AN ACT Amending Pennsylvanias Public Defender Act To Include Provisions Establishing The Pennsylvania Public Defender Center For

Constitutional Criminal Defense; Providing For The Center's Duties And Responsibilities; And Making An Appropriation To The Public Defender Association For Establishment Of The Center Along With Providing The Means For Administrative Support To Fulfill The Mission Of The Public Defender Association Of Pennsylvania. The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania hereby enacts as follows: Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as the Pennsylvania Public Defender Center for Constitutional Criminal Defense Act. Section 2. Legislative findings. The General Assembly finds the following: (1) 50 years ago, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335 (1963) that for criminal defendants who cannot afford to hire an attorney, free legal counsel is essential in a just society based upon the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and made incumbent upon the several states by virtue of the Fourteenth Amendment. (2) Following this constitutional mandate, the Pennsylvania legislature in 1968 passed the Public Defender Act to ensure that such free legal counsel would be made available to the indigent. (3) Additionally, Pennsylvania made statutory provision for establishment of a statewide public defender association supported by a dues structure paid by each of the individual counties, but without state financial support of any kind. (4) 50 years on, Pennsylvania is the only state that does not appropriate any funds toward indigent criminal defense, towards the public defender system under Pennsylvanias own Public Defender Act, or otherwise assist counties in complying with the Gideon constitutional mandate for indigent criminal defense. (5) That despite this routine lack of state support and the woeful inadequacy of its statutory dues structure, the Public Defender Association of Pennsylvania, by applying those dues and by seeking outside grant funding has set up and maintained an acclaimed annual skills training program for public defenders in conjunction with the Pennsylvania State University Dickinson School of Law (colloquially called Public Defender College), and also jointly sponsors an Annual Criminal Defense Training in conjunction with The Pennsylvania Association of Criminal
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Defense Lawyers (PACDL), which directly assists contract public defenders and appointed counsel for indigent defendants, including those requiring capital case training. (6) In December 2011, drawing heavily from a study published in 2003 by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Committee on Racial and Gender Bias, the Joint State Government Commission (JSGC) issued its report A Constitutional Default: Services to Indigent Criminal Defendants in Pennsylvania,, prepared by the Commissions Advisory Committee on Services to Indigent Criminal Defendants, which concluded that Pennsylvania was routinely not meeting the Gideon constitutional mandate for indigent criminal defense. (7) In its December 2011 report, as a remedy to the indigent defense crisis it found, the Joint State Government Commission proposed establishment of an entirely new statewide agency to oversee indigent criminal defense services in Pennsylvania. (9) In 2011, prior to the issuance of the JSGC report, recognizing fiscal realities in Pennsylvania and recognizing that state based indigent criminal defense agencies in other regions of the country faced their own challenges, shortcomings, and budget shortfalls in meeting Gideon mandates, the Public Defender Association of Pennsylvania (PDA) proposed a more limited plan specifically tailored to meet the identified longstanding needs of indigent defense in Pennsylvania, entitled: Recommendations For Interim Cost Effective Measures To Address The Crisis In Indigent Defense, the excerpted recommendations of which are hereto attached and adopted as sound recommendations under the circumstances currently exisiting. (10) In April 2012, in furtherance of its mission and its plan, after review of recognized authorities in the field, the PDA adopted aspirational caseload standards for indigent defense, later supplementing them with uniform case definitions to allow ready comparison of case data between and among counties throughout the state in order to better inform decision makers about the challenges faced in indigent defense. (11) In 2012, in furtherance of its mission and its plan, the PDA sought grant opportunities in partnership with undergraduate professors at East Stroudsburg University, a PASSHE undergraduate university, but so far without success. Furthermore, with grants increasingly difficult to obtain, a secure funding source is necessary for the PDA to continue its necessary education efforts to indigent defense lawyers, and also to implement its plan for improvement of the indigent criminal defense system in Pennsylvania. (12) in view of all of the above, Pennsylvania should at long last appropriate funds to the existing Public Defender Association to comply with the constitutional mandate of Gideon and,

in so doing, establish and provide for a center to support the effective delivery of criminal defense services to indigents accused of crime in this Commonwealth.

Section 3. Definitions. The following words and phrases when used in this act shall have the meanings given to them in this section unless the context clearly indicates otherwise; Advisory Panel. A panel appointed to advise the Board of Directors on issues i mportant for their consideration in carrying out their duties, but without voting or policy making authority. Board of Directors or Directors. The board of directors of the Pennsylvania Public Defender Center for Constitutional Criminal Defense Center. The Pennsylvania Public Defender Center for Constitutional Criminal Defense Executive director. The Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Public Defender Center for Constitutional Criminal Defense PACDL. The Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. PASSHE. The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. PBA. The Pennsylvania Bar Association. PDA. The Public Defender Association of Pennsylvania Section 4. Pennsylvania Public Defender Center for Constitutional Criminal Defense (a) Establishment.--The authority for the Public Defender Association to establish the Pennsylvania Public Defender Center for Constitutional Criminal Defense under its auspices is established. (b) Operation. --A board of directors representative of the of the indigent criminal defense and other criminal defense bar of this Commonwealth shall oversee the operation of the center. (c) Rules and regulations.--The board of directors may promulgate rules and regulations to carry out its duties and responsibilities and the duties and responsibilities of the center under this act.

