The Governor negotiated the Assigned Counsel rate increase out of the 2022 budget. This was the result of secret negotiations that she held between herself and the leaders of the legislature. As citizens and, more importantly, as lawyers—advocates for our clients’ federal and state Constitutional rights—we should be very concerned, as a matter of law, about what appears to be the Governor’s derailment of this legislation.

The Constitutional rights of the indigent in this state have been set ablaze by Albany’s failure to raise Assigned Counsel rates for almost two decades. There is no one who works in the family and criminal courts in this state that is not aware of this; everyone in Albany should also be aware of this. State Senator Jamaal Bailey earlier this year penned an op ed where he passionately pled to his fellow legislators and the Governor to end this crisis, stating that “[a]ccess to justice is not a ceremonial platitude; it is a fundamental right.”

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