Bill to restore SPD pay raises moves forward in Assembly.

Byline: Michaela Paukner, mpaukner@wislawjournal.com

A bill to restore raises for state public defenders is moving forward in the Wisconsin Assembly.

TheAssembly Committee on Judiciary held a public hearingon Tuesday for AssemblyBill 33. It allows the Public Defender Board to provide merit-based pay raises under the assistant state public defender pay-progression plan in fiscal year 2021-22 exceeding 10% of the attorney's base pay.

The pay discrepancy between state public defenders and prosecutors started with the state's 2019-21 budget. Lawmakers passed a budget that provided merit-based pay progression to prosecutors, but not public defenders.

AB33 is a new bill with the same goals as a piece of legislation that unanimously passed the state Assembly last year, butthe pandemic prevented the Senate from holding a vote on the amended measure.

Rep. Amy Loudenbeck, R-Clinton, said the 2021 bill doesn't ask for any additional funding for the raises because the State Public Defender's Office is able to cover the pay increases for the remaining months until the 2021-22 budget would go into effect.

The SPD is able to cover the cost because 78 employees left the public defender's office since March.

"We are able to self-fund this session's version of the bill due to the increased staff turnover, as well as the temporary impact of the pandemic on...