Louisiana public defenders struggle to cover expenses, audit report says

More than a quarter of Louisiana’s 42 local public defender offices spent more money than they received during fiscal year 2024-25, highlighting the yearslong budget struggles of public defense overall.

The 24th Judicial District office, which covers Jefferson Parish, had the largest cost overrun, spending $1 million more on public defense than it took in during the fiscal cycle that ended June 30, 2025, according to a Louisiana Legislative Auditor report released Monday.

While 12 public defender districts overspent in the fiscal cycle, they had enough reserves to cover the losses, according to the auditor’s report.

Still, the public defender system has strained for years to meet its financial demands and has required more state funding to stay afloat than many elected officials are comfortable giving. 

State Public Defender Rémy Starns has attributed the system’s financial problems to unreliable funding sources at the local level.

“The unstable, inadequate and insufficient nature of our primary funding stream has always resulted in ‘deficit spending’ by several districts each year,” Starns wrote in an Aug. 20 written response to the auditor’s report.

Starns did not immediately respond to a call and text message made to his cell phone Tuesday.

The state provided close to half of the $79.8 million public defenders spent in fiscal year 2024-25, according to the report. The other half came mostly from local sources, including conviction and user fees. In Louisiana, a large portion of local public defender revenue has traditionally come from a $45 fee assessed when a defendant is convicted of a crime or pleads guilty. This includes convictions for traffic offenses.

Revenue from these fees has declined and can fluctuate drastically from year to year.

District attorneys in several jurisdictions have also set up diversion programs for traffic citations, which allow violators to bypass conviction and not pay the public defense fee. Instead, they pay prosecutors to take part in an alternative program that might keep the offense from affecting their auto insurance rates or help them avoid a more substantial fine. 

Starns pushed legislation earlier this year that would have provided more stability to the public defense system’s finances. It would have ensured public defenders’ funding increases every time district attorneys’ state funding goes up. 

The measure stalled over concerns that legislators would lose control over the amount of public defense funding the state provided every year.

Starns said in his response to the auditor that he would press for legislative change again in 2027. 

In the report, the auditor suggested the Office of the State Public Defender monitor local offices closely to make sure their reserve funds don’t dip to under 15% of their annual expenditures.

Starns agreed to do so and said he had hired more staff to track district office spending. 

Other public defender offices that spent more than they made for 2024-25 include those that cover the following parishes: Allen Caddo, Bienville, Bossier, Cameron, Claiborne, East Feliciana, Evangeline, Franklin, Iberia, Jackson, Richland, St. Bernard, St. Martin, St. Mary, Webster, West Carroll, West Feliciana. Some of the offices cover more than one parish.