Miscellaneous

Update from State Public Defender

Posted on April 22, 2011
I’m at the ISBA Criminal Law Seminar and listening to the State Public Defender is speaking about the issues we’ve faced over the last couple of weeks. Straight from the man in charge, his office has finished its duties as to the past due bills as of this morning...

More Waiting

Posted on April 21, 2011
Governor Branstad signed eight bills into law yesterday, none of which was SF 209. So, we continue to wait. Iowa Public Radio and the Des Moines Register have reported that the governor hinted that he may veto the tax provisions of SF 209. Most of the quotes I’ve seen are him indicating that tax provisions [...

It?s signed!

Posted on April 21, 2011
Governor Branstad today signed SF 209, providing supplemental appropriations to the Iowa Indigent Defense Fund. See the release here. He did line-item veto certain portions of the bill, but he left the supplemental appropriations intact. It’s over…for now.

One More Step

Posted on April 20, 2011
The Iowa Legislature yesterday sent SF 209 to the Governor. From the quotes I’ve seen, I don’t think the indigent defense appropriation is in danger of being vetoed, though there are some other provisions that he’s said he doesn’t like...

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SF 209 Passess Both Houses ? 4/18/11

Posted on April 18, 2011
Both the Iowa Senate and the Iowa House have unanimously passed the version of SF 209 that came out of conference committee. The way that I understand it works is that both the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House have to sign the bill, then it’s sent to the Governor...

It?s About F****in Time, But Don?t Count Your Chickens ? 4/14

Posted on April 14, 2011
So SF 209 is still alive. Apparently the conference committee has been working on it. I’m not going to completely believe this until the Governor signs the bill, but things are definitely looking up. Here’s the full text of an email I received from the ISBA tonight: “Dear Erek, Iowa State Bar Association leadership is [...

Another Bill and Good Editors ? 4/14

Posted on April 14, 2011
Here’s a good editorial piece from the Des Moines Register. It seems from the comments, too, that people who are commenting are mostly in favor of getting this done. Also, someone in the Senate has introduced SSB 1208, a new stand-alone appropriation...

ISBA Indigent Defense Lobby Day

Posted on April 13, 2011
With apologies to the Iowa State Bar Association and its president, Frank Carroll, I’m posting the full text of an email I just received. I will not be able to attend the function because I will be in Juvenile Court carrying out my duties as a court-appointed attorney that afternoon...

Update from the Iowa Bar

Posted on April 11, 2011
You can watch a video here of Iowa Bar lobbyist Jim Carney giving an update on the indigent defense fund. I think we’re pretty much at square one with this. Though SF 512 hasn’t yet been sent to the Governor, I don’t think anyone expects him to sign it...

Should we have a meeting?

Posted on April 07, 2011
Click here to see Sen. Rob Hogg’s remarks to the Senate prior to the passage of SF 512 as amended by the House. Click here for a Des Moines Register article from yesterday about the Governor’s likely veto of SF 512. There’s some talk of contract attorneys meeting to discuss our options...

Should we have a meeting?

Posted on April 07, 2011
Click here to see Sen. Rob Hogg’s remarks to the Senate prior to the passage of SF 512 as amended by the House. Click here for a Des Moines Register article from yesterday about the Governor’s likely veto of SF 512. There’s some talk of contract attorneys meeting to discuss our options...

Senate passes House version of SF 512 ? 4/5

Posted on April 06, 2011
The Iowa Senate today, after having it’s direct appropriation rejected by the House, passed the House’s proposal of allowing the Governor to transfer funds from other departments to cover indigent defense shortfalls. Governor Branstad has said that he doesn’t support this action, so I suppose he’ll be the next one for us to send letters [...

No Dice ? 4/5

Posted on April 05, 2011
The House declined to accept the Senate amendment on a party-line vote. Wonder what the Senate will do now. What I understand is that the House Republicans want their income tax changes retroactive to last tax year. The Senate has not agreed to that and stripped that from the Bill when they sent it back [...

Senate Passes New SF 512 ? 4/5/11

Posted on April 05, 2011
The Iowa Senate today passed 50-0 the new version of SF 512, which I mentioned here and which directly appropriates money to the indigent defense fund. It now goes back to the House. Who knows what they’ll do next.

Moving Forward in the Senate? ? 4/4

Posted on April 05, 2011
Senator Rob Hogg today introduced an amendment to SF 512 which last week was amended by the House. It appears the amendment gives the House most of the amendment it made to the Bill (at least as related to taxes), reinserts the actual appropriation for the indigent defense fund and makes only the appropriation (and [...

