2022 Regular Session ENROLLED
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 193
BY SENATOR BARROW
A RESOLUTION
To recreate the Louisiana Public Defender Optimal Funding Group to continue to study and
to make recommendations regarding the feasibility of establishing an optimal
funding mechanism for the Louisiana Public Defender Board.
WHEREAS, the Louisiana Public Defender Board was created and established as a
state agency within the office of the governor to provide for the supervision, administration,
and delivery of a statewide public defender system, to deliver uniform public defender
services in all courts in this state; and
WHEREAS, Article I, Section 13 of the Constitution of Louisiana of 1974, in
accordance with the state's obligation under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments of the
United States Constitution, provides that at "each stage of the proceedings, every person is
entitled to assistance of counsel of his choice, or appointed by the court if he is indigent and
charged with an offense punishable by imprisonment", and Section 13 further mandates that
the legislature provide for "a uniform system for securing and compensating qualified
counsel for indigents"; and
WHEREAS, under both the United States and Louisiana constitutions, it is the
obligation of the legislature to provide for the general framework and resources necessary
to deliver public defender services in this state; and
WHEREAS, in 2007, the legislature enacted the Louisiana Public Defender Act to
provide all of the following:
(1) Ensuring that adequate public funding of the right to counsel is provided and
managed in a cost-effective and fiscally responsible manner.
(2) Ensuring that the public defender system is free from undue political and judicial
interference and free of conflicts of interests.
(3) Establishing a flexible delivery system that is responsive to and respectful of
jurisdictional variances and local community needs and interests.
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(4) Providing that the right to counsel is delivered by qualified and competent
counsel in a manner that is fair and consistent throughout the state.
(5) Providing for statewide oversight with the objective that all indigent criminal
defendants who are eligible to have appointed counsel at public expense receive effective
assistance of counsel at each critical stage of the proceeding.
(6) Providing for the ability to collect and verify objective statistical data on public
defense workload and other critical data needed to assist state policymakers in making
informed decisions on the appropriate funding levels to ensure an adequate service delivery
system.
(7) Providing for the development of uniform binding standards and guidelines for
the delivery of public defender services and for an effective management system to monitor
and enforce compliance with such standards and guidelines; and
WHEREAS, the right to a public defender has been guaranteed to poor defendants
in criminal court since the landmark 1963 Supreme Court decision Gideon v. Wainwright,
but advocates say that right has been eroded by a lack of funding, which has led to a scarcity
of resources, staggering caseloads, and in some cases, the agencies have rejected clients
because they could not afford to defend them; and
WHEREAS, Louisiana funds representation for noncapital defendants through
legislative appropriations at the state level, supplemented by traffic tickets and other local
fines assessed by each defender district; and
WHEREAS, about eighty-five percent of criminal defendants in 2016 qualified for
a court-appointed lawyer and thirty-three of the state's forty-two public defender offices
started turning away cases they no longer had the resources to handle, arguing that whatever
legal assistance they could provide would be so ineffective as to violate the defendant's
constitutional rights anyway; and
WHEREAS, in 2016, the Louisiana State Public Defender was a defendant in the
federal case Yarls v. Bunton, which challenged the constitutionality of the Louisiana public
defenders' practice of placing indigent, noncapital defendants on wait lists for appointed
counsel due to chronic budgetary shortfalls, thus violating poor defendants' Sixth and
Fourteenth Amendments rights to a speedy trial and to assistance of counsel; and
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WHEREAS, full realization of the Louisiana Public Defender's Act of 2007 requires
thoughtful consideration by a group to study and make recommendations regarding the
feasibility of establishing an optimal funding mechanism for the Louisiana Public Defender
Board; and
WHEREAS, the Senate originally established a group to conduct this study with
Senate Resolution No. 20 of the 2020 First Extraordinary Session which directed a report
to the Senate by April 1, 2021, however the group was unable to complete its study; and
WHEREAS, the Senate recreated the group with Senate Resolution No. 247 of the
2021 Regular Session, which directed a report to the Senate by March 1, 2022, however the
group was unable to complete its study.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana
does hereby reestablish and provide for the Louisiana Public Defender Optimal Funding
Group to study and to make recommendations regarding the feasibility of establishing an
optimal funding mechanism for the Louisiana Public Defender Board, and to propose
recommendations, together with specific proposals for legislation, by written report to the
Senate and to the David R. Poynter Legislative Research Library as required by R.S. 24:771
and 772, no later than March 1, 2023.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the group should include consideration of all
matter pertinent to establishing an optimal funding mechanism for the Louisiana Public
Defender Board.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the group shall consist of the following
members:
(1) Six members appointed by the governor, including one from his staff and one
from each appellate court district.
(2) Four members appointed by the chief justice of the supreme court, including one
juvenile justice advocate, one retired judge with criminal law experience, and two at-large
members.
(3) One member appointed by the president of the Senate.
(4) The president of the Louisiana State Bar Association, or his designee.
(5) The chairman of the Louisiana State Law Institute's Children's Code Committee,
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or his designee.
(6) The chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, or his designee.
(7) The chairman of the Senate Committee on Judiciary B, or his designee.
(8) The chairman of the Senate Committee on Judiciary C, or his designee.
(9) The state public defender.
(10) The chair of the Louisiana Hospital Association, or his designee.
(11) The president of the Louisiana Municipal Association, or his designee.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that each designating authority shall submit the
names of designees to the group to the president of the Senate no later than August 1, 2022.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED the group shall convene for its first meeting no later
than September 15, 2022, at the call of the president of the Senate's appointee who shall
serve as chair, and at the first meeting, the members shall elect other officers as the group
may deem appropriate.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a majority of the group shall constitute a quorum
for the transaction of business. All official actions of the group shall require the affirmative
vote of a majority of the members.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the members of the group shall serve without
compensation, except per diem or expenses reimbursement to which they may be
individually entitled as members of their constituent organizations.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the group shall terminate on the date of the
submission of its report or March 1, 2023, whichever occurs first.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
governor, the chief justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court, the president of the Louisiana
State Bar Association, and the chairman of the Louisiana State Law Institute's Children's
Code Committee.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
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