Members of Virginia’s Indigent Defense Commission are cautiously optimistic following the bipartisan passage of legislation that would see court-appointed attorneys get pay increases for the first time in decades.
New River Valley Delegate Jason Ballard is among the members of the Virginia Indigent Defense Commission, but he had to attend Tuesday’s meeting virtually because he was in West Virginia arguing a case. His work in West Virginia was a reminder of just how poorly court appointed attorneys are paid in Virginia.
“I just recently did a murder case about 3 months ago and I submitted my bill for about $16,000 and it was paid without question,” he said of a recent court fight he was involved in in the Mountain State.
But under existing Virginia fee caps, a court appointed attorney working a murder case would be paid about $1,200 dollars. Under new proposed caps that fee jumps to $1600.
The increase in pay comes after a 2023 state report suggested the roughly 2,000 private attorneys the state relies on to defend the poorest clients needed a raise. And as of mid-March the state could increase rates to about 75 percent of suggested levels surviving the already tense budget negotiations.
According to the Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis, Democrats allotted about $28 million in new funds for appointed counsel in their conference budget. Youngkin did not include such funds in his original budget submitted ahead of the 2024 session.
“This will move us up a little bit, but it's an improvement. Having this raise in 20 years," said former Winchester Public Defender, turned commission Deputy Executive Director Tim Coyne on the proposed increase. "I think it’ll have a very positive impact on court appointed counsel.”
The fee cap increase was proposed by Democrats this session but got nearly unanimous support. Ballard is a Republican. And while he was grateful for the fee increase, he said there’s more work to be done.
“I hope the commission will continue to press this issue going forward and maybe we can address it again at the next general assembly session,” Ballard said.
As illustrated at the top of this story, West Virginia pays about 10 times the proposed amount for murder cases and in a report from the commission, it shows Virginia beats only Mississippi for its fee caps. Colorado tops of the list with a fee cap near $38,000.
The deadline for Youngkin to sign the fee cap increase is April 8th and budget negotiations are expected to be addressed in a short session a few weeks later.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
