§185.6. Special reporting requirements; indigent parent representation cases; penalties

A. In addition to the general oversight requirements provided by law, each district public defender, or regional director, where applicable, shall submit an annual report to the board no later than February first of each year, commencing in 2008. The report, using the uniform definition of a "case" as defined in Subsection C of this Section, shall include detailed information of the district's workload, resources, employees, and expenditures for the previous fiscal year.

B.(1) The district public defender shall be responsible for preparing, completing, and submitting the annual report to the board as provided for in Subsection A of this Section.

(2) The district public defender shall be subject to the penalties provided for in Paragraph (3) of this Subsection, payable out of the judicial district indigent defender fund, to the board if any of the following occur:

(a) The failure to file a report.

(b) The failure to timely file a report.

(c) The failure to disclose or accurately disclose any required information.

(d) The filing of a false report.

(3) The amount of the penalty shall be one hundred dollars for each day until the report or the required accurate information is filed.

C. For purposes of this Section, a "case" is defined as a proceeding initiated by the state against an indigent or absent parent or parents pursuant to Title VI or Title X of the Louisiana Children's Code. Any appeal from a final judgment in such cases shall be counted as a separate case. In the event that a case involves multiple children, the district public defender, or regional director, where applicable, shall track, record, and report the number of children per case.

D. The board shall draft, administer, and furnish reporting forms to the district public defender which request detailed information of the district's workload, resources, employees, and expenditures for the previous fiscal year based on the uniform definition of a "case" as defined in Subsection C of this Section.

Acts 2007, No. 95, §2; Acts 2016, No. 407, §2, eff. June 5, 2016.