II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 1102
To incentivize States and localities to improve access to justice, and for
other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
MARCH25, 2025
Mr. B
OOKER(for himself, Mr. DURBIN, and Mr. WELCH) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary
A BILL
To incentivize States and localities to improve access to
justice, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Providing a Quality 4
Defense Act of 2025’’ or the ‘‘Quality Defense Act of 5
2025’’. 6
SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 7
The purposes of this Act are— 8
(1) to protect the constitutional rights to due 9
process and a fair criminal prosecution under the 10
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Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the 1
Constitution of the United States, including the 2
right to counsel, in State and local courts, as articu-3
lated by the Supreme Court of the United States in 4
Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335 (1963), and its 5
progeny; 6
(2) to protect the right to counsel for juveniles 7
in delinquency proceedings, including the determina-8
tion of whether a juvenile should be tried as an 9
adult, under the Due Process Clause of the Four-10
teenth Amendment as articulated by the Supreme 11
Court in In re Gault, 387 U.S. 1 (1967); 12
(3) to collect data related to public defense in 13
order to facilitate evidence-based reforms and im-14
provements; and 15
(4) to ensure that compensation for public de-16
fenders and panel attorneys reflects the constitu-17
tional guarantee of the right to counsel and does not 18
disincentivize attorneys from pursuing a career in 19
public defense. 20
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 21
In this Act, except as otherwise provided in section 22
7: 23
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(1) APPLICABLE PUBLIC DEFENDER ’SOF-1
FICE.—The term ‘‘applicable public defender’s of-2
fice’’, with respect to an eligible entity that is— 3
(A) a public defender’s office, means the 4
eligible entity; 5
(B) a State or unit of local government, 6
means— 7
(i) the public defender’s office of the 8
eligible entity; and 9
(ii) a public defender’s office of a unit 10
of local government within the eligible enti-11
ty; and 12
(C) a Tribal organization, means the pub-13
lic defender’s office of the Tribal organization. 14
(2) A
SSIGNED COUNSEL PROGRAM .—The term 15
‘‘assigned counsel program’’ means a program or 16
procedure by which a court assigns a panel attorney 17
to provide quality legal representation to a client. 18
(3) C
ASE.—The term ‘‘case’’ includes all 19
charges against an individual involved in a single in-20
cident of alleged criminal or delinquent conduct. 21
(4) C
ASE TYPE.— 22
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The term ‘‘case type’’ 23
means the classification of a client’s case into 24
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1 of the following categories, as defined under 1
State or local law: 2
(i) Juvenile. 3
(ii) Misdemeanor. 4
(iii) Felony for which the death pen-5
alty may be imposed. 6
(iv) Felony for which a sentence of up 7
to life imprisonment may be imposed. 8
(v) Felony not described in clause (iii) 9
or (iv). 10
(vi) Violation of probation or parole. 11
(vii) School proceeding. 12
(viii) Other. 13
(B) M
ULTIPLE CHARGES.—If a case in-14
volves multiple charges, the case type shall be 15
determined according to the most serious 16
charge under the applicable State or local law. 17
(5) C
ORRESPONDING PROSECUTOR ’S OFFICE.— 18
The term ‘‘corresponding prosecutor’s office’’, with 19
respect to a public defender’s office or panel attor-20
neys, means a prosecutorial unit that appears ad-21
verse to the public defender’s office or panel attor-22
neys in criminal proceedings. 23
(6) D
ATA GRANT.—The term ‘‘data grant’’ 24
means a grant awarded under section 4(a)(1). 25
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(7) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti-1
ty’’ means a State, unit of local government, Tribal 2
organization, public defender’s office, or assigned 3
counsel program that— 4
(A) in the case of an application for a data 5
grant, has not, as of the date of application, de-6
veloped and implemented a data collection proc-7
ess that meets the requirements under section 8
4(b)(2); and 9
(B) in the case of an application for a hir-10
ing grant, as of the date of the application, 11
has— 12
(i) received a data grant; and 13
