Public defenders

The proposal would set up an hourly payment system and put public defenders on staff to bolster their ranks to represent the hundreds of people without legal representation

Officials have approved a plan for spending $10 million of emergency funding to address Oregon’s public defender crisis, which has left hundreds of people languishing in jails or in the community awaiting legal representation.

Housing is the priority this session, but lawmakers also face challenges in behavioral health, education and a lack of public defenders.

Oregon lawmakers convene the 2023 legislative session in January, and leaders from both major parties say that improving the criminal justice system – specifically the severe shortage of public defenders – is among their top priorities.

Oregon is once again being sued over the state’s troubled public defense system that’s left hundreds of people facing criminal charges without the court-appointed attorneys that they’re entitled to under the U.S. Constitution.

Jessica Kampfe, who heads a public defense nonprofit in Portland, would take over a state agency that has left hundreds without attorneys

Stephen Singer, who until August was the executive director of the Office of Public Defense Services, says his firing violated state laws designed to protect whistleblowers and charged the head of the Oregon Supreme Court with violating her authority under state law.

Steve Singer had led the Office of Public Defense Services since January. Oregon Chief Justice Martha Walters wanted him out — and ensured that happened with a rejiggered commission.

Oregon’s public defense system is under severe strain and Chief Justice Martha Walters wrote that the “need for change is too urgent” to delay

“The plan I am seeking is one that proposes immediate steps that will enable [the Public Defense Services Commission] to fulfill its obligation to provide lawyers for those who have a constitutional right to representation,” Oregon Supreme Court Chief Justice Martha Walters wrote.

Despite a constitutional right to an attorney, approximately 500 people charged with crimes have been denied a public defender, according to a lawsuit filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court.

“This is an emergency,” House Speaker Dan Rayfield said Tuesday. “Oregonians are languishing in jail without access to legal representation ...”