HOUSE BILL NO. 134 "An Act making supplemental, capital, and other appropriations, and reappropriations; amending appropriations; making appropriations to capitalize funds; making an appropriation under art. IX, sec. 17(c), Constitution of the State of Alaska, from the constitutional budget reserve fund; and providing for an effective date." DEPARTMENT OF ADMINISTRATION Section 1 d Public Defender Agency Projected annual caseload increase - PD was reappointed to several hundred old cases associated with the Blakely decision which rendered some aspects of the State of Alaska's sentencing framework unconstitutional. Also, increases in travel to remote courts, expert witness, discovery and file storage costs. Funding of $24.9 in General Fund/Program Receipts is from the Dept. of Law from collections under Criminal Rule 39 and Appellate Rule 209. Also includes Therapeutic court funding coming from federal funds received by the National Council on Alcohol and Drug Dependency and allocated to State agencies. $887.2 GF; $20.0 SDPR BARBARA BRINK, DIRECTOR, PUBLIC DEFENDER AGENCY, (via teleconference), explained that the request for supplemental funds is based on caseload and workload increases, which are out of the Public Defender Agency's control. The percentage of increase in caseloads is 9 percent this year, over 2,000 more cases than last year, primarily because of the Blakely decision. There is also an increase of 2,300 more Superior Court felony filings than last year, which are the most time-consuming, cost-intensive cases. The Public Defender Agency has also picked up some cases previously handled by the Office of Public Advocacy. 3:43:18 PM Section 1 c Office of Public Advocacy Projected annual caseload increase - Because of the difficulty in projecting case types and costs 18 months in advance, OPA has historically funded the workload and caseload increases through supplemental appropriations. Funding of $25.0 in General Fund/Program Receipts is from the Dept. of Law from collections under Criminal Rule 39 and Appellate Rule 209. $600.0 GF JOSH FINK, PUBLIC ADVOCATE, OFFICE OF PUBLIC ADVOCACY, (via teleconference), pointed out that the Office of Public Advocacy is experiencing similar caseload increases. Felony filings in Anchorage are up by 76 percent for the first half of the year, and up 32 percent statewide. Mr. Fink opined that the requested supplemental would amount to a hold-the- line budget. Co-Chair Meyer asked where the caseloads are coming from. Mr. Fink explained how the court assigns cases. Representative Hawker, addressing the question to both Mr. Fink and Ms. Brink, asked for a reason behind the increase. Ms. Brink said that she believes more cases are being prosecuted, and that crime is not going up. She explained that there are newly funded positions, more district attorneys and prosecutors, and more troopers making arrests, which leads to more cases. Representative Hawker asked what types of cases are being prosecuted more. Ms. Brink replied that she was not able to answer that question. HB 134 was heard and HELD in Committee for further consideration.