(ii) fulfilled the requirements of the 14
data grant. 15
(8) H
IRING GRANT.—The term ‘‘hiring grant’’ 16
means a grant awarded under section 4(a)(2). 17
(9) M
OST SERIOUS CHARGE .—The term ‘‘most 18
serious charge’’, with respect to a case that involves 19
multiple charges, means the charge that carries the 20
most severe or lengthy maximum penalty. 21
(10) P
ANEL ATTORNEY.—The term ‘‘panel at-22
torney’’ means a private attorney assigned by the 23
court who serves the same function as a public de-24
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fender, without regard to whether the role is full- 1
time or part-time. 2
(11) P
ROSECUTOR.—The term ‘‘prosecutor’’— 3
(A) has the meaning given the term in sec-4
tion 3001(b) of title I of the Omnibus Crime 5
Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 6
U.S.C. 10671(b)); and 7
(B) includes a full-time employee of a 8
Tribal organization who— 9
(i) is continually licensed to practice 10
law; and 11
(ii) carries out activities equivalent to 12
those of a prosecutor referred to in sub-13
paragraph (A). 14
(12) P
UBLIC DEFENDER .—The term ‘‘public 15
defender’’— 16
(A) has the meaning given the term in sec-17
tion 3001(b) of title I of the Omnibus Crime 18
Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 19
U.S.C. 10671(b)); and 20
(B) includes an attorney employed by a 21
Tribal organization who— 22
(i) is continually licensed to practice 23
law; and 24
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(ii) carries out activities equivalent to 1
those of a public defender referred to in 2
subparagraph (A). 3
(13) P
ROSECUTOR’S OFFICE; PUBLIC DE-4
FENDER’S OFFICE.—The terms ‘‘prosecutor’s office’’ 5
and ‘‘public defender’s office’’ mean an agency or of-6
fice of a State, unit of local government, or Tribal 7
organization that employs prosecutors or public de-8
fenders, respectively. 9
(14) R
ESOLUTION.—The term ‘‘resolution’’, 10
with respect to a case, means the manner in which 11
the case concludes, including by— 12
(A) dismissal by the prosecutor; 13
(B) dismissal based on a motion, such as 14
a motion to suppress evidence; 15
(C) a plea agreement at first appearance; 16
(D) a plea agreement entered into at any 17
point in the criminal prosecution other than 18
first appearance; 19
(E) diversion; or 20
(F) a bench or jury trial and the outcome 21
of the trial, including the sentence if the de-22
fendant is convicted of any offense charged. 23
(15) S
ECONDARY CHARGE .—The term ‘‘sec-24
ondary charge’’, with respect to a case that involves 25
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multiple charges, means any charge that is not the 1
most serious charge. 2
(16) S
TATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ has the mean-3
ing given the term in section 901 of title I of the 4
Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 5
1968 (34 U.S.C. 10251). 6
(17) T
RIBAL ORGANIZATION.—The term ‘‘Trib-7
al organization’’ has the meaning given the term 8
‘‘tribal organization’’ in section 4(l) of the Indian 9
Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act 10
(25 U.S.C. 5304(l)). 11
(18) U
NIT OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT .—The term 12
‘‘unit of local government’’ has the meaning given 13
the term in section 901 of title I of the Omnibus 14
Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 15
U.S.C. 10251). 16
SEC. 4. PUBLIC DEFENSE GRANT PROGRAM. 17
(a) G
RANTAUTHORITY.—The Attorney General may 18
award a grant to an eligible entity to— 19
(1) develop, implement, and update a data col-20
lection process under subsection (b)(2); or 21
(2) hire additional public defense attorneys or 22
carry out related activities under subsection (c)(3). 23
(b) D
ATAGRANTS.— 24
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(1) TERM.—The term of a data grant shall be 1
3 fiscal years. 2
(2) R
EQUIRED DATA COLLECTION .—An eligible 3
entity that receives a data grant shall develop and 4
implement a process for collecting the following data 5
for attorneys employed by each applicable public de-6
fender’s office, and for panel attorneys within the ju-7
risdiction of the eligible entity, during each fiscal 8
year of the grant period: 9
(A) The mean number of hours per month 10
worked per attorney. 11
(B) The mean number of hours spent per 12
month by an attorney on— 13
(i) discovery and investigation, includ-14
ing witness interviews; 15
(ii) court time, including preparation 16
and appearances; 17
(iii) client communication and care; 18
(iv) research and writing, including 19
motions practice; and 20
