Spokane County’s public defense system is already overtaxed, and county officials are worried a modernization proposal could compound the problem.
This month, the Washington State Bar Association’s Council for Public Defense recommended the state Supreme Court adopt new standards for public defense, including a caseload reduction that would allow attorneys to spend more time on the cases they handle. But the change would also mean public defenders would handle fewer cases per year, which would require counties to hire more attorneys and staff simply to keep up.
That’s the crux of the concern, said Spokane County Commission Chair Mary Kuney.
“We need [public defenders]. They need to have adequate time to prepare for their cases,” Kuney told Spokane Public Radio. “But how do we pay for it?”
Spokane County spent $11.5 million on indigent defense in 2023. The state of Washington chipped in just half a million dollars. The lopsided financial burden is not uncommon: counties bear the majority of public defense spending, and many of them have argued they won’t be able to afford much more without additional help from the state.
The counties’ complaint sits at the center of a lawsuit the Washington State Association of Counties filed last September. The suit claims the state’s current public defense approach is unconstitutional, and it asks for a judicial order compelling the state to “provide adequate funding for trial court indigent defense services.”
“Ultimately, we hope the state is going to participate in paying for public defense, because it’s a constitutional right. So it is up to the state to actually provide that right to the citizens that are using our public defense system,” Kuney said.
As the lawsuit makes its way through the court system, Spokane County’s chief executive officer is asking the Washington State Bar Association to consider the financial repercussions of the caseload adjustment proposal.
A March 7 letter from CEO Scott Simmons said the county’s public defense spending rose 20 percent from 2015 to 2023, while the state’s share remained flat. Simmons told the bar association preliminary projections indicated the caseload adjustment would greatly increase the county’s financial obligation.
“Using general assumptions based on the proposed changes…it’s estimated that the annual costs would more than triple for Spokane County,” Simmons wrote. “At the present time, Spokane County does not have an identified source of funds to absorb the resulting cost increases.”
Washington’s current public defense standards were adopted in 1984, and were based on a report issued in 1973. That half-century-old assessment still serves as the basis for Washington’s public defense caseload standards. But a more recent analysis indicated caseloads are too high and stretch public defenders’ time too much.
The 2023 report examined state-level caseload studies and polled an expert panel determined the amount of time needed to provide an effective defense in a felony case ranged from 35 hours to 286 hours, depending on the type of case. Washington’s current standard is 11 hours. The study said 14 to 22 hours were necessary for misdemeanor cases. Washington’s standard is four hours.
Fifty-six percent of public defenders who responded to a Council on Public Defense survey said lower caseloads would help them decide to stay in their jobs. More than two-thirds said the workload hours reported in the 2023 study better reflect the time needed to adequately represent a client.
Kuney doesn’t disagree that attorneys need more time to handle cases and clients’ needs. And she says the five-member county commission agrees across party lines that the public defense office needs help. But the question keeps coming back around to money.
“It’s not just [hiring] the public defenders, but then they have additional support staff,” Kuney said. “And that doesn’t take into account increased population and increased people using the system. So we’re very concerned about this.”
Some small help may come from occasional federal grants, Kuney said, but sustainable everyday funding for public defense rests on county and state shoulders.
Concerns about public defense funding and staffing are not limited to Spokane County or Washington.
Oregon has struggled for years to solve its shortage of public defenders. A draft report issued last week said solving the problem would require the state to hire 500 more attorneys and potentially cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
Idaho’s public defense system has been deemed inadequate since at least 2010, and an Idaho Supreme Court ruling three years ago reiterated the state has a constitutional obligation to provide adequate defense services for people who cannot afford their own. The state created a public defense office last year.
