the Standards Council to fulfill its statutory responsibilities within the reduced spending resources provided by the 2008 budget appropriation.  Because the Standards Council is required by statute to provide constitutionally adequate representation for all felony cases, juvenile cases and death penalty cases in Georgia, the cost of fulfilling the Council’s responsibilities depends upon the number and type of criminal cases that are prosecuted each year.  During the past twelve months approximately 190,000 new cases requiring representation through the Standards Council were filed.  At any given time, the Standards Council provides representation in approximately 220,000 active cases.  The caseload requiring representation funded by the Standards Council has grown significantly since the first year of operation of the statewide public defender system in calendar year 2005, when approximately 160,000 new cases were initiated.

The revenue for the Council’s state appropriations is derived from special funding sources established by legislation during the 2004 special session of the General Assembly.  The funding sources, set forth in O.C.G.A. §§ 15-21A-6 and 15-21-73, include a surcharge on criminal fines and bail and bond forfeitures, a $15 increase in filing fees for civil suits, and a $50.00 fee imposed upon indigent defendants seeking representation through the Standards Council.  Under O.C.G.A. § 17-12-26(a), the Council’s total budget request for the 2007 and subsequent fiscal years may not exceed “the amount of funds collected for indigent defense” from the sources described above. 

The General Assembly appropriated approximately $32 million to the Standards Council for fiscal year 2005, when the public defender system was operational for only the last six months of that fiscal year.  In fiscal year 2006, the funds collected for indigent defense totaled $37,400,000, and the General Assembly appropriated that amount for that fiscal year.  The Standards Council would receive that same amount for fiscal year 2007 if the General Assembly approves the Council’s full supplemental budget request of $9.5 million in the upcoming special session that Governor Sonny Perdue is expected to call.   For fiscal year 2007 the General Assembly initially appropriated $27.8 million during its 2006 session and voted an additional$8.5 million in the 2007 supplemental appropriation bill that Governor Perdue vetoed.  The Standards Council will continue to request a 2007 supplemental appropriation of $9.5 million in the upcoming special session of the General Assembly.  The funds collected for indigent defense during the first nine months of fiscal year 2007 exceed $36 million and are expected to exceed $43 million for the entire fiscal year ending June 30, 2007.        

###