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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Sánchez, M.

DATE TYPED 3/7/05

HB

SHORT TITLE Public Defender Capital Felony Case Fund

SB 512/aSJC

ANALYST Medina

APPROPRIATION

Appropriation Contained Estimated Additional Impact Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY05

FY06

FY05

FY06

$759.0

Recurring General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Relates to Appropriation in the General Appropriation Act

REVENUE

Estimated Revenue

Subsequent

Years Impact

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY05

FY06

$ 759.0

Indeterminate Recurring Capital Felony Rep-

resentation Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Revenue Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Public Defender Department (PDD)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of SJC Amendment

The Senate Judiciary Committee amendment changes references of “capital felony” to “death

penalty” throughout the bill.

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Bill 512 creates the Capital Felony Representation Fund and appropriates $759.0 from the

general fund to the capital felony representation fund for expenditure by the Public Defender

Senate Bill 512/aSJC -- Page 2

Department so that the chief public defender may contract for representation of defendants in

capital felony cases.

Significant Issues

According to the Public Defender Department, capital murder cases with death penalty aggrava-

tors are the most serious and most complex cases to try. Capital murder cases include all first

degree murder cases with or without death penalty aggravators. This bill would provide the assis-

tance of counsel as mandated law to persons accused of capital murder. According to the Public

Defender Department, while the fund may be sufficient for death penalty cases, it is not suffi-

cient to cover all first degree murder cases. In 2004, the Department handled 115 first degree

murder cases in addition to the death penalty cases.

PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS

Due to possible conflicts of interest that arise at times, staff attorneys are not always able to take

on some capital felony cases with death penalty aggravators. Thus, contract attorneys must han-

dle a number of these cases. This fund

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $759.0 contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the general fund. Any

unexpended or unencumbered balance in the capital felony representation fund remaining at the

end of fiscal year 2006 and subsequent fiscal years shall not revert to the general fund.

Continuing Appropriations

This bill creates a new fund and provides for continuing appropriations. The LFC objects to in-

cluding continuing appropriation language in the statutory provisions for newly created funds.

Earmarking reduces the ability of the legislature to establish spending priorities.

The LFC FY06 appropriation recommendation is balanced between revenues and expenditures

and any increase in recurring funding must be offset by reductions in other areas of the recom-

mendation. The Legislature must consider all priorities and funding requirements to find reve-

nue to support this legislation.

ALTERNATIVES

The Public Defender Department recommends restricting the provisions of the bill to capital

murder cases with death penalty aggravators.

WHAT WILL BE THE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT ENACTING THIS BILL.

The Public Defender Department will continue to fund contracts with attorneys for capital felony

representation from the general fund.

DXM/yr:lg:njw