Indiana bill would ease residency rules for Marion County public defenders

The public defender’s office for Marion County needs help filling vacant positions in its office. One way that could help them, they say, is by looking for talent outside of Marion County.

The Indianapolis city-county government requires most of its employees to live in Marion County. There are some exceptions for Indianapolis police or firefighters.

A bill currently making its way through the statehouse seeks to remove the residency requirement for public defender offices statewide and could address an ongoing shortage. In Marion County the legislation would allow public defenders to live in any of the donut counties while still working for the office.

The bill passed the House without opposition and is now making its way to the Senate. The bill heard testimony in the Senate Corrections and Criminal Law Committee on Tuesday but did not receive a vote.

Ray Casanova, the chief public defender for Marion County, told the Senate committee that his office has had vacancies for close to a year.

“The current residency requirement that we are under limits the pool of qualified candidates at a time when Indiana, like much of the country, is facing a shortage of attorneys willing to do indigent defense work,” Casanova said.

The bill’s author, Rep. Alex Zimmerman (R-North Vernon) said this would put public defenders on par with prosecutors’ offices who don’t have residency requirements.

Andrew Cullen, the government relations director for the Indiana Commission on Court Appointed Attorneys, spoke in support of the bill and said the residency requirement limits the quality of attorneys able to work in Marion County.

“It's a policy that makes no sense, and I believe fundamentally is harming the state of Indiana, not only the county, by having our capital city struggle to find public defenders, and without properly trained public defenders, justice simply cannot be served,” Cullen said during committee testimony. 

This bill comes after Republicans in the Indianapolis city-county council attempted to push a proposal that would have eliminated the residency requirement for any city employees, including the public defender's office.

The proposal ultimately failed after city leaders said they were concerned about the loss of income tax revenue if more city employees did not have to live in Marion County.

Contact Government Reporter Caroline Beck at cbeck@wfyi.org