§163. Regionalization of district public defender services by board

A. In certain cases the board shall regionalize and operate the public defender services of a district as a subdivision of the board through a regional office. When the public defender services of a district are taken over by the board in this manner, the district public defender shall be an employee of the region and the regional director shall be the manager and supervisor of the district public defender office. A regionalization of the operation of a district public defender program shall occur, by a majority vote of the board, upon a finding that one of the following conditions have occurred:

(1) The district, through its district public defender, petitions the board for the board to regionalize the delivery of indigent defender services in the district; or

(2) The board upon its own motion, or upon petition of a regional director, if applicable, finds that the district public defender office has failed after reasonable assistance, resourcing, and consultation with the board to reasonably meet performance standards mandated by the board or to comply with data reporting or any other rule adopted by the board; or

(3) Due to a natural disaster or catastrophic emergency, the district public defender cannot operate or function normally, provided that this shall apply for not longer than a period of six months, renewable by the board on an interim basis at six- month intervals.

B. In any district where the board takes over the operation of indigent defender services as provided by this Section the district office shall be maintained for client services in the judicial district. The district public defender in a district regionalized pursuant to the provisions of this Section shall be a day-to-day manager and shall work out of the district office.

C. When the operation of a district office is regionalized pursuant to the provisions of this Section, the supervision of compliance with state standards and guidelines shall be carried out by an officer of the board as part of its supervision of the regional office.

D. Prior to regionalizing a district as provided for in this Section, the board shall send written notice of the public hearing as required in Subsection E of this Section, to the chief judge, the district advisory board, if applicable, and the district public defender of that judicial district of the board's intention to regionalize the district.

E.(1) Prior to regionalizing a district as provided for in this Section, the board shall conduct a public hearing regarding regionalization of a district, and provide the public an opportunity to offer comment on the regionalization.

(2) The public hearing provided for by this Subsection may be conducted at a regular meeting of the board provided proper notice is provided to the public as required by this Subsection.

Acts 2007, No. 307, §1.