HOD1_Results

House of Delegates Resolution 1

 

 

Proposed Resolution for Support for Public Defense Providers

Whereasthe Constitutions of both Oregon and the United States require that all people facing a possible deprivation of their physical liberty in court proceedings, such as those accused of criminal offenses, juveniles accused of conduct that would constitute crimes if committed by an adult, and those who are subjects of civil commitment proceedings, have the right to assistance by ethical and competent legal counsel;

WhereasOregon statutes guarantee a right to counsel for parents defending against a petition to terminate their parental rights, for parents in juvenile dependency proceedings in which parents may lose custody of their children whenever the nature of the proceedings and due process so require, and for children in juvenile dependency proceedings when requested.

Whereasthose same constitutions and statutes require that the counsel provided the person be paid for by the government, if the person is indigent and cannot afford their own legal counsel;

Whereasthe Sixth Amendment Center published in January 2019 a comprehensive study of Oregon’s public defense system and determined that Oregon’s fixed-fee contract system pits appointed counsels’ financial self-interest against the due process rights of their clients and is prohibited by national public defense standards;

Whereasthe American Bar Association published in January 2022 its report on its calculations of the amount of time public defense providers should spend on average on the various types of public defense cases and concluded that Oregon had one-third the number of public defense attorneys needed to ensure that indigent clients receive constitutionally competent representation;

Whereasthere is a salary and resource disparity between most trial level legal counsel for the person and legal counsel for the State;

Whereasmost trial level legal counsel for the person are government contractors and legal counsel for the State are government employees funded through direct appropriations;

Whereaslegal counsel for the person has an ethical and professional obligation pursuant to the state and federal constitutions, as well as Oregon Rules of Professional Conduct 1.1 (“A lawyer shall provide competent representation to a client”), 1.3 (“A lawyer shall not neglect a legal matter entrusted to the lawyer”) and 1.7 (“A lawyer shall not represent a client if the representation involves a current conflict of interest”) to provide adequate and conflict-free representation;

Whereasthe American Bar Association has acknowledged for over a decade that resource parity, salary parity, and caseload workload standards are essential to its “Ten Principles of Public Defense”;

Whereasthe House of Delegates has long supported a strong public defense system and increased financial resources for public defense providers; now, therefore, be it

Resolved, that the Oregon State Bar, through its Board of Governors and staff, continue to participate actively with in efforts by courts, prosecutors, the Oregon Department of Justice, the Legislative Assembly, the Public Defense Services Commission, the Office of Public Defense Services, Oregon Public Defense Commission, the Oregon Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, and other public safety and child welfare stakeholders, to obtain equal resources and commensurate compensation for public defense providers, and work toward developing caseload workload standards that ensure those public defense providers can meet their constitutional and ethical obligations.

Financial Impact

None stated.

Submitted by:
Keiler Beers, HOD Region 5
Amy Bingham, HOD Region 6
Janae Bly, HOD Region 3
Laura Coffin, HOD Region 2
Kristen Farnworth, HOD Region 6
Shannon Flowers, HOD Region 6
Joshua Gums, HOD Region 1
Jennifer Kinzey, HOD Region 4
Adam LeBrun, HOD Region 4
Kyra Rohner
John Schlosser, HOD Region 5

 
 
 
 


 

 

Vote Percentages

Yes Votes: 136
No Votes: 8
Abstentions: 6

 

