Council codifies Washington State Supreme Court’s new lower limits to public defender caseloads

The King County Council on Tuesday approved legislation that updates the county’s public defense standards to bring the county in line with recent changes adopted by the Washington State Supreme Court. The changes to county code implement lower caseload limits required by the court to ensure public defenders have capacity to adequately represent their clients.

“The right to counsel is an important constitutional right and robust public defense is essential to a functioning criminal legal system,” said the proposal’s sponsor, Councilmember Jorge L. Barón. “At the same time, significantly reducing caseloads for public defenders will require significant investment and potentially increase downstream legal system costs. The proposal adopted today establishes clear expectations so that these reductions can be implemented in the most sustainable way possible for both the County budget, public defense staff, and the legal system as a whole.”

Previous code language was unclear and could arguably have required a three-year implementation timeline for reduced caseloads for public defenders. However, the approved legislation will implement the new standards over a 10-year period, as allowed by the State Supreme Court, to spread out the costs associated with hiring more attorneys and staff to meet the lower caseload limits.

“Today’s action is just the first step and it’s vital that the State Legislature provide funding to help counties implement the new state standards,” Barón said. “Without increasing state investment, local governments may be forced to make cuts in other important programs that are funded from the same sources, such as other components of the criminal legal system or upstream prevention efforts that keep individuals out of contact with the legal system entirely.”

Failure to clarify the county’s standards could have created significant legal and operational risks for the county, including overloaded public defense staff, dismissed criminal cases, delayed prosecutions, and litigation if constitutionally required legal representation cannot be provided. Adoption of the legislation will help ensure stability to the county’s criminal legal system.