After much more money has been spent, after new plans and programs, Oregon’s public defense system is still in crisis.

As of Wednesday, there were 3,946 defendants facing charges without an attorney and another 1,706 defendants previously unrepresented who did not appear in court. That is a small percentage of the defendants in Oregon, but it is a breach of the U.S. Constitution.

State Rep. Jason Kropf, D-Bend, freely admitted a bill in his committee on Wednesday with policy changes, House Bill 2614, was not going to bring an end to all of the problems. Another piece coming later will be focussed on how Oregon spends the money.

HB 2614, as amended, has several changes. We aren’t going to cover them all. It makes it easier for the executive director of the Oregon Public Defense Commission to be removed by the governor.

There’s been some anxiety about that change, because nobody wants politicians interfering in the work done in courtrooms. It’s not an unusual arrangement for the governor to have such control over the leadership of state agencies. If the power is abused, the Legislature should change the law.

The amended bill also grants a reprieve for groups of attorneys called consortiums to continue to represent defendants through 2033. They have played an important role in public defense for years. There has been concern, though, that they did not have adequate oversight. And the state has been moving toward relying on other ways to represent defendants needing public defenders, such as direct employees of the state. If consortiums can continue to prove their worth, perhaps they will be able to continue beyond the deadline.

The amended bill got unanimous approval from Democrats and Republicans and moves now to the House.

Things are not going to be fine with Oregon’s public defense crisis if this bill passes, likely for years, because of problems with recruiting and retaining lawyers in public defense. The bill could help.