Vote Tally

Name
Yes
Douglas Primmer Yes
Michael Lowry Yes
Leslie Nelson Yes
Amy Bingham Yes
Timothy Williams Yes
Mia Getlin Yes
Ryan Collier Yes
Stephanie Brown Yes
Shannon Flowers Yes
William Dozier Yes
Ryan Jennings Yes
Kimberly Riley Yes
Vanessa Nordyke Yes
Michael Purcell Yes
Jus Singh Yes
Aurelia Erickson Yes
Carl Mueller Yes
Matthew McKean Yes
Clinton Williams Yes
Shawn Lillegren Yes
Jordan Schoonover Yes
Christopher Larsen Yes
Emily Oberdorfer Yes
Michael Stevens Yes
Erin Christison Yes
Sonia Montalbano Yes
Nicholas Yanchar Yes
Brian Stimson Yes
Sage Ertman Yes
Maureen McGee Yes
Mario Musil Yes
Michael Fuller Yes
Cameron Tinker Yes
Bradley Holbrook Yes
Sonya Fischer Yes
Kyle Sciuchetti Yes
H Zamudio Yes
Myah Kehoe Yes
Catherine Schulist Yes
Jason Posner Yes
Jon Rand Yes
Sara Butcher Yes
Scott Lucas Yes
Ron Cheng Yes
Laura Burgee Yes
Kellie Furr Yes
Andrea Madison Yes
Joseph Hesbrook Yes
Jeremy Bordelon Yes
Garrett Ramsey Yes
Shane Davis Yes
Brent Smith Yes
John Devlin Yes
Earl Christison Yes
Trevor Byrd Yes
Sara Foroshani Yes
Kristen Farnworth Yes
Hertsel Shadian Yes
Kirsten Naito Yes
Tomas Hernandez Yes
Faith Morse Yes
Steve Milla Yes
Kevin Yolken Yes
John Grant Yes
John Bachofner Yes
Russell Garrett Yes
Greg Raburn Yes
Elizabeth Inayoshi Yes
Christopher Morgan Yes
Jason Mitchell Yes
Ronald Elzinga Yes
Joshua Gums Yes
Andrew Schpak Yes
David Wade Yes
Brian Gardner Yes
Daniel Lang Yes
Joshua Lay Yes
Eddie Medina Yes
David Robinson Yes
Philip Kirk Yes
Emet Klepper Yes
Kamron Graham Yes
Theresa Kohlhoff Yes
Matthew Sutton Yes
Eddie Passadore Yes
Lake James Perriguey Yes
Heather Decker Yes
Mike Truesdale Yes
Laura Coffin Yes
Lauren Grace Yes
Daniel Evans Yes
Andrew Mittendorf Yes
Apolinar Montero-Sanchez Yes
Whitney Stark Yes
Adam LeBrun Yes
John Marandas Yes
Amanda Caffall Yes
Samuel Imperati Yes
Nicholas Lumley Yes
Angela Engstrom Yes
Kate Flanagan Yes
Joseph Connelly Yes
David Wu Yes
Thomas Flaherty Yes
Janae Bly Yes
James Klonoski Yes
Jennifer Kinzey Yes
Chase Beguin Yes
Christopher Potts Yes
Karen Moore Yes
Emily Shack Yes
Jennifer Meisberger Yes
Victory Walker Yes
Brent Barton Yes
Esther Smith Yes
Ryan Bickler Yes
Frederick Lundblade Yes
Juhi Aggarwal Yes
Kristie Gibson Yes
James Gregory Yes
B Felder Yes
Curtis Peterson Yes
Rick Quarles Yes
Xin Xu Yes
Rudy Lachenmeier Yes
Peter Werner Yes
Amber Labrecque Yes
Michelle Burrows Yes
Bradley Thayer Yes
Nicole Tudhope Yes
Cody Berne Yes
Joseph Walsh Yes
Wendie Kellington Yes
Benjamin Haile Yes
Shallon Martin Yes
Nicole Harris Yes
Name
No
Kay Teague No
Travis Benn No
Linda Degman No
Mark Johnson-Roberts No
Andrew Johnson No
James Oberholtzer No
Elizabeth Savage No
Howard Newman No
Name
Abstain
Jeremiah Ross Abstain
Melissa Bobadilla Abstain
Melissa Jaffe Abstain
Royce Williams Abstain
Shiwanni Johnson Abstain
Emil Ali Abstain