(v) administrative work. 21
(C) The number of cases handled, broken 22
down by— 23
(i) case type, including by— 24
(I) the most serious charge; and 25
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(II) each secondary charge; 1
(ii) the race, ethnicity, age, and gen-2
der of the client; 3
(iii) the date on which the attorney 4
was appointed to the case; 5
(iv) whether the case remained open 6
as of the last day of the fiscal year, and 7
if not, the date on which the case was 8
closed; and 9
(v) the resolution of the case, if the 10
case was concluded by the last day of the 11
fiscal year. 12
(D) Any other information as the Attorney 13
General determines appropriate. 14
(3) R
ENEWAL.—Upon application from an eligi-15
ble entity that received a data grant, the Attorney 16
General may award a subsequent data grant to the 17
eligible entity for an additional term that may begin 18
upon termination of the initial data grant. 19
(c) H
IRINGGRANTS.— 20
(1) A
PPLICATION REQUIREMENTS .—An eligible 21
entity desiring a hiring grant shall submit to the At-22
torney General an application that includes, as of 23
the date of the application— 24
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(A) the caseload and number of, and pay 1
scale for, attorneys and other staff of each ap-2
plicable public defender’s office; and 3
(B)(i) the number of panel attorneys with-4
in the jurisdiction of the eligible entity; 5
(ii) the total number of cases assigned to 6
the attorneys described in clause (i); and 7
(iii) the average number of hours spent on 8
a case by an attorney described in clause (i). 9
(2) T
ERM.—The term of a hiring grant shall be 10
3 years. 11
(3) U
SE OF FUNDS.—An eligible entity may use 12
a hiring grant to— 13
(A) hire additional public defenders; 14
(B) increase compensation for public de-15
fenders or panel attorneys to achieve pay parity 16
with corresponding prosecutor’s offices; 17
(C) hire case workers, social workers, in-18
vestigators, or paralegals; or 19
(D) establish or fund a loan assistance 20
program for public defenders. 21
(4) S
UPPLEMENT, NOT SUPPLANT.—An eligible 22
entity may not use a hiring grant to supplant funds 23
that the eligible entity would otherwise have used for 24
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any authorized purpose described in paragraph (3) 1
during the grant period. 2
(5) R
EQUIRED DATA COLLECTION .—During 3
each fiscal year of the grant period, an eligible entity 4
that receives a hiring grant shall collect the data de-5
scribed in subsection (b)(2). 6
(d) S
UBMISSIONREQUIREMENT.—Not later than 60 7
days after the end of a fiscal year, an eligible entity that 8
receives a data grant or hiring grant shall submit to the 9
Attorney General the data described in subsection (b)(2) 10
for that fiscal year. 11
(e) M
ULTIPLEDEFENDANTS.—If a prosecutor’s 12
charging document states that multiple defendants were 13
involved in a single incident of alleged criminal or delin-14
quent conduct, each defendant shall be considered a sepa-15
rate case for purposes of the collection of data described 16
in subsection (b)(2). 17
(f) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 18
are authorized to be appropriated to the Attorney General 19
to carry out this section— 20
(1) $250,000,000 for each of the first 5 fiscal 21
years beginning after the date of enactment of this 22
Act; and 23
(2) such sums as may be necessary for each fis-24
cal year thereafter. 25
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SEC. 5. STUDIES. 1
(a) S
TUDIES.— 2
(1) C
ASELOAD LIMITS STUDY.— 3
(A) I
N GENERAL.—After the end of the 4
first fiscal year for which data grants are 5
awarded, the Attorney General, acting through 6
the Director of the Bureau of Justice Assist-7
ance and the Director of the Office for Access 8
to Justice, shall— 9
(i) conduct a study to analyze the 10
data submitted to the Attorney General 11
under section 4(d) for that fiscal year re-12
lated to public defender and panel attorney 13
caseloads and correlated outcomes; 14
(ii) review studies, reports, and other 15
data published or provided by professional 16
organizations, legal associations, and bar 17
associations related to public defender and 18
panel attorney caseloads; and 19
(iii) develop and publish best practices 20
and recommendations for setting public de-21
fender and panel attorney caseloads based 22
on the information described in clauses (i) 23
and (ii) to ensure— 24
(I) reasonably effective assistance 25
of counsel pursuant to constitutional 26
