Title
Joint resolution establishing Fund 251 Supreme Court Public Defender Fund for the purposes of depositing and expending funds allocated by the Illinois Supreme Court to the 19th Judicial Circuit and to supplement the funds appropriated to the Office of the Public Defender and public defender services and authorizing an emergency appropriation in the amount of $104,197.08 in both revenue and expense as directed by the Chief Circuit Judge.
Staff Summary
• Illinois Public Act 103-0008 was signed into law by the Governor on June 7, 2023 and established among other things, the Public Defender Fund (55 ILCS 5/3-4014).
• The Public Defender Fund was created as a special fund in the State treasury, and a total of $10,000,000 was appropriated for this fund and is to be used by the Illinois Supreme Court to provide funding to counties with a population of 3,000,000 or less for public defenders and public defender services pursuant to Section 3-4014 of the Counties Code.
• The funds are to be used for public defender and public defender services.
Body
RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, Illinois Public Act 103-0008 was signed into law by the Governor on June 7, 2023 and established among other things, the Public Defender Fund (55 ILCS 5/3-4014).The Public Defender Fund was created as a special fund in the State treasury, and a total of $10,000,000 was appropriated for this fund and is to be used by the Illinois Supreme Court to provide funding to counties with a population of 3,000,000 or less for public defenders and public defender services pursuant to Section 3-4014 of the Counties Code; and
WHEREAS, with the goal to equitably and expeditiously allocate these funds throughout the state in all 101 eligible counties, the Illinois Supreme Court decided to allocate $50,000 to each of the eligible counties ($5,050,000), with the remaining sum ($4,950,000) to be allocated to each county through application of a formula developed by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) that included two variables: (1) total percentage of county residents living at or below the poverty level (as established by the US Census Bureau 2020 American Community Survey), and (2) the total of 2021 criminal case filings by county; and
WHEREAS, upon application of this formula, it was deemed that the 19th Judicial Circuit would be allocated a total of $104,197.08 in a lump sum payment to be used for the purposes stated in the Act, and after consultation between the Chief Circuit Judge and the Public Defender of each county.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by this County Board of Lake County, Illinois, that the County Board establishes Fund 251 Supreme Court Public Defender Fund for the purposes of depositing and expending funds allocated by the Illinois Supreme Court’s to the 19th Judicial Circuit, and to supplement the funds appropriated to the Office of the Public Defender and public defender services and authorizing an emergency appropriation in the amount $104,197.08 in both revenue and expense as directed by the Chief Circuit Judge.
DATED at Waukegan, Illinois, on October 10, 2023.