A. The chief executive officer of the Oklahoma Indigent Defense System shall be the Executive Director, who shall be appointed by the Board and serve at the pleasure of the Board. The Executive Director shall be an attorney who has practiced law for at least four (4) years preceding the appointment and who is licensed to practice law in this state or is eligible to become so licensed within one (1) year of the appointment. The Executive Director shall have experience in the representation of persons accused or convicted of crimes.

B. The Executive Director shall perform administrative functions which serve the Board.

C. The Executive Director shall have the following powers and duties:

1. To prepare and administer an annual budget approved by the Board and to process claims for the System;

2. To enter into contracts to provide counsel in cases in which the defendant is indigent and unable to employ counsel, to enter into contracts with individuals, educational institutions, or state or federal agencies for other purposes, and to approve or disapprove the provisions of any such contract;

3. To review and approve or disapprove claims for expenditures of monies;

4. To take such actions as shall strengthen the criminal justice system in this state;

5. To promote the education and training of all attorneys representing indigent criminal defendants including, subject to available funding, nationally recognized defense seminars and evidence-based practices regarding behavioral health and treatment of defendants with substance abuse or mental health needs;

6. To maintain and improve effective representation for the indigent criminal defendant;

7. To employ personnel as necessary to carry out the duties imposed upon the System by law and to set the salaries of such personnel, subject to the salary schedules adopted by the Board;

8. To solicit and maintain a current list of attorneys licensed to practice law in this state who are willing to accept case assignments from the System and who meet any other qualifications as set by the Board;

9. To solicit and maintain a separate list of persons eligible for appointment to capital cases, who meet the qualifications set by the System;

10. To establish reasonable hourly rates of compensation for attorneys appointed in accordance with the Indigent Defense Act, subject to approval by the Board;

11. To establish maximum caseloads for attorneys employed by the System, subject to approval by the Board;

12. To reduce caseloads through reassignment of cases to private attorneys, as necessary;

13. To approve the sharing of office space, equipment, or personnel among the separate indigent defense programs within the System;

14. To prepare and submit to the Board an annual report for the preceding fiscal year regarding the efforts of the System to implement the purposes of the Indigent Defense Act, and to file that report with the Governor, the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Chief Justice of the Oklahoma Supreme Court, and the Presiding Judge of the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals;

15. To conduct regional or statewide conferences and training seminars for the purpose of implementing the provisions of the Indigent Defense Act;

16. To provide System personnel who serve in an advisory capacity to the indigent defenders and defense attorneys who represent indigents pursuant to contract or who agree to accept cases assigned by the System to represent indigents of this state;

17. To gather and disseminate information to indigent defenders, including, but not limited to, changes in the law;

18. To recommend additional legislation necessary to upgrade the Oklahoma Indigent Defense System or to improve the justice system; and

19. To operate a cost-effective system by:

a.implementing procedures to track System expenditures to show costs by case and client and to track time and expenses by attorney if the attorney is employed by the System,

b.adopting written policies regarding when employees are to be in travel status and making efforts to reduce travel costs, and

c.reviewing assignment of indigency status to identify clients who have available resources, and collecting costs of representation when feasible.

D. 1. The Executive Director is hereby authorized to develop, establish, and maintain lists of approved contractors who have agreed to provide expert services to the System. The lists shall include any expert who desires to furnish services to the System and who has filed a schedule of fees for services with, and on a form approved by, the Executive Director. Any deviation in excess of the published schedule of fees shall require the prior written approval of the Executive Director. Any attorney appointed or assigned cases in accordance with the Indigent Defense Act may request expert services from the list of experts maintained by the Executive Director. The Executive Director or designee may, in said person's sole discretion, approve requests for expert services; provided, however, that nothing contained in the Indigent Defense Act shall be construed to render the Executive Director a member of the defense team in any System client's case for strategic purposes.

2. Attorneys appointed or assigned cases in accordance with the Indigent Defense Act may request investigative or other nonexpert witness services from the Executive Director on a form provided by the Executive Director. The Executive Director or designee may, in said person's sole discretion, approve requests for such services at a reasonable hourly rate of compensation; provided, however, that nothing contained in the Indigent Defense Act shall be construed to render the Executive Director a member of the defense team in any System client's case for strategic purposes.

3. Services obtained under this section may be obtained as sole source contracts and are specifically exempt from the requirements of soliciting no less than three quotations found in paragraph 7 of subsection A of Section 85.45j of Title 74 of the Oklahoma Statutes.

E. Each individual performing the services provided for in subsection D of this section may, with the approval of the Executive Director, be reimbursed for necessary travel expenses up to the amount permitted by the State Travel Reimbursement Act.

F. Requests for expenses not included in subsections D and E of this section shall require preapproval by the Executive Director.

Added by Laws 1991, c. 238, § 5, eff. July 1, 1991. Amended by Laws 1992, c. 303, § 5, eff. July 1, 1992; Laws 1994, c. 328, § 3, eff. July 1, 1994; Laws 1996, c. 301, § 4, eff. July 1, 1996; Laws 1997, c. 326, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 1997; Laws 1999, c. 197, § 1, emerg. eff. May 24, 1999; Laws 2001, c. 210, § 5, eff. July 1, 2001; Laws 2017, c. 351, § 4, eff. Nov. 1, 2017.