Public defense services

AN ACT Relating to public defense services; amending RCW 1
10.101.050 and 10.101.060; and adding a new section to chapter 10.101 2
RCW. 3
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:4
Sec. 1. RCW 10.101.050 and 2005 c 157 s 3 are each amended to 5
read as follows: 6
(1) The Washington state office of public defense shall disburse 7
appropriated funds to counties and cities for the purpose of 8
improving the quality of public defense services. ((Counties may 9
apply for up to their pro rata share as set forth in RCW 10.101.060 10
provided that counties conform to application procedures established 11
by the office of public defense and improve the quality of services 12
for both juveniles and adults. Cities may apply for moneys pursuant 13
to the grant program set forth in RCW 10.101.080.))14
(2) In order to receive appropriated funds under RCW 10.101.060, 15
each ((applying)) county or city must ((require)):16
(a) Require that attorneys providing public defense services 17
attend training approved by the office of public defense at least 18
once per calendar year ((. Each applying county or city shall 19
report));20
S-3618.1
SENATE BILL 5914
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2026 Regular Session
By Senators Torres, Trudeau, Bateman, Dozier, and Nobles
Prefiled 12/17/25. Read first time 01/12/26. Referred to Committee
on Law & Justice.
p. 1 SB 5914
(b) Report the expenditure for all public defense services in the 1
previous calendar year, as well as case statistics for that year, 2
including per attorney caseloads, and shall provide a copy of each 3
current public defense contract to the office of public defense 4
((with its application. Each individual or organization that 5
contracts to perform public defense services for a county or city 6
shall report to the county or city hours billed for nonpublic defense 7
legal services in the previous calendar year, including number and 8
types of private cases));9
(c) To the extent practicable, provide documentation to the 10
office of public defense demonstrating that attorneys providing 11
public defense services are in compliance with the Washington supreme 12
court standards for indigent defense; and13
(d) Require attorneys appointed to represent public defense 14
clients to record and report the amount of time and type of activity 15
on which the attorney worked per case to their public defense 16
administrator. The Washington state bar association shall work with 17
the Washington state office of public defense to publish public 18
defense time tracking guidelines.19
(3) Nothing in this section shall be construed to require 20
disclosures that would violate the rules of professional conduct.21
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 10.101 22
RCW to read as follows: 23
(1) All funds appropriated for the cost of public defense 24
services in cities and counties as specified in RCW 10.101.050 must 25
be appropriated in the following manner: 26
(a) Beginning in fiscal year 2027, the state shall appropriate 27
funds for not less than 10 percent of the cost of public defense 28
services; 29
(b) In fiscal year 2028, the state shall appropriate funds for 30
not less than 15 percent of the cost of public defense services;31
(c) In fiscal year 2029, the state shall appropriate funds for 32
not less than 20 percent of the cost of public defense services;33
(d) In fiscal year 2030, the state shall appropriate funds for 34
not less than 25 percent of the cost of public defense services;35
(e) In fiscal year 2031 and thereafter, the state shall 36
appropriate funds for not less than 30 percent of the cost of public 37
defense services. 38
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(2)(a) The office of public defense shall determine the cost of 1
public defense services annually, based on an average of actual 2
expenditures for public defense services reported by counties and 3
cities for the previous two years. 4
(b) Counties and cities shall annually provide information on the 5
actual expenditures for public defense services to the office of 6
public defense. 7
Sec. 3. RCW 10.101.060 and 2005 c 157 s 4 are each amended to 8
read as follows: 9
(1)(((a))) Subject to the availability of funds appropriated for 10
this purpose, the office of public defense shall disburse to 11
((applying)) all counties and cities that meet the requirements of 12
((RCW 10.101.050)) this chapter designated funds under this chapter 13
on a pro rata basis pursuant to the formula set forth in ((RCW 14
10.101.070 and shall disburse to eligible cities, funds pursuant to 15
RCW 10.101.080)) subsection (3) of this section. Each fiscal year for 16
which it receives state ((funds)) reimbursement under this chapter, a 17
county or city must document to the office of public defense that it 18
is meeting the ((standards for provision of indigent defense services 19
as endorsed by the Washington state bar association or that the funds 20
received under this chapter have been used to make appreciable 21
demonstrable improvements in the delivery of public defense services, 22
including the following:23
(i) Adoption by ordinance of a legal representation plan that 24
addresses the factors in RCW 10.101.030. The plan must apply to any 25
contract or agency providing indigent defense services for the county 26
or city;27
(ii) Requiring attorneys who provide public defense services to 28
attend training under RCW 10.101.050;29
(iii) Requiring attorneys who handle the most serious cases to 30
meet specified qualifications as set forth in the Washington state 31
bar association endorsed standards for public defense services or 32
participate in at least one case consultation per case with office of 33
public defense resource attorneys who are so qualified. The most 34
serious cases include all cases of murder in the first or second 35
degree, persistent offender cases, and class A felonies. This 36
subsection (1)(a)(iii) does not apply to cities receiving funds under 37
RCW 10.101.050 through 10.101.080;38
p. 3 SB 5914
(iv) Requiring contracts to address the subject of compensation 1
for extraordinary cases;2
(v) Identifying funding specifically for the purpose of paying 3
experts (A) for which public defense attorneys may file ex parte 4
motions, or (B) which should be specifically designated within a 5
public defender agency budget;6
(vi) Identifying funding specifically for the purpose of paying 7
investigators (A) for which public defense attorneys may file ex 8
parte motions, and (B) which should be specifically designated within 9
a public defender agency budget.10
(b) The cost of providing counsel in cases where there is a 11
conflict of interest shall not be borne by the attorney or agency who 12
has the conflict )) Washington supreme court standards for indigent 13
defense. 14
(2) The office of public defense shall monitor trial level 15
criminal public defense services to determine eligibility of counties 16
and cities to receive state funds under this chapter. If a 17
determination is made that a county or city receiving state funds 18
under this chapter did not substantially comply with this section, 19
the office of public defense shall notify the county or city of the 20
failure to comply and unless the county or city contacts the office 21
of public defense and substantially corrects the deficiencies within 22
((ninety)) 90 days after the date of notice, or some other mutually 23
agreed period of time, the county's or city's eligibility to continue 24
receiving funds under this chapter is terminated. If an applying 25
county or city disagrees with the determination of the office of 26
public defense as to the county's or city's eligibility, the county 27
or city may file an appeal with the advisory committee of the office 28
of public defense within ((thirty)) 30 days of the eligibility 29
determination. The decision of the advisory committee is final.30
(3)(a) The moneys under RCW 10.101.050 shall be distributed to 31
each county and city determined to be eligible under this section by 32
the office of public defense.33
(b) The office of public defense shall establish policies for the 34
distribution of appropriated funds to eligible counties and cities 35
that meet the use requirements of this section. Such policies shall 36
prioritize counties with the largest trial level criminal public 37
defense services backlogs and most vacancies of public defenders 38
p. 4 SB 5914
until the disbursements meet or exceed the pro rata share of the 1
applying county or city as outlined in RCW 10.101.070.2
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p. 5 SB 5914