Public defenders in Connecticut could see a pay increase if a new legislative proposal is approved, and officials at the Division of Public Defender Services say the agency would face a crisis without it.
The Appropriations Committee, the legislative body helping oversee the state budget, recognized the potential state of emergency Tuesday when it advanced a proposal that included a $23 million increase over two years for assigned counsel in the division, contract attorneys who handle criminal and child welfare cases.
The increase is less than the almost $46 million officials had requested. Gov. Ned Lamont had recommended no increase in his budget proposal.
If the proposal doesn’t get support from the House, the Senate and Lamont, officials and employees in the division believe indigent people who haven’t had their representation needs met could file a class action lawsuit against the state.
“This is a true possibility. This is not an idle threat, and I understand it,” TaShun Bowden-Lewis, Connecticut’s chief public defender, said.
“We see what other states are doing and other agencies within our own state,” she said, and pay increases have “to happen in some form or fashion. It’s needed, and it’s fair.”
The Division of Public Defender Services has experienced a tumultuous last month after several members on the agency’s oversight board resigned without explanation, prompting Lamont to appoint new members.
The resignations, in part, had to do with “intractable...
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