New funding available to help cities with costs of <em>Blake</em> refunds, public defense costs

For assistance with refunds from the 2021 Blake decision, the Washington Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) Blake Refund Bureau is due to be up and running by the end of this month. During the transition, information related to reimbursements due after July 1 will not be available to be uploaded or processed until July 29.

The Blake Refund Bureau will administer reimbursements to individuals for fines or costs ordered by the courts in connection with drug possession convictions that were found unconstitutional by the Washington Supreme Court in February 2021. AOC estimates that over 200,000 felony drug possession charges dating back to the 1970s may be eligible to be vacated in superior courts. They also estimate that an additional 150,000 misdemeanor marijuana charges may also be eligible for vacation. To help offset costs to courts, prosecutors, and defense attorneys, the Washington State legislature approved $47 million in the 2023-25 operating budget for the efforts of vacating these possession charges and adjusting sentences for thousands of incarcerated or supervised persons.

A few reminders from AOC:

• Any LFO reimbursement work completed by your jurisdiction dated on or before June 30, 2023, will be reimbursed under the terms of the fiscal year 2023 reimbursement agreement.
• AOC will not be able to accept data from courts related to Blake LFO refunds prior to July 29.
• The automated reports will not be able to be uploaded prior to July 29.
• The practical impact is that LFO reimbursements will not be processed between July 1 and July 29.
• As of July 29, AOC will be able to receive reports for vacated convictions that are eligible for a refund under Blake.

The Blake Refund Bureau portal will be accessible to the public via a link on www.courts.wa.gov. The website will also include information for individuals who have not yet requested vacation of a conviction eligible under the decision in Blake. Any questions regarding the refund bureau can be directed to Sharon Swanson, Blake Implementation Manager, at Sharon.Swanson@courts.wa.gov.

Public defense costs for new cases

When the Legislature passed SB 5536 this spring, making drug possession and public use (PCS) a gross misdemeanor with many off-ramps into treatment and services, they included funding to the WA State Office of Public Defense (OPD) to financially assist certain cities and counties with the expense of defending indigent individuals charged with these offenses in courts of limited jurisdiction. Cities with populations of 200,000 or less are eligible for support.

During the first year of the program, OPD will reimburse for eligible expenses.  OPD will enter into contracts with interested jurisdictions and reimburse eligible expenses up to the contracted cap amount. The beginning date of the program will be August 15, 2023. In future years, OPD may additionally offer the option to directly contract with the agency to provide PCS defense.

We will update you with more details soon on how to contract with OPD for reimbursement. If you have questions, you can direct them to Katrin Johnson, Supervising Attorney – Trial Level Programs, Katrin.Johnson@opd.wa.gov, 360-586-3164 ext. 108.