The Idaho House was unanimous today in supporting HB 609, the funding bill for the state’s public defense reform initiative, which sets aside $5.5 million in new state funding for the state Public Defense Commission, which will set new standards for public defense in Idaho and provide grant funding to counties to help them meet the standards.

Of the $5,482,800 appropriation of state general funds, just $13,400 is one-time; the rest is ongoing, meaning it'll be an annual expenditure. 

Rep. John Gannon, D-Boise, who served on an interim committee that helped craft the plan, said there was discussion about handing the money out to counties on a per-capita basis, but the panel instead decided to go with a grant system to make sure the money goes where it’s most needed, “so that the rural counties in particular would be able to match the indigent standards.”

The bill to launch the program already has passed both houses; HB 504 passed unanimously in the Senate, and drew just two “no” votes in the House, from Reps. Vito Barbieri, R-Dalton Gardens, and Kathy Sims, R-Coeur d’Alene. The follow-up bill, HB 609, provides the funding. It now moves to the Senate.

A state-commissioned study found that Idaho's current system of providing public defenders to defendants who can't afford a lawyer fell short of constitutional requirements; the state already has faced one lawsuit over the issue. 

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