On September 2, 2026, the Louisiana Legislative Auditor (LLA) issued his annual report to the Legislature on the Louisiana District Public Defenders. This report highlights 100% compliance with reporting requirements among the Offices of the District Public Defender and details deficit spending in 12 of the 42 district offices. Deficit spending in public defender offices is not a new concept. The public defender system’s primary funding mechanism is unstable, inadequate, and insufficient, relying on assessment, collection, and disbursement of Conviction and User Fees (CUFs). Under this mechanism there have always been districts who rely on state supplemental assistance and utilization of their fund balance to cover district office expenditures. However, in previous years, the number of districts expending a portion of their fund balance has been far greater. In FY15, during the height of Restriction of Services, there were 24 offices that engaged in deficit spending. During FY20, which was Rémy Starns’ first year as State Public Defender and the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, 22 district offices operated at a deficit.
It should also be noted that the deficit spending reported for the 24th Judicial District Office of the District Public Defender was almost entirely related to the purchase of its office building. This one-time expense has created the opportunity for the district to generate revenue as it leases out additional office space within the building.
The decrease in districts relying on their fund balance to meet expenditures is a result of two significant policy shifts implemented by Mr. Starns:
- The state office is aggressively turning away from reliance on 501(c)3 organizations to provide services. All trial-level capital representation is handled out of a hub within the 19th Judicial District Office of the District Public Defender, reducing overhead expenses and increasing the capacity to handle non-capital murder and other major felony cases in East Baton Rouge Parish.
- The state office’s structure has been transformed with an emphasis on district compliance and increasing the ability to seek, apply for, and manage grants that provide additional support to line defenders in juvenile delinquency, Child in Need of Care, drug court, and mental health court matters.
Despite the success of the significant policy shifts enacted by the State Public Defender, there is still more work to be done to ensure that public resources are spent appropriately and efficiently. The Office of the State Public Defender has committed to addressing the LLA’s recommendations in the following ways:
- The Office of the State Public Defender will develop policies to address deficit spending and will include a corrective action plan should a district’s fund balance decrease below 15% of its total annual expenditures.
- Audit staff will conduct quarterly reviews of each district’s expenditures and revenues compared to both the current year’s budget and the prior year’s actual expenditures and revenues. This process will allow us to take corrective action prior to the end of the fiscal year.
In response to the LLA’s audit report, State Public Defender Rémy Starns stated, “I am very pleased by the LLA report which shows no immediate insolvency in our system, largely due to appropriate district spending and policy changes that have been implemented to prioritize district funding. However, in the face of increasing complexity in the criminal justice system and rising personnel costs, we need a stable funding stream.”
There is only so much that the state and local district offices can do to mitigate deficit spending. In the face of a volatile funding stream that time and time again has shown itself to be vulnerable to natural disasters, pandemics, and local elections, a new stable funding mechanism is needed. The State Public Defender remains committed to pursuing the creation of a Minimum Public Defender Fund, established in statute that will provide a known annual appropriation that the agency and district offices can plan around, that will stabilize the workforce and create an opportunity to provide benefits to line defenders and district office support staff.
Please click here to read the full annual report to the Legislature on the Louisiana District Public Defenders.