2023 Nevada Revised Statutes › Chapter 180 - Indigent Defense Services › NRS 180.320 - Duties of Board; adoption of regulations.

1. The Board on Indigent Defense Services shall:
(a) Receive reports from the Executive Director and provide direction to the Executive Director concerning measures to be taken by the Department to ensure that indigent defense services are provided in an effective manner throughout this State.
(b) Review information from the Department regarding caseloads of attorneys who provide indigent defense services.
(c) Direct the Executive Director to conduct any additional audit, investigation or review the Board deems necessary to determine whether minimum standards in the provision of indigent defense services are being followed and provided in compliance with constitutional requirements.
(d) Work with the Executive Director to develop procedures for the mandatory collection of data concerning the provision of indigent defense services, including the manner in which such services are provided.
(e) Provide direction to the Executive Director concerning annual reports and review drafts of such reports.
(f) Review and approve the budget for the Department.
(g) Review any recommendations of the Executive Director concerning improvements to the criminal justice system and legislation to improve the provision of indigent defense services in this State.
(h) Provide advice and recommendations to the Executive Director on any other matter.
2. In addition to the duties set forth in subsection 1, the Board shall:
(a) Establish minimum standards for the delivery of indigent defense services to ensure that such services meet the constitutional requirements and do not create any type of economic disincentive or impair the ability of the defense attorney to provide effective representation.
(b) Establish a procedure to receive complaints and recommendations concerning the provision of indigent defense services from any interested person including, without limitation, judges, defendants, attorneys and members of the public.
(c) Work with the Department to develop resolutions to complaints or to carry out recommendations.
(d) Adopt regulations establishing standards for the provision of indigent defense services including, without limitation:
(1) Establishing requirements for specific continuing education and experience for attorneys who provide indigent defense services.
(2) Requiring attorneys who provide indigent defense services to track their time and provide reports, and requiring the State Public Defender and counties that employ attorneys or otherwise contract for the provision of indigent defense services to require or include a provision in the employment or other contract requiring compliance with the regulations.
(3) Establishing standards to ensure that attorneys who provide indigent defense services track and report information in a uniform manner.
(4) Establishing guidelines to be used to determine the maximum caseloads for attorneys who provide indigent defense services.
(5) Requiring the Department of Indigent Defense Services and each county that employs or contracts for the provision of indigent defense services to ensure, to the greatest extent possible, consistency in the representation of indigent defendants so that the same attorney represents a defendant through every stage of the case without delegating the representation to others, except that administrative and other tasks which do not affect the rights of the defendant may be delegated. A provision must be included in each employment or other contract of an attorney providing indigent defense services to require compliance with the regulations.
(e) Establish recommendations for the manner in which an attorney who is appointed to provide indigent defense services may request and receive reimbursement for expenses related to trial, including, without limitation