{"data":{"id":"us-ky/krs-31.030","jurisdiction":"us-ky","citation":"KRS 31.030","heading":"Authority and duties of department -- Annual report.","body":"The authority and duties of the Department of Public Advocacy shall include but are not\nlimited to:\n(1) Administering the statewide public advocacy system created by this chapt er or by\nany other appropriate legislation or court decision;\n(2) Developing policies and procedures for administration of the defense of indigent\ndefendants in criminal cases that the public advocate, statutes, or the courts\ndetermine are subject to public assistance;\n(3) Determining necessary personnel for the department and appointing staff attorneys,\nwho shall be assistant public advocates, and non -lawyer assistants within the merit\nsystem, subject to available funding and employee allotments;\n(4) Maintaining and exercising control over the department's information technology\nsystem, and working with the Commonwealth Office of Technology to ensure that\nthe department's information technology is in conformity with the requirements of\nstate government;\n(5) Conducting research into, and developing and implementing methods of, improving\nthe operation of the criminal justice system with regard to indigent defendants and\nother defendants in criminal actions, including participation in groups,\norganizations, and projects dedicated to improving representation of defendants in\ncriminal actions in particular, or the interests of indigent or impoverished persons in\ngeneral;\n(6) Issuing rules, promulgating administrative regulations in accordance with KRS\nChapter 13A, and establishing standards as may be reasonably necessary to carry\nout the provisions of this chapter, the decisions of the United States Supreme Court,\nthe decisions of the Kentucky Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, and other\napplicable court decisions or statutes;\n(7) Being authorized to pursue legal, administrative, and other appropriate remedies to\nensure the protection of the rights of persons with disabilities;\n(8) Being authorized to purchase liability insurance for the protection of all full -time\npublic advocates, deputy public advocates, and assistant public advocates to protect\nthem from liability for malpractice arising in the course or scope of employment\nand for the protection of attorneys with whom the Department of Public Advocacy\ncontracts to  protect them from liability for malpractice arising in the course or\nscope of the contract;\n(9) Being authorized to seek, apply for, and solicit funds for the operation of the\ndefense of indigent persons or protection of the persons with disabilities prog rams\nfrom any source, public or private, and to receive donations, grants, awards, and\nsimilar funds from any legal source. Those funds shall be placed in a special\naccount for the Department of Public Advocacy and, notwithstanding KRS 45.229,\nthose funds shall not lapse;\n(10) Being authorized to assign an attorney, including a confl ict attorney under a plan,\nfor good cause, at any stage of representation, including trial, appeal, or other post -\nconviction or post-disposition proceeding, including discharge revocation hearings,\npreliminary parole revocation hearings, and conditional di scharge revocation\nhearings, regardless of whether the hearings are conducted by constitutional judges\nor executive branch administrative law judges;\n(11) Filing an annual report with the Legislative Research Commission by September 30\nof each year, for referral to the Interim Joint Committee on Judiciary, informing the\npublic of the work of all divisions of the department and setting forth the total\nnumber and types of cases assigned to the department by county, the average\nnumber of cases per department a ttorney, all funding available to the department,\nthe average amount of state funds expended per assigned case, and any other\ninformation requested by the Legislative Research Commission or that the public\nadvocate finds necessary to inform the General Ass embly, the judicial or executive\nbranches, or the public of the activities conducted by the department during the\nprevious fiscal year;\n(12) Performing other activities and instituting other programs as necessary to carry out\nthe provisions of this chapter, or those decisions or statutes which are the subject of\nthis section;\n(13) (a) Within sixty (60) days of the end of each fiscal year, filing with the Cabinet\nfor Health and Family Services and the Legislative Research Commission for\nreferral to the Inter im Joint Committees on Judiciary and Families and\nChildren a report detailing:\n1. The number of alternative sentencing plans submitted to courts that\nrecommended treatment by providers that were nonqualified treatment\nprograms;\n2. A breakdown of the number  of plans described in subparagraph 1. of\nthis paragraph that were approved, denied, or amended by the courts;\nand\n3. A listing of all treatment programs recommended that did not meet the\nrequirements of a qualified treatment program.\n(b) As counsel appoin ted to provide legal representation to an individual under\nKRS Chapter 31, the department or defense counsel serves at the direction or\nrequest of the represented individual and may make recommendations for\nsubstance abuse treatment services from a treatme nt provider that is not a\nqualified treatment program but shall adhere to the reporting requirements in\nKRS 222.427(3); and\n(14) Requiring alternative sentencing workers as defined in KRS 31.252 to:\n(a) Obtain a minimum of twelve (12) hours of continuing e ducation pertaining to\nsubstance use disorder; and\n(b) Comply with KRS 222.429.","path":["KRS Chapter 31"],"source_url":"https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=57828","current_through":"Includes enactments through the 2026 Regular Session","vintage":"09/05/2026","retrieved_at":"2026-09-05T20:48:50Z","sha256":"09ff0c902f60005186307486e81de65a84c2a5a46bdccb3c9f4e88bc966a85db","source_id":"us-ky","stale":false,"prev":"us-ky/krs-31.025","next":"us-ky/krs-31.035"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}