Public Defenders in the State Court

Dear Public Defender Community:

This legislative session, LB 1195 was introduced at the request of the Nebraska State Bar Association with support from a number of organizations (NCDAA, NECAA, NACO, the Judicial Branch and the Attorney General's Office) in response to the unprecedented number of county attorney and public defender vacancies with no applicants. The statutes dealing with county attorney and public defender positions developed over time, resulting in a patchwork of differences based on population size and whether these positions were elected or contracted. LB 1195 seeks to address these issues by:

1. Allowing counties flexibility to determine whether county attorneys and public defenders serve in full or part time roles as needed and to provide greater flexibility in setting compensation for those roles.
2. Provide parity between county attorneys and public defenders when it comes to covering their costs for license renewal and required continuing legal education hours, whether the position is elected or by contract.
3. Provide rural legal employers with a better recruitment tool by expanding loan forgiveness for lawyers who practice in underserved rural communities by increasing the population threshold for eligible counties and increasing the amount available in the fund.

The bill will be heard by the Judiciary Committee this Wednesday, February 7^th at 1:30 in room 1113. Our fact sheet is attached. If you are from a rural area of the state and have had difficulty filling vacancies, please consider using this link to submit written testimony: Nebraska Legislature - Submit Written Statement  (a window will likely pop up and you will be asked to indicate that you understand that these are public comments and there is no expectation of privacy, before you are allowed to comment). Online comments are limited to 500 words. The deadline for submitting an online comment is 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday February 7^th.

Thank you for your assistance!

Sincerely,

Liz Neeley

Liz Neeley, Ph.D.

Executive Director

Nebraska State Bar Association

lneeley@nebar.com

635 S 14^th St. #200 | Lincoln NE 68508

(402) 742-8129

Liz:

I haven't been able to read the full bill but I don't see the value in this matter.  For the public defender counties I serve, I see this as  a wrecking ball and possibly ruining my contracts with the boards and possibly doing significant damage to my business.  We have the public defender matters covered in north central NE.  I am not sure who is having trouble filling these positions as public defender.

Mike

Mike Borders

Borders Law

535 S. 10^th Avenue

PO Box 133

Broken Bow, NE 68822

308-872-3311

308-872-2255 (FAX)