State-Level Letters & Testimony

Seeking to promote rational and humane criminal justice policies for America, NACDL advocates before state government agencies. Below, please find official letters and testimonies submitted to state governments and agencies on behalf of NACDL.

 

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Showing 1 - 15 of 86 results

    • Document

    Letter to California Senate Public Safety Committee on the Fair Representation Act (June 2025)

    I write on behalf of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) to voice our support for Assemblymember Nick Schultz’s Fair Representation Act (AB 690), a bill that would promote public safety by helping to ensure the state of California and its localities meet their constitutional obligation to provide effective representation to those facing criminal charges.
    • Document

    Letter to California Assembly Appropriations Committee on the Fair Representation Act (May 2025)

    I write on behalf of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) to voice our support for Assemblymember Nick Schultz’s Fair Representation Act (AB 690), a bill that would promote public safety by helping to ensure the state of California and its localities meet their constitutional obligation to provide effective representation to those facing criminal charges.
    • Document

    Letter to Gov. Polis on Protecting the Meaningful Right to Counsel (Apr 2025)

    I write on behalf of NACDL and urge you to sign HB-1147, a bill which promotes and protects fairness in Colorado’s courts, into law. HB-1147 provides critical protections that ensure individuals facing criminal charges have access to independent, resourced, and effective counsel; promotes community confidence in our legal institutions; and ensures the state fulfills its constitutional obligations to promote a meaningful right to counsel.
    • Document

    Comments to the Maine Legislative Judiciary Committee on Standards for Appointed Counsel (Mar 2025)

    On behalf of NACDL, I write to express our opposition to LD 1101 which proposes changes that would undermine independence, reverse the recent advances Maine has made to improve its public defense delivery system, and fails to address the factors at the heart of the state’s current challenges in meeting the constitution’s right to counsel. Though we recognize the urgent need to address the backlog of cases and ensure access to legal representation, lowering standards for public defenders and reversion to judicial appointments of counsel are not the solution. 
    • Document

    Letter to NY Legislature on Prohibiting the Use of Intoxication Defense in Sex Crimes (June 2024)

    We strongly oppose A.1065A/S4555B, which would create a category of sex crimes that are unconstitutionally vague. The proposed law fails to give adequate notice of what conduct is prohibited under the law and would lead to unjust application and arbitrary prosecutions and convictions that can lead to a host of lifelong consequences.
    • Document

    Letter to Aurora, CO City Council on an Independent Public Defense System (Feb 2024)

    On behalf of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) we call upon the City of Aurora to rescind its Request for Proposals, R-2384, soliciting firms for bids to replace the city’s current public defense provider. The decision to replace the current public defense system with a flat fee contract will undercut public safety, undermine community confidence, and represents poor fiscal responsibility.
    • Document

    Statement to Louisiana Senate Judiciary on Changes to the Public Defense System in SB8 (Feb 2024)

    We write to voice our opposition to Senate Bill 8, a bill that would replace the multi-stakeholder Louisiana Public Defender Board with a state public defender selected by the Governor. If enacted, this legislation would significantly undermine the independence of the defense function in Louisiana, further eroding the community’s trust in our legal institutions and negatively impacting public safety, while wholly failing to address the core need of the state’s public defense system – a stable and robust stream of funding to insure the provision of constitutionally effective representation.
    • Document

    Coalition Letter to Virginia Municipal League on Pretextual Policing (October 2023)

    We write to ask that you rescind your support, as members of the Virginia Municipal League, for racial profiling practices by Virginia law enforcement—euphemistically known as “pretextual policing”—and to invite you to an informal presentation on this important criminal justice issue.
    • Document

    Letter to Gov. Youngkin on Increasing Juror Compensation to Increase Diversity (February 2023)

    On behalf NACDL, I write to express support for House Bill 2317/Senate Bill 789, which would increase the daily compensation rate for jurors in Virginia from its current rate of $30 to $50. This is a critical step needed to increase the diversity of juries in the Commonwealth.
    • Document

    Coalition Letter to Senate Leadership on Not Opposing DC Criminal Code Reform (February 2023)

    We write to express our opposition to efforts to obstruct the District of Columbia’s Revised Criminal Code Act, including any resolution of disapproval or budget rider. The Revised Criminal Code Act of 2022 (RCCA) is the product of 16 years of research, an expert commission, 51 public meetings, extensive public feedback, and robust negotiation. ... We urge you to oppose these attacks on the RCCA and vote against any resolution of disapproval.
    • Document

    Memorandum of Support for New York’s Clean Slate Act (February 2023)

    New York’s Clean Slate Act will help address the systemic barriers to jobs, housing and education posed by old conviction records. Under the current system, people who have successfully served their time are subjected to perpetual punishment long after their sentence is served. Doors that were once open – to jobs, a place to live, an education – can remain closed for a lifetime, and this impact reverberates across children, families, and whole communities, disproportionately impacting Black and brown New Yorkers and deepening already-existing inequalities in civic life.
    • Document

    Coalition Letter to House Leadership on Not Opposing DC Criminal Code Reform (February 2023)

    We write to express our opposition to efforts to obstruct the District of Columbia’s Revised Criminal Code Act, including any resolution of disapproval or budget rider. The Revised Criminal Code Act of 2022 (RCCA) is the product of 16 years of research, an expert commission, 51 public meetings, extensive public feedback, and robust negotiation. … We urge you to oppose these attacks on the RCCA and vote against any resolution of disapproval.
    • Document

    Coalition Letter to NM Legislators on Ending Felony Disenfranchisement (February 2023)

    The undersigned organizations are committed to expanding voting rights to all citizens including people with felony convictions completing their sentences both inside and outside of incarceration. We applaud the introduction of New Mexico’s voting rights act, HB4, which, amongst other things, would end New Mexico’s practice of disenfranchising people on probation and parole. We urge passage of this measure. We also encourage the New Mexico legislature to go further and guarantee the right to all citizens regardless of their incarceration status.
    • Document

    Comment to Maine Comm. on Indigent Defense on Assigned and Contract Counsel Caseloads (January 2023)

    For more than a year, NACDL has examined Maine’s public defense system, providing technical assistance to MCILS under a grant from the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance. ... As the nation’s preeminent criminal defense bar, NACDL is keenly interested in ensuring public defense providers have caseloads that are reasonable and allow them to fulfill their legal, ethical, and constitutional obligations.
    • Document

    Letter to NY Governor in Support of Sentencing Reform Measures

    Letter to New York Governor Kathy Hochul in support of legislative efforts in New York that seek to abolish mandatory minimums, allow judges to reconsider excessive sentences after a specified amount of time, and strengthen "good time" and "merit time" laws in order to mitigate the drivers and consequences of the trial penalty. 

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