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Regular Session, 2013 ENROLLED
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTI ON NO. 99
BY SENATOR CROWE
A CONCURRENT RESOLUTI ON
To urge and request that the Louisiana Public Defender Board study the feasibility,
desirability, and practicality of delivering a statewide public defender system through
an exclusively contract system.
WHEREAS, the Louisiana Public Defender Board was created in 2007 to provide
for the supervision, administration, and delivery of a statewide public defender system that
must deliver uniform public defender services in all courts of this state, in accordance with
the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and Article I,
Section 13 of the Constitution of Louisiana; and
WHEREAS, in pursuit of equal justice, the board advocates for clients, supports
practitioners, and protects the public by continually improving the services guaranteed by
the constitutional right to counsel; and
WHEREAS, the method of delivery of public defender services in each judicial
district shall be approved by the board to the extent that the method is meeting or is able to
meet the performance standards and guidelines of the board, and the board may change the
method of delivery in order to ensure compliance with best practices reflected in the
performance standards and guidelines; and
WHEREAS, except for the inherent regulatory authority of the Louisiana Supreme
Court provided for in Article V, Section 5 of the Constitution of Louisiana regarding the
regulation of the practice of law, the Louisiana Public Defender Board shall have all
regulatory authority, control, supervision, and jurisdiction, including auditing and
enforcement, and all power incidental or necessary to such regulatory authority, control,
supervision, and jurisdiction over all aspects of the delivery of public defender services
throughout the courts of the state of Louisiana; and
WHEREAS, Louisiana, along with Illinois, has the highest exoneration rate of any
other state in the United States of America, resulting in the incarceration of citizens for
crimes that they did not commit; and SCR NO. 99 ENROLLED
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WHEREAS, since January 2012, Louisiana has had two public defender offices
forced to restrict services for lack of sufficient funding, in that those offices could no longer
ethically or professionally provide public defender services to all eligible clients, and several
other public defender offices have had to make significant cuts to their budgets for lack of
sufficient funding; and
WHEREAS, at present, Louisiana has two full-time staff public defender offices;
nineteen full-time decentralized public defender offices; eight centralized contract public
defender offices; five public defender offices in transition to a centralized full-time office;
and eight hybrid public defender offices; and
WHEREAS, the Louisiana Public Defender Board's strategic plan calls for an
evaluation of the cost-effectiveness of contract versus staff delivery systems on a
district-by-district basis, with full consideration of appropriate salary ranges, to be completed
by Fiscal Year 2015; and
WHEREAS, the Louisiana Public Defender Board is statutorily mandated to adopt
rules for the establishment of salary ranges for attorneys and support staff delivering public
defender services, taking into consideration variations in public defense practices and
procedures in rural, urban, and suburban districts, as well as professional experience,
pursuant to R.S. 15:147(B)(16).
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
urge and request the Louisiana Public Defender Board to study the feasibility, desirability,
and practicality of delivering a statewide public defender system through an exclusively
contract employment system, or through an exclusively full-time staff system, and to report
its findings to the legislature not later than January 15, 2015.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
Louisiana Public Defender Board and the state public defender.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES