Legislative Analysis
Phone: (517) 373-8080
INDIGENT YOUTH DEFENSE AND APPELLATE SERVICES
http://www.house.mi.gov/hfa
House Bills 4630 and 4631 as introduced Analysis available at
Sponsor: Rep. Sarah Lightner http://www.legislature.mi.gov
Committee: Criminal Justice
Complete to 9-19-23
SUMMARY:
Briefly described, House Bill 4630 would amend the Michigan Indigent Defense Commission
Act to require the development of, and compliance with, minimum standards for the effective
legal representation of indigent youth in the juvenile justice system, and House Bill 4631 would
similarly require the State Appellate Defender Office to develop a system of appellate defense
services for indigent youth. A detailed summary of the two bills is in progress.
BACKGROUND:
The Michigan Task Force on Juvenile Justice Reform was created by Executive Order 2021-6
as a bipartisan advisory body in the Department of Health and Human Services 1 to “lead a
data-driven analysis of [Michigan’s] juvenile justice system and recommend proven practices
and strategies for reform grounded in data, research, and fundamental constitutional
principles.” In particular, in the words of its final report, 2 the task force was “charged with
developing recommendations to improve state law, policy, and appropriations guided by the
following objectives:
• Safely reduce placement in detention and residential placement and associated costs.
• Increase the safety and well-being of youth impacted by the juvenile justice system.
• Reduce racial and ethnic disparities among youth impacted by the juvenile justice
system.
• Improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the state’s and counties’ juvenile justice
systems.
• Increase accountability and transparency within the juvenile justice system.
• Better align practices with research and constitutional mandates.”
The task force issued its final report on July 18, 2022. 3
Among its unanimous recommendations were that the state “Expand the Michigan Indigent
Defense Commission (MIDC) to include development, oversight, and compliance with youth
defense standards in local county defense systems” 4 and “Expand the State Appellate Defender
Office to include appellate services for juveniles, which will include post-dispositional
services.” 5 The bills would implement these recommendations.
1
https://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/2021-2022/executiveorder/pdf/2021-EO-06.pdf
2
https://micounties.org/wp-content/uploads/Michigan-Taskforce-on-Juvenile-Justice-Reform-Final-Report.pdf
3
https://www.michigan.gov/whitmer/news/press-releases/2022/07/18/task-force-on-juvenile-justice-reform-
approves-blueprint-for-transforming-juvenile-justice
4
See https://michiganidc.gov/
5
See https://www.sado.org/
House Fiscal Agency Page 1 of 2
FISCAL IMPACT:
House Bill 4630 would lead to increased costs for the MIDC and for MIDC Grants, which are
distributed to district and circuit court funding units to fund compliance with minimum indigent
defense standards. Expanding indigent defense services to include services for youth
defendants would necessitate additional funding for the grants, since the population of eligible
defendants would increase. The MIDC indicated that youth caseloads are currently estimated
to be about 2/3 of the adult caseload. Using this 2/3 figure and the FY 2023-24 MIDC Grant
appropriation amount of $220.9 million, the cost increase for MIDC Grants could be in the
vicinity of $145 million. The actual cost increase would depend on numerous factors, so this
figure should only be viewed as a magnitude estimate. It should also be noted that MIDC
Grants are funded almost entirely with general fund revenues.
The MIDC also estimates that an additional 6.0 FTE positions would be required to implement
and administer the changes created by the bill. The positions would include one additional
research analyst, one financial analyst, and four regional managers familiar with the youth
defense system.
The bill would increase the local share for funding units of circuit and district courts, by
including expenditures for indigent youth defense in the calculation. While this would not
create any new costs for the funding units, it would increase the share that funding units would
have to maintain in order to receive state grant funding for adult and youth indigent defense.
House Bill 4631 would have an indeterminate fiscal impact on the state and on local units of
government. Under the bill, the Appellate Defender Commission would be required to develop
a system of appellate defense services for indigent youth. At this time, the estimated cost of
expanding the role of the State Appellate Defender Office to include appellate defense for
juvenile justice cases would be roughly $560,000 on an annual basis. The office would need to
hire at least 3.0 additional staff members and would be expected to cover costs of salary and
benefit increases in the future.
Also, if an indigent defense system provides payment to locally appointed private counsel
under provisions set forth in the bill, the state would be required to reimburse the system for
half of the cost to the system. At this time, the estimated cost of reimbursement would be about
$3.2 million on an annual basis.
Funding for these proposals was included in the FY 2023-24 annual appropriations bill for
Judiciary.
Legislative Analyst: Rick Yuille
Fiscal Analysts: Marcus Coffin
Robin Risko
■ This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan House Fiscal Agency staff for use by House members in their
deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.
House Fiscal Agency HBs 4630 and 4631 as introduced Page 2 of 2


Statutes affected:
Substitute (H-2): 780.983
Substitute (H-3): 780.983
House Introduced Bill: 780.983
As Passed by the House: 780.983
As Passed by the Senate: 780.983