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standards and prevailing professional 1
norms; and 2
(II) competent representation 3
pursuant to applicable rules of profes-4
sional responsibility. 5
(B) C
ONTINUING STUDY .—Not less fre-6
quently than once every 5 years, the Attorney 7
General shall— 8
(i) study and review new studies, re-9
ports, or other data as described in sub-10
paragraph (A)(ii); and 11
(ii) update the best practices and rec-12
ommendations under subparagraph 13
(A)(iii). 14
(2) C
OMPENSATION STUDY .—Not later than 3 15
years after the date of enactment of this Act, the 16
Attorney General, acting through the Director of the 17
Bureau of Justice Assistance and the Director of the 18
Office for Access to Justice, shall— 19
(A) conduct a national study of public de-20
fender salaries and panel attorney rates, using 21
prosecutors’ salaries as one benchmark; and 22
(B) develop and publish best practices and 23
recommendations relating to compensation of 24
public defenders and panel attorneys. 25
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(b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 1
are authorized to be appropriated to the Attorney General 2
such sums as may be necessary to carry out this section. 3
SEC. 6. STATE DATA COLLECTION. 4
(a) I
NGENERAL.—For any fiscal year beginning 5
after the date of enactment of this Act, a State that re-6
ceives funds under subpart 1 of part E of title I of the 7
Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 8
U.S.C. 10151 et seq.) may submit to the Office for Access 9
to Justice of the Department of Justice data on, with re-10
spect to criminal cases heard by a court of the State or 11
of a unit of local government in the State during that fis-12
cal year, the number of cases for which a defendant was 13
represented in court by a public defender or panel attor-14
ney, broken down by— 15
(1) the most serious charge and the total num-16
ber of secondary charges in each case; and 17
(2) race, ethnicity, age, and gender of the de-18
fendant. 19
(b) A
PPLICABLECRIMINALOFFENSES.—A State 20
that elects to submit data under subsection (a) shall in-21
clude data with respect to— 22
(1) criminal offenses for which a term of im-23
prisonment of more than 1 year may be imposed; 24
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(2) criminal offenses for which a term of im-1
prisonment of 1 year or less may be imposed, includ-2
ing misdemeanors, traffic violations, and violations 3
of municipal ordinances; and 4
(3) acts of juvenile delinquency or juvenile sta-5
tus offenses for which any term of detention may be 6
imposed. 7
(c) F
UNDING.—A State that receives funds under 8
subpart 1 of part E of title I of the Omnibus Crime Con-9
trol and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10151 et 10
seq.) may apply for, and the Attorney General may award, 11
a 5 percent increase in those funds, to be used by the 12
State to collect and provide to the Office for Access to 13
Justice of the Department of Justice the data described 14
in subsection (a) of this section. 15
SEC. 7. FUNDING FOR EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS. 16
(a) D
EFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘eligible 17
entity’’ means an entity that is— 18
(1) an organization— 19
(A) described in paragraph (3) or (6) of 20
section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 21
1986 and exempt from taxation under section 22
501(a) of such Code; or 23
(B) funded by a State or unit of local gov-24
ernment; or 25
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(2) a State, unit of local government, Indian 1
Tribal government, or political subdivision of an In-2
dian Tribe. 3
(b) G
RANTS.—The Attorney General shall award 4
grants to eligible entities to provide a comprehensive edu-5
cational program to public defenders and panel attorneys 6
that offers— 7
(1) ongoing training and support; and 8
(2) programming that includes— 9
(A) skills training, including pretrial prac-10
tice, negotiation skills, trial skills, and sen-11
tencing advocacy; 12
(B) client-centered values; 13
(C) implicit bias training; 14
(D) leadership development; and 15
(E) ongoing support to reinforce the train-16
ing curriculum. 17
(c) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 18
are authorized to be appropriated to the Attorney General 19
to carry out this section $5,000,000 for each of the first 20
5 fiscal years beginning after the date of enactment of 21
this Act. 22
Æ
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