Legislative leaders to join governor, chief justice in efforts to solve ongoing public defense crisis |

SALEM – In response to the ongoing shortage of public defenders in the state, leaders of Oregon’s legislative, executive and judicial branches will convene a workgroup to develop short- term and long-term solutions to reform the state’s public defense and public safety systems. This update was provided in a news release from the Office of the House Speaker and Office of the Senate President on April 19.

The Three Branch Workgroup, co-chaired by Sen. Floyd Prozanski, D-Eugene, and Rep. Paul Evans, D-Monmouth, will analyze management, financial and structural challenges facing the Office of Public Defense Services, and make recommendations for comprehensive reform.

“This is an emergency,” House Speaker Dan Rayfield, D-Corvallis, said in the release. “Oregonians are languishing in jail without access to legal representation, while public defenders have long been underpaid and overworked. The system is broken and lacks the opportunity for effective legislative oversight. This workgroup plan will ensure all three branches of government are working together to make meaningful and long overdue structural reforms so that we can keep our communities safe and ensure that all Oregonians have access to legal representation.”

In February, legislative leaders allocated $12.8 million to OPDS to increase hiring of criminal defense attorneys to address the growing number of criminal defendants without legal counsel. OPDS, which maintains the statewide public defense system, is housed in the judicial branch and managed by the nine-member Public Defense Services Commission.

“There’s no denying that Oregon is going through a public defense crisis,” Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem, said in the release.

He said there is more work to be done beyond the relief last session, noting that this is “an attempt to take a run at the issue from all sides.”

Gov. Kate Brown said that the scales have been tipped against public defenders for too long. “I share the Chief Justice’s sense of urgency in coming together to collaboratively address both short- and long- term solutions, and I am pleased that this workgroup will take on this issue. Together, we will work to ensure our public defense system is fair, just, and ensures every Oregonian can exercise their constitutional right to legal representation.”

Oregon Supreme Court Chief Justice Martha Walters said expressed gratitude about the three-branch commitment to find solutions to the challenges in the system.

“With the necessary urgency and a concerted, sustained effort, I know that we can strengthen that system and make it more just.”