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2006 Legislative Priorities
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| Background | Status | ABA Policy | Key Points | Links |
The Criminal Justice Act (CJA) was enacted to fulfill the promise of Gideon v. Wainwright. For many years the dedicated lawyers (panel attorneys) appointed to represent indigent defendants charged with federal crimes were compensated for their work with rates so low the rates did not even cover overhead costs.
The issue of indigent defense funding got an important boost in 2001 when the House and Senate conferees on the FY 2002 Commerce, Justice, State and the Judiciary appropriations bills provided an increase in CJA panel attorney rates to $90 per hour in-court and out-of-court effective May, 2002. In the 106th Congress, hourly rates were increased to $75 in-court and $55 out-of-court, which was the most significant improvement in these rates since 1984. When the ABA adopted policy on this issue in 1998, CJA panel attorney hourly rates were $65 per hour in-court and $45 per hour out-of-court. The $90 hourly flat rate is a significant step towards the eventual goal of providing the full-authorized level of $113 per hour for these CJA rates.
In the 109th Congress, the Judiciary requested $768 million for FY 2006, including $30 million to cover expected costs as a consequence of the U.S. Supreme Court's January 2005 Booker decision making the federal sentencing guidelines advisory. Through this request the Judiciary is seeking an increase that would provide the equivalent of a COLA in order to raise non-capital hourly rates from $90 to $92 and capital hourly rates from $160 to $163. The House of Representatives on June 30, 2005, passed the FY 2006 spending bill for the Judiciary, H.R.3058, and included $722 million for Defender Services. The House bill was silent on the issue of COLA. The Senate Appropriations Committee on July 21, 2005 and the full Senate on October 20, 2005 approved $710.8 million for Defender Services. P.L. 109-115 (H.R. 3058), enacted on November 20, 2005 included final funding of $717 million for the Defender Services Program.
The President's FY 2007 budget requests $804 million for Defender Services. This request would provide a COLA that would raise non-capital hourly rates from $92 to $94 and capital hourly rates from $163 to $167. It would also raise hourly panel rates from $94 to $113. The House Appropriations Subcommittee on May 26, 2006 and the full committee on June 6, 2006 approved a recommendation of $750 million for Defender Services for FY 2007, an amount that would not permit a COLA or a raise in panel rates, but would result in a $16 million shortfall in meeting current operating costs. The House of Representatives passed its appropriations measure, H.R. 5576, on June 16, 2006, with the $750 million recommendation for FY 2007 for Defender Services. The Senate Appropriations Committee approved a FY 2007 recommendation of $761 million on July 20, 2006.
The ABA urges the federal and state governments to take immediate steps to insure the provision of sufficient funds for the assistance of counsel for indigent defendants. The ABA urges Congress to fully fund the Criminal Justice Act (CJA) with sufficient funds to increase the compensation for panel attorneys appointed under the Act to represent indigent defendants to a flat rate of $113 per hour, plus annual pay adjustments
- Chief Justice Rehnquist supports increased funding for CJA panel attorneys. He has stated that "[i]nadequate compensation for panel attorneys is seriously hampering the ability of federal courts to recruit and retain qualified panel attorneys to provide effective representation" under the CJA.
- Increased hourly rates are needed now more than ever to recruit qualified CJA attorneys. At the same time low compensation rates are deterring many qualified attorneys from accepting CJA appointments, the practice of federal criminal law is becoming increasingly more complex. In the last decade, for example, Congress has passed new, more complicated criminal laws, and federal sentencing guidelines have been amended over 500 times. It is therefore more important than ever that CJA panel attorneys become-and remain-competent in federal criminal law.
- Judges rely on CJA panel attorneys, in addition to defender organizations, to provide competent representation to indigent defendants. The large growth in the number of federal defender organizations in the 1990s is attributable to problems with the quality of representation, yet the court's reliance on panel attorney representation continues to increase because of the growth in the total number of cases.
- A recent GAO study disclosed that hourly rates routinely paid by major federal agencies for legal services substantially exceed those paid to CJA panel attorneys. In fiscal year 2001, for example, the average hourly fees paid to private attorneys ranged from $125 to $357. In contrast, the hourly rate for CJA panel attorneys in 2003 is $90.
ABA Criminal Justice Section
ABA Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defendants
Other Links
Administrative Office of the United States Courts
National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
National Legal Aid and Defender Association
Staff Contact: E. Bruce Nicholson, Legislative Counsel
Updated: November 3, 2006