The leadership of the State Public Defender’s Office would like to thank Governor Brad Little for his support of public defense in Idaho with his $88 million budget recommendation  for fiscal year 2026.

The proposed budget would allow the State Public Defender’s office to continue developing our client-centered and unified approach to indigent defense across the state while raising the hourly rates for contract and conflict attorneys from $100 to $150 to improve coverage in Idaho’s remote and rural areas.

The budget request also calls for $6.4 million in merit-based salary increases for attorneys in our 12 institutional offices, to increase pay for attorneys who handle complex litigation – and make those wages competitive with other government agencies.

“We’ve learned so much since taking over public defense in October,” State Public Defender Eric Fredericksen said. “We found out we had deeply committed people working to ensure indigent Idahoans have the protection they deserve under the U.S. Constitution. It also didn’t take long to identify the need to increase the budget for public defense across the state.”

“Since then, we’ve been working with our employees, legislators, and the Governor’s Office to figure out ways to improve the system,” Fredericksen said. “We deeply appreciate Governor Little and his staff recognizing that and supporting a budget to allow public defenders to do the work at the highest level for the people of Idaho.”

When the SPD took over in October, the initial salary matrix for employees was based on years of service – which led to increases for most attorneys but did not account for what kind of cases they specialized in.

The new budget would add $6.4 million to allow our agency to add a merit component, which would recognize the work attorneys have done to take on the most complex cases, in addition to how long they have worked in public defense.

The budget calls for an increase in the SPD contract rate from $100 to $150 an hour, so we can offer a more competitive rate to private attorneys who cover Idaho’s 30 counties without an institutional office – and the contract attorneys who provide conflict coverage for the entire state.

We established our current contract attorney rate of $100 an hour based on budget estimates from 2021. While our office eliminated unconstitutional flat fee contracts when we took over, it didn’t take long to determine the hourly rates needed to be higher to help contract attorneys pay for staff support.

The request also increases the hourly rate for investigators – a necessary service for attorneys dealing with complex cases – from $65 to $85 an hour. That rate will allow attorneys access to information they need to provide the most robust public defense.

The budget request also contains a supplemental request that would allow the salary and contract rates to go into effect as soon as the budget is approved, which should relieve pressure on contract attorneys across Idaho. Review the 2026 budget request here.

We have had a significant amount of former contract attorneys withdraw from cases over the $100 hourly rate in north Idaho and other areas of the state. We also had some long-term public defenders in our institutional offices leave over the merit pay issue. We feel confident we will be able to attract more attorneys with the higher rates for our entire agency.

“There has been a lot of talk and debate about public defense in Idaho since October,” Fredericksen said. “We’ve been paying close attention to concerns across the state and are committed to working with the Legislature to ensure we have the resources we need to provide the quality defense our clients deserve.”