Ohio Code 120.041 – Duties of public defender regarding determination of costs
(A) In addition to the state public defender‘s other duties under this chapter and other Revised Code provisions, the state public defender shall do all of the following for each state fiscal year:
Terms Used In Ohio Code 120.041
- Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
- Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). Source: OCC
- Minority leader: See Floor Leaders
- Public defender: Represent defendants who can't afford an attorney in criminal matters.
- state: means the state of Ohio. See Ohio Code 1.59
(1) Determine the total dollar amount of all requests for reimbursements that were submitted for that fiscal year by counties under sections 120.18, 120.28, 120.33, 120.35, and 2941.51 of the Revised Code;
(2) Determine the total dollar amount paid to all counties as reimbursements under the requests described in division (A)(1) of this section that were submitted for that fiscal year;
(3) Determine the percentage of total costs submitted by counties under the requests described in division (A)(1) of this section that was paid to all counties as reimbursements for that fiscal year;
(4) Commencing in state fiscal year 2021, determine the increase or decrease in the total dollar amount found under division (A)(2) of this section for that fiscal year from the total dollar amount found under that division for the previous fiscal year;
(5) Determine, out of the total dollar amount found under division (A)(2) of this section that was paid to all counties as a reimbursement, the total amount of that money used by all of the counties for each of the following categories of costs in that fiscal year:
(a) Costs for appointed counsel;
(b) Costs for personnel;
(c) Costs for expert witnesses;
(d) Costs for investigations;
(e) Costs for transcripts;
(f) Costs for rent or lease, utilities, furnishings, maintenance, and equipment;
(g) Costs for travel;
(h) Any other category of costs set by the state public defender.
(6) Commencing in state fiscal year 2021, determine the increase or decrease in the amount of money found under division (A)(5) of this section to have been used for each category of costs described in divisions (A)(5)(a) to (h) of this section for that fiscal year from the amount of money found under that division to have been used for each such category of costs for the previous fiscal year;
(7) Analyze the cost per each felony, misdemeanor, traffic, or juvenile delinquency case assigned to a public defender or counsel pursuant to section 120.06, 120.16, 120.26, or 120.33 of the Revised Code.
(B) For each state fiscal year, the state public defender shall prepare a report that includes all of its findings and determinations for that fiscal year and, not later than the first day of October in the state fiscal year following the fiscal year covered by the report, shall submit copies of the report to the president of the senate, the speaker of the house of representatives, the minority leader of the senate, the minority leader of the house of representatives, and the governor.