Despite challenges, CCCRCs are operational and anticipate saving money for the state.

They've been sued--twice--and had trouble finding offices, but the state's Offices of Criminal Conflict and Civil Regional Counsels are up and running, and as anticipated saving money for the state.

In a brief report at the January 14 Senate Judiciary Committee meeting, Jackson Flyte, the CCCRC for the jurisdictional area of the Second District Court of Appeal, summarized how the offices are doing since they were created by the Legislature in 2007.

The five offices--one for each jurisdictional area of the state's district courts of appeal--are charged with handling criminal cases where the public defender has a conflict. They are also charged with handling a variety of civil matters, including representing indigent parents in dependency cases, Baker Act cases, and similar matters.

The regional counsels were appointed in the late summer of 2007 and began setting up their offices in late 2007 and early 2008. Shortly thereafter, the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers sued, charging the law creating the offices was unconstitutional.

While a trial judge initially agreed with the FACDL, a unanimous Supreme Court later upheld the constitutionality of the offices, Flyte noted.

Currently pending is a challenge from several Florida counties, arguing that the provision of the CCCRC law requiring counties to provide office space and other support services is unconstitutional. A trial court judge has agreed with the counties, but that is on appeal and the effect of that ruling has been stayed, he said.

But despite the challenges, results from the regional counsels can now be measured.

Flyte said his office was estimated to have more than 16,100 cases in its first year and actually had nearly 16,900. His budget was more than $7 million, but the state would have spent more than $20 million to hire private attorneys to do the same work, he said.

"That's a huge savings just in my district alone," he said.

Similar statistics are available for the CCCRCs from the Third and Fourth DCAs, Flyte added.

Costs for private attorneys in conflict cases was approaching $90 million annually when the regional counsel offices were created, Flyte said. The initial budget for the CCCRCs was around $50 million.

He did warn the committee of one problem.

"There are some issues we are going to have to address in terms of the death penalty," Flyte said. "The death penalty is very expensive to do. I'm not saying we shouldn't do it, but there are some changes needed."

He noted that the regional counsels cannot pay attorneys more than $100,000 annually, while public defenders and state attorneys can pay considerably more. That's a handicap in getting the experienced lawyers required to handle death penalty cases.

Sen. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, asked Flyte about combining the regional counsel offices with the state's three offices that handle collateral appeals for death row inmates. Flyte said the regional counsels had not considered that issue, and noted the CCCRCs are trial level offices, while the collateral offices handle specialized appeals.