Session: 2021-2022
ACLU-PA Position: Supports
SB 1317 would create an Indigent Defense Advisory Committee and a grant fund to support indigent defense. Pennsylvania remains the only state in the nation that fails to provide state-level funding for public defenders and instead requires that individual counties bear 100% of the financial burden to maintain their essential—and constitutionally required—public defense services.
Check the bill's status here.
