BILL NUMBER: AB 259	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MAY 4, 2011

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Smyth

                        FEBRUARY 7, 2011

   An act to amend Section 27701 of the Government Code, relating to
a county public defender.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 259, as amended, Smyth. County public defender.
   Existing law authorizes the board of supervisors of a county to
establish the office of public defender for the county. Under
existing law, a person is not eligible to the office of public
defender unless he has been a practicing attorney in the courts of
the state for at least the year preceding the date of his election or
appointment.
   This bill would provide that, in addition to existing law, a
person is eligible to the office of public defender if he or she is a
sitting or retired judge, and as a judge meets specified
qualifications, or if he or she was a judicial commissioner,
magistrate, or referee, or elected public official, and meets
specified qualifications.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 27701 of the Government Code is amended to
read:
   27701.  A person is eligible to the office of public defender if
the person meets one of the following criteria:
   (a) He or she has been a practicing attorney in all of the courts
of the state for at least the year preceding the date of his or her
election or appointment.
   (b) He or she was a sitting or retired judge, and as a judge (1)
he or she was a practicing attorney in all of the courts of the state
for at least the year preceding the date of his or her election or
appointment to the judicial office, and (2) on or before the date of
his or her election or appointment to the office of public defender,
he or she resigns his or her judicial office, the current term of his
or her office has expired, and he or she is an active member of the
State Bar.
   (c) He or she was a judicial commissioner, magistrate, or referee
 , or elected public official   authorized to
perform the duties of a subordinate judicial officer  , and he
or she (1) was a practicing attorney in all of the courts of the
state for at least one year preceding the date of his or her election
or appointment to judicial or elected  office, and
(2) on or before the date of his or her election or appointment to
the office of public defender, he or she resigns his or her judicial
 or elected  office and is an active member of the
State Bar. 
   (d) He or she was an elected public official, he or she was a
practicing attorney in all of the courts of the state for at least
one year preceding the date of his or her election to public office,
on or before the date of his or her election or appointment to the
office of public defender, he or she resigns his or her elected
public office, and he or she is an active member of the State Bar.