Finally, a ‘fix’ for Oregon’s public defense mess? Legislature gives nod to new plan that spurs optimism

The state’s long-standing public defender issue, which has delayed the prosecution of at least 3,600 criminal defendants who are presently waiting for a counsel, may be resolved, according to a budget package agreed by Oregon lawmakers this week.

The funds are intended to support a strategy that Ken Sanchagrin, the interim director of the Oregon Public Defense Commission, proposed to Governor Tina Kotek in early June. Allowing seasoned public defenders to take on more cases than the law allows and receiving compensation for their additional labor are important elements. However, the plan also calls for public defenders who the state feels aren’t representing enough offenders to have their compensation cut or even fired.

Prosecutors and lawmakers in Multnomah and Washington, the two most populated counties in Oregon, said they are optimistic that the strategy would significantly advance the problem’ resolution. Since 2022, the prosecution of thousands of accused criminals charged with a variety of felonies, particularly lower level ones including auto theft, drunk driving, shoplifting, and identity theft, has been hampered by the lack of taxpayer-funded attorneys for defendants who otherwise cannot afford legal representation.

According to the leader of the biggest nonprofit public defense company in Oregon, he is also cautiously optimistic about the legislative package.

However, we are not standing in front of a mission achieved sign, stated Senator Anthony Broadman, a Democrat from Bend and the legislation’s main supporter. Much more work needs to be done.

One of the main supporters of a budget plan that will finance modifications to Oregon’s public defense system was Senator Anthony Broadman, a Democrat from Bend.Graves, Mark/The Oregonian

The Oregon Public Defense Commission will get $707 million under House Bill 5031, which was approved by the House last week and the Senate this week, to oversee and pay public defenders for the ensuing two years. That represents a 15% increase of $91 million over the current biennium, with a portion of that amount going toward financing Sanchagrin’s plan.

According to Sanchagrin, his suggested plan of action ought to set the state on a path to crisis resolution in less than a year.

A second bill, House Bill 2614, passed both chambers on Thursday and is awaiting the governor’s approval. Among other things, it would give the governor the authority to dismiss the executive director of the commission for good reason.

Important elements of Sanchagrin’s one-year strategy and the laws would be:

If it doesn’t affect the caliber of work they do for current clients, allocate $2.2 million to compensate the most seasoned public defenders to take on more cases in the counties with the greatest need. A veteran public defender, for instance, who is currently only permitted to take on 138 major felony cases annually, would be permitted to take on 15% more, or roughly 20 more cases annually.

Boost the effectiveness of public defenders who handle few cases. A public defender may be placed on an improvement plan to increase their caseload, receive a pay reduction, or lose their employment if they are handling 117 or fewer major felony cases annually and operating below 85% of their capacity.

Allowing first-year public defenders to handle 200 cases rather than the 300 maximum caseload will help them get used to the position.

$3.4 million will be used to teach and oversee 120 law school students at Willamette University, Lewis & Clark, and the University of Oregon so they may represent misdemeanor defendants.

Instead than phasing out private practice attorneys who collaborate to divide up a portion of public defense cases, let them keep doing so. Known as consortiums, these organizations are primarily responsible for preventing a scarcity of public defenders in Clackamas County and many other Oregon counties.

To assist counties in expanding fast-track programs that enable public defenders to negotiate plea agreements with prosecutors quickly—sometimes within days—approximately $500,000 should be set aside to hire a full-time state employee.

Only until the Oregon Public Defense Commission reports back to state lawmakers in 2026 on the progress or challenges faced in carrying out the one-year plan will tens of millions of dollars be released to the commission.

The Oregon Public Defense Commission’s non-voting member, Rep. Paul Evans, a Democrat from Monmouth, has advocated for systemic changes. “I’m excited to at least not be stuck in the mud, moving forward,” he remarked after House Bill 2614 passed.Graves, Mark/The Oregonian

Legislators have already attempted to address the issue of criminal defendants who wait weeks or months for attorneys who are guaranteed by the constitution but cannot afford one. More than $90 million was allocated by lawmakers in the 2023 session to hire more defense attorneys and marginally raise their salaries.The number of unrepresented defendants continued to rise in the months that followed House leaders’ announcement that they had fulfilled their pledge to alleviate the state’s public defender shortfall.

In early 2025, an analysis by the Oregon Judicial Department declared another proposal, which had been approved by the Oregon Public Defense Commission in 2024, to be a failure. For starters, that assessment found that a strike team of 20 highly compensated public attorneys employed by the state had hardly touched the issue.

The panel has had three separate sets of commissioners since 2021, with members being replaced twice by the Legislature or the chief justice of the Oregon Supreme Court, according to a letter sent this spring to the Legislature by panel Chair Jennifer Nash.

The issue of unrepresented defendants has spread across at least two-thirds of the state’s counties since it first surfaced in Multnomah County in early 2022. Six counties—Coos, Douglas, Jackson, Marion, Multnomah, and Washington—have been designated as crisis counties due to their most unsolvable problems.

The executive director of Metropolitan Public Defender, the biggest public defense company in the state, Carl Macpherson, stated that he is holding off on making a decision regarding Sanchagrin’s one-year plan until it is fully implemented. However, he expressed optimism that it will result in improvements.

Even though the plan simply calls for inflationary wage increases, it is nonetheless the case. Additionally, it excludes funding for the hiring of additional public defenders in order to reduce caseloads throughout the system.

Pay increases and reduced caseloads are urgently needed to prevent public defenders from departing for better-paying, less stressful jobs, according to a news release issued Thursday by public defense firms around Oregon.

According to the news release, Caitlin Plummer, executive director of Public Defender Services of Lane County, stated that the fact is that Oregon just needs more public defenders.

But according to district attorneys Nathan Vasquez of Multnomah County and Kevin Barton of Washington County, the situation may be resolved without the need for additional public defenders. They argue that increasing the caseloads of current public defenders is necessary.

In 2019, there was one public defender for every 177 cases; this year, that ratio has fallen to one counsel for every 93, a top state judicial official informed lawmakers earlier this year.

In Multnomah and Washington counties, where the number of defendants without attorneys promised by the constitution has quadrupled or tripled in the last year, the issue is at its worst. Meanwhile, the remainder of the state has been doing better, according to data from the Oregon Public Defense Commission.

“Those two things really jumped out at me as Oh my God moments in a sea of data,” Barton said.

According to Barton, this is why a solution is more urgently needed than ever.

He claimed that the crisis had significantly worsened.

The Oregon Legislature is covered by Aimee Green. You can reach her on Bluesky, agreen@oregonian.com, or at 503-294-5119.

About The Author