A. The commission shall exercise independent oversight of the department, set representation standards for the department and provide guidance and support to the chief in the administration of the department and the representation of indigent persons pursuant to the Public Defender Act.
B. The commission shall develop fair and consistent standards for the operation of the department and the provision of services pursuant to the Public Defender Act, including standards relating to:
(1) the minimum experience, training and qualifications for appointed, contract and staff attorneys in both adult and juvenile cases in coordination with the state personnel office;
(2) monitoring and evaluating appointed, contract and staff attorneys;
(3) ethically responsible caseload and workload levels and workload monitoring protocols for staff attorneys, contract attorneys and district defender offices;
(4) the competent and efficient representation of clients whose cases present conflicts of interest;
(5) qualifications and performance of appointed, contract and staff attorneys in capital cases at the trial, appellate and post-conviction levels; and
(6) personnel policies and procedures, including the development of public defender personnel rules, to establish an independent system of personnel administration for the department; provided that no employee of the department, except the chief, assistant chief public defenders, appellate defender and district public defenders, shall have fewer rights than under the Personnel Act [Chapter 10, Article 9 NMSA 1978] and under administrative rules applicable to state employees on the effective date of this 2014 act.
C. An individual member of the commission shall not interfere with the discretion, professional judgment or advocacy of a public defender, a public defender office, a public defender contractor or an assigned counsel in the representation of a public defender client.
History: Laws 2013, ch. 195, § 7; 2014, ch. 78, § 2.
ANNOTATIONSCompiler's notes. — The effective date "of this 2014 act", referred to in Subsection B (6), was May 21, 2014.
The 2014 amendment, effective May 21, 2014, mandated the minimum standard for a system of personnel administration for employees of the public defender department; and in Subsection B, added Paragraph (6).