Indigent Defense Financial Assistance & County Local Share

Indigent Defense Financial Assistance Compliance Proposal (Previously the Indigent Defense Grant)

• The Application for Indigent Defense Financial Assistance for county FY2022 form with instructions is available on this page.  This is a sample application form.  Customized county application forms will be sent to each county on or before March 31, 2021.
• Applications for Indigent Defense Financial Assistance are due this year on or before May 17, 2021. 
  • Applications must be completed and submitted in accordance with the instructions.
  • The signature page(s) may be separately scanned and emailed or mailed to the PDC. 
  • The rest of the form must be submitted electronically (not scanned or mailed).

Joint County Incentive Financial Assistance

• As a part of the Indigent Defense Financial Assistance, counties are eligible for an additional $25,000 if they join with another county to open a joint county-run office. This additional $25,000 is per county, meaning that if two or more counties join together, each county will receive $25,000. The Joint County Incentive is created by Idaho Code 19-862(A).

Extraordinary Litigation Fund (ELF) Grants

• These grants are to help offset the costs of extraordinary litigation. The ELF can be used to cover costs including, but not limited to, expert witnesses, evidence testing and investigation, but does not cover expenses associated with capital crimes. To learn more about the ELF, please visit the main ELF page.

County Local Share

When the county budget process begins each year, counties should keep in mind that each county is required to maintain no less than its local share for funding indigent defense services. See Idaho Code 19-862. Idaho Code 19-851(8) describes how to calculate the county’s local share. See Idaho Code 19-851.