Section 5. Board of Directors. (a) Composition.---The board of directors shall consist of nine (9) directors and be representative of the of the indigent criminal defense and other criminal defense bar of this Commonwealth. Directors shall be appointed as follows: (1) The Executive Committee of the Public Defender Association of Pennsylvania. (Five members the president, the vice-president, the secretary, the treasurer, and the member-atlarge chosen from its other board members.) (2) A county chief public defender or deputy versed in juvenile defense, or a public defender head or deputy of a juvenile defender unit, to be appointed by the Chief Justice of Pennsylvania from a list of three recommendations made jointly by the Public Defender Association of Pennsylvania and the Juvenile Defender Association of Pennsylvania. (3) An attorney member of the Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers with public defender experience who is capital case qualified , to be appointed by the Governor from a list of three recommendations from the Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. (4) An attorney member drawn from the law school academic community with a background in public defender legal services, who remains actively engaged in the study and analysis of criminal defense issues, to be appointed by the Governor from a list of three recommendations made jointly by the PDA and PACDL. (5) An Attorney member of the PBA who specializes in and is actively engaged in law office management using leading edge technologies and methods in the practice of law, to be appointed by the Governor from a list of three recommendations made by the PBA. (b) Chairperson And Vice Chairperson. - -The directors shall annually elect, by a majority vote of the voting members, a chairperson and vice chairperson. (c) Quorum. - -Five (5) directors shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of any business and any act by a majority of the directors present at any meeting in which there is a quorum shall be deemed to be an act of the board of directors. (d) Compensation and expenses. --The directors shall not receive a salary or per diem allowance for serving as directors, but shall be reimbursed for actual and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their duties. Expenses may include reimbursement of travel and living expenses while engaged in center business,
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(e) Terms of directors,-(1) Each director other than a member of the PDA Executive Committee, who are chosen according to the bylaws of the PDA , shall serve for a term of three years and shall continue to serve thereafter until a successor is appointed, except that the directors first appointed shall by lot draw a term of one, two, or three years so that their terms are staggered, with no more than two director posts coming up for reappointment in any single year. (2) Directors shall be eligible for reappointment. Vacancies on the board of directors shall be filled by the appointing authority within 60 days of the vacancy, and if not done, then by the board from the candidates recommended. (3) A director may be removed for just cause by the appointing authority. (f) General powers. --The board of directors shall exercise all powers necessary and appropriate to carry out its duties, including the following: (1) To employ an executive director and other staff necessary to carry out the duties of the center and engage professional consultants, as the board deems necessary, to assist in the performance of the responsibilities of the center. (2) To prepare an annual budget for the operation of the center. (3) To oversee the operation of the center. (4) To fix the compensation of all employees and prescribe their duties. (5) To solicit funds from any source for the operation of the center. Section 5. Advisory Panel. (a) Composition.---There shall be and Advisory Panel of three (3) members who are representative of persons or entities with a material interest in criminal justice who may, but need not be attorneys of the bar of this Commonwealth. Advisory Panel Members shall be appointed as follows: (1) A member or a staff member of the Interbranch Commission for Gender, Racial and Ethnic Fairness, appointed by the Chief Justice of Pennsylvania from a list of three recommendations from the Interbranch Commission for Gender, Racial and Ethnic Fairness. (2) An attorney with capital case indigent defense trial, appellate or post-conviction experience associated with the Pennsylvania Innocence Project at Temple University Beasley School of Law,

appointed by the Governor from a list of five (5) recommendations from the schools of law located within the Commonwealth. (3) A faculty member from a PASSHE undergraduate university with a training, background, and experience in statistics and drafting statistic gathering instruments, appointed by the Governor from a list of three candidates recommended by the PASSHE university system.

Section 6. Executive Director. (a) Appointment.--The board of directors shall appoint an executive director for the center. (b) Qualifications.--The executive director shall have the proven leadership, management and administrative skills satisfactory to the board to direct the activities of the center, its staff and contractors. (c) Responsibilities. --The responsibilities of the executive director shall include the following: (1) To oversee the daily operation of the center. (2) To make personnel decisions for the center with the approval of the board of directors. (3) To develop an operational budget for the center and aid the board of directors in raising the necessary funds to sustain the operation of the center. (4) To identify, develop, and maintain resources useful for effective indigent criminal defense. (d) Term of office.--The executive director shall serve at the pleasure of the board of directors. Section 7, Duties and responsibilities of center. (a) General rule. --The center shall have the following duties and responsibilities: (1) To develop and provide continuing education, training and skill development programs and resources for public defender staff attorneys, assigned counsel and contract public defenders who represent indigent criminal defendants. (2) To establish and maintain programs for capital case defense skills training, adult criminal defense training, juvenile delinquency defense training and management and leadership training for chief defenders and public defender office leaders. (3) To establish a virtual defender training library consisting of all of the programs generated by the training programs sponsored through the center.

(4) To contract with one or more nonprofit organizations to assist the center in providing any of its duties and responsibilities, including any of the education, training and skill development programs. (b) Affiliation. - -The center shall be an agency independent of the Commonwealth and may become affiliated with a law school or PASSHE undergraduate university located in this Commonwealth, as the PDAs and the centers mission and plan may require. Section 8. Appropriation. The sum of $1,000,000 is hereby specifically appropriated to the Pennsylvania Public Defender Center for Constitutional Criminal Defense for the fiscal year 2013-2014 for the purpose of funding its general operations under this act. Section 9. Effective date. This act shall take effect on July 1, 2013, or immediately, whichever is later.

Note: The public defender system in Pennsylvania was first created in 1968 by the Public Defender Act, Pa. Stat. Ann. Tit. 16, 9960.1, et seq. (Purdon). Under the provisions of that statute, the commissioners of each county appoint a public defender, and such assistant public defenders as may be required. The public defender is responsible to provide legal counsel in criminal matters "to any person who, for lack of sufficient funds, is unable to obtain legal counsel." 9960.6 ...