All Quiet on the Central Front

Posted on April 02, 2011
There was no action in Des Moines on the indigent defense fund today. The Senate was not in session at all today and the House adjourned before 10:00 a.m. I emailed ISBA Legislative Counsel Jim Carney today to see if he had any idea what we can expect next week...

And we?re down, again ? Indigent Defense ? 3/31

Posted on March 31, 2011
I was out of the office all afternoon visiting a couple of clients at one of our venerable penal institutions. Discharging my duties as a court-appointed attorney who is supposed to be paid by the Indigent Defense Fund, which currently has no money. As an added bonus, it was “pat-down” day at the Anamosa State [...

House Will Take Action Today ? 3/31

Posted on March 31, 2011
Go here for more information.

Movement on Indigent Defense?

Posted on March 31, 2011
I’ve just been reviewing the Iowa Legislature’s website. It appears that the House Appropriations Committee is proposing today an amendment to SF 512, the stand-alone indigent defense appropriations bill. Rather than actually appropriate money for the Indigent Defense Fund, as the Senate bill does, the amendment allows the Director of the Department of Management, with [...

Last Indigent Defense Morsel for the Day

Posted on March 30, 2011
Here’s a story about attorneys in Dubuque not being able to pay their rent. Interesting how House Speaker Paulsen is quoted as saying that this should have been done weeks ago when his House Republicans are the ones who are holding up the bill. I laugh a little, though it makes me sad that indigent [...

More Indigent Defense

Posted on March 30, 2011
I thought this comment from an earlier post was worth posting by itself. It’s probably the best information I’ve had on the subject today. Thanks to Pat Parry for following the blog and commenting. “Erek: I thought I should mention that I got a response from Rep...

The Gazette Chimes In ? Indigent Defense

Posted on March 30, 2011
Here’s a nice article from the Cedar Rapids Gazette.

Follow-Up on Indigent Defense ? 3/30/2011

Posted on March 30, 2011
Here’s the full story from the Des Moines Register this morning. I linked to a blog post yesterday written by the same person. The full story indicates that SF 512 did not move out of the subcommittee yesterday morning. My understanding is that there will be another subcommittee meeting before the full Appropriations meeting Thursday...

Iowa Indigent Defense Update ? 3/29/2011

Posted on March 29, 2011
Here’s an update I found from the Des Moines Register. A House Appropriations subcommittee this morning discussed SF 512, which is the stand-alone indigent defense appropriation. The update is pretty vague, so I don’t know if the bill has been passed on to the full Appropriations Committee...

Can You Expunge your Iowa Criminal Record?

Posted on March 28, 2011
I’m writing about this today because I encountered this question three times last week. Two people called me to ask whether they could get domestic abuse assaults off their criminal records; and I attended a hearing requested by a defendant in a theft case where one of the cities I work with is the plaintiff...

One More Iowa Indigent Defense Post

Posted on March 25, 2011
I wasn’t planning to post on this today, but I decided to. This is an email I just sent to a group of contract attorneys. Contact your legislators. Be forceful and persuasive, but be nice. I’ve had some communication with the lobbyist for the ISBA...

All Indigent Defense, All the Time

Posted on March 24, 2011
I read this story about the lack of funding for indigent defense in Iowa and need to clarify something. Rep. Scott Raecker (R-Urbandale) characterizes attorneys who contract with the Iowa Public Defender’s Office as “defending impoverished criminals”...

Iowa Indigent Defense Update ? 3/22

Posted on March 22, 2011
The full Iowa Senate has now passed a standalone supplementary appropriation for  indigent defense. There’s a short wire blurb about it here. The Iowa House has not. Governor Branstad is voicing support for the bill, but it appears that House Republicans aren’t ready to do what’s right...

More on SF 209 (follow up to my last post)

Posted on March 21, 2011
My last post was an email message I’d sent to my legislators regarding indigent defense funding. I received this from one of them: “It is not a sticking point in the conference committee. I am trying to get the issues resolved and hope to have agreement next week...

A Social Media Revolution

Posted on March 18, 2011
Well, I’m going to try this again. I now have a nice professional website (sittiglaw.com) and have hooked this blog up to my brand spankin new Facebook business page. So many places to find what I have to say, now. I’m even considering joining Twitter, but I’m not sure I can scrunch my thoughts into [...

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