Legal Aid Society Urges Officials to Increase Funding for Public Defenders in New York State Budget

As the state's budget season ends and negotiations begin, the Legal Aid Society, the city's largest public defender group, urges officials to increase their funding. The society is requesting $132 million from the state, which would align them with the proposed financing allocated to district attorneys' offices throughout the state. However, the governor's executive budget only allocates a little over $7 million for public defenders, compared to around $100 million for prosecutors. While public defenders and district attorneys' offices experience similar challenges, such as high attrition rates and mounting caseloads, public defenders have received the same funds as prosecutors. As a result, the Legal Aid Society and other general defense firms have experienced a significant increase in attrition rates and workload, with around 300 open positions and an attrition rate of about 17 percent. Discovery reform has contributed to the attorneys' increased workload. The situation has become critical, with the chief attorney of the Criminal Defense Practice at the Legal Aid Society stating that they are currently at a breaking point.
 

New York Governor Hochul’s executive budget proposes allocating $40 million to prosecutors’ offices to cope with discovery demands. Still, it fails to include any additional funding for discovery work undertaken by public defenders. The reforms, passed in 2019 to prevent prosecutors from withholding evidence against a public defender’s client until the final moments before trial, have placed administrative burdens on both assistant district attorneys and public defenders, who must review each of the documents sent by prosecutors. While Governor Hochul’s budget proposes sending $359 million for indigent legal services, $50 million for 18-B assigned counsel program attorneys, $94 million to the Attorney for Child Representation Program, and $7.6 million for defense aid, it excludes additional funding for discovery work by public defenders. The state legislature has proposed more significant funding totals for public defenders, with the Senate proposing $87 million in funds for purchasing technology to help better them parse through discovery and the Assembly proposing $100 million for public defenders’ activities related to finding and an additional $40 million in Aid to Defense. However, the Legal Aid Society’s contract with the city remains flat-funded and has not increased in years, causing a decline in their ability to resource their clients how they should. Leaders at the public defense firm will appear before the City Council to advocate for changes to their contract with the city and additional funding.