Drafter
Clerk 07/14/2005
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A MOTION adopting the public defense payment model, establishing a framework for budgeting indigent legal defense services in King County, and requesting the executive to transmit for council approval by motion a business case justifying the need to contract with a new agency to handle conflict cases.
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WHEREAS, it is declared a public purpose that each citizen is entitled to equal justice under the law without regard for his or her ability to pay, and
WHEREAS, King County makes publicly financed legal services available to the indigent and the near indigent person in all matters when there may be a likelihood that he or she may be deprived of liberty pursuant to the law of the state of Washington or King County, and
WHEREAS, it is the intention of King County to make such services available in an efficient manner which provides adequate representation at a reasonable cost, and
WHEREAS, in Washington state, the cost of providing indigent defense services is primarily the responsibility of counties and cities, and
WHEREAS, for over thirty years, King County has provided public defense services by contracting with nonprofit defender organizations formed for the specific purpose of providing legal defense services to the indigent as well as other independent contractors, and
WHEREAS, the thirty years of providing indigent defense services by contracting with nonprofit defender organizations and independent contractors has provided King County with sufficient information to understand an appropriate payment model for the provision of such services, and
WHEREAS, prior to 2004, the office of the public defender developed its annual budget using budget information provided by the defender organizations. This practice resulted in different payments to each agency for the same type of work, and
WHEREAS, in 2004, the office of the public defender developed a funding model that created a uniform payment structure for...

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