A bill to amend 1978 PA 620, entitled “Appellate defender act,” by amending the title and sections 2, 4, 6, and 7 (MCL 780.712, 780.714, 780.716, and 780.717) and by adding sections 1a and 8a.
House Bill 4631 would have an indeterminate fiscal impact on the state and on local units of government. Under the bill, the Appellate Defender Commission would be required to develop a system of appellate defense services for indigent youth. At this time, the estimated cost of expanding the role of the State Appellate Defender Office to include appellate defense for juvenile justice cases would be roughly $560,000 on an annual basis. The office would need to hire at least 3.0 additional staff members and would be expected to cover costs of salary and benefit increases in the future. Also, if an indigent defense system provides payment to locally appointed private counsel under provisions set forth in the bill, the state would be required to reimburse the system for half of the cost to the system. At this time, the estimated cost of reimbursement would be about $3.2 million on an annual basis.
Co-sponsored by Reps.
Referred to the Committee on Criminal Justice
Reported with substitute H-1
