What more cuts would mean in one agency: A month of furlough for entire staff

State Appellate Public Defender Molly Huskey told legislative budget writers this morning that if her office had to take an additional 5 percent budget cut, “It would mean 20 to 23 furlough days, which is an entire month of work, for each of the people in our office.” That would make it extremely difficult, she said, for her office to meet its constitutional obligations; the office was set up to ease the burden on counties of providing the required representation of indigent defendants appealing criminal convictions including first-degree murder. She urged lawmakers to fund the governor’s budget recommendation for her office, which includes an $86,000 supplemental appropriation and a 4.4 percent increase in state funding to $2.04 million; last year, the office took a 3.7 percent funding cut. “If only it were that easy,” responded JFAC Co-Chair Sen. Dean Cameron, R-Rupert.

Rep. Wendy Jaquet asked whether the state could save money in the office if it didn’t have a death penalty; the answer was yes, but the appellate public defender also handles non-capital cases.