According to the January 7, 2013 issue of The Minnesota Lawyer, the new legislative session will feature the fight to fund public defense in Minnesota (“PD board withdraws funding request” p. 1). Public defenders in Minnesota have typically been funded by earmarks from attorney registration fees. But the State Board of Public Defense recently withdrew its request to the Minnesota Supreme Court for a continuation of a $75 fee increase after the Minnesota State Bar Association (MSBA) removed its support for this petition. The MSBA had supported this fee increase in the past.
These earmarks previously generated about $1.9 million per year, and paid for 23 additional staff positions. Public defenders were hoping to use the money from this year’s fee increase to start an electronic case management system. Yet many bar members objected to attorneys being forced to pay for what is they see as the state’s responsibility to provide for a constitutional right. At the same time, public defenders don’t like being at the mercy of the Legislature, where they have not fared well in recent years. It remains to be seen if the upcoming legislative session will have a different outcome.
