Sec. 5.
(1) The Michigan indigent defense commission is created in the judicial branch of state government.
(2) The MIDC shall retain as an autonomous entity all statutory authority, powers, duties, functions, records, personnel, property, unexpended balances of appropriations, allocations, and other functions, including the functions of budgeting, personnel, locating offices, and other management functions. Any portion of funds appropriated to the MIDC that is not expended in a state fiscal year shall not lapse to the general fund but shall be carried forward in a work project account that is in compliance with section 451a of the management and budget act, 1984 PA 431, MCL 18.1451a, for use in the following state fiscal year.
(3) The MIDC shall propose minimum standards for the local delivery of indigent criminal defense services providing effective assistance of counsel to adults throughout this state. These minimum standards shall be designed to ensure the provision of indigent criminal defense services that meet constitutional requirements for effective assistance of counsel. The commission shall convene a public hearing before a proposed standard is submitted to the supreme court. A minimum standard proposed under this subsection shall be submitted to the supreme court. Opposition to a proposed minimum standard may be submitted to the supreme court in a manner prescribed by the supreme court, but a minimum standard that is approved by the supreme court is not subject to challenge through the appellate procedures under section 15. A proposed minimum standard shall be final when it is approved by the supreme court. If the supreme court neither approves nor disapproves a proposed minimum standard within 180 days of its submission, then the standard is not approved.
(4) The MIDC shall identify and encourage best practices for delivering the effective assistance of counsel to indigent defendants charged with crimes.
History: 2013, Act 93, Imd. Eff. July 1, 2013
Last modified: October 10, 2016