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Minutes for HB2109 - Committee on Judiciary
Short Title
Increasing the county population threshold for a county to be required to have a lawyer representative, increasing the number of lawyer members and decreasing the number of non-lawyer members on the board of indigents' defense services.
Minutes Content for Tue, Jan 26, 2021
Chairperson Patton opened the hearing on HB2109. Natalie Scott provided an overview of the bill.(Attachment 1) Ms. Scott stood for questions.
Proponent
Heather Cessna provided testimony in support of HB2109. (Attachment 2) Ms. Cessna explained the make-up of their Board is set out in K.S.A. 22-4519, which has not been amended since 1995. Currently, K.S.A. 22-4519 requires the Board to have nine members: four members of the public who are not attorneys, and five registered Kansas attorneys. From that group, the First Congressional District must have a public member plus an attorney member, while the other three congressional districts must have at least one member (either a public or an attorney member). Additionally, each county with a population over 100,000 must have an attorney member. In the past 25 years, enough counties have surpassed the current 100,000 population mark that the appointing authority (the Governor, with Senate confirmation) will not be able to finish appointing members to our Board without also violating our statute. The changes proposed in HB2109 are aimed at solving this statutory conundrum.
Ms. Cessna stood for questions.
Chairperson closed the hearing on HB2109.
