Over the last several months, The Spangenberg Group has had an opportunity to look at the central administrative arm of the Department of Public Advocacy to see if they are managing their resources efficiently and looking for other sources of funding to add to the general fund appropriation. We believe that DPA‘s leadership has done, and is doing, all it can with the limited available resources to improve administration and efficiency. Having said this, it is obvious to The Spangenberg Group that there are also risks involved in the next biennium if the DPA’s level of funding is not increased to that recommended by the Blue Ribbon Group. Among these risks are the following:

• The statewide full-time plan will fail and a large number of counties will continue to be served by part-time contract attorneys unable to assist the judges in keeping the docket moving and not providing required counsel to some juvenile delinquents and misdemeanants.

• An even larger number of lawyers and support staff will leave the program and seek other employment due to the woefully inadequate salaries available.

• Full-time public defender caseloads will increase to the breaking point, particularly in cities such as Louisville.

• DPA will not be able to provide representation to all indigent defendants in the state and will have to develop policies regarding courts that they cannot serve.

• Cases will have to be retried because of the inadequacy of counsel or the lack of counsel completely.

• The community will be frustrated, as well as all other criminal justice agencies because public defenders cannot perform their required tasks adequately.

• Without substantial additional funding, there is a likely risk that the Commonwealth of Kentucky could not adequately defend a statewide systemic lawsuit due to the inadequate resources and overwhelming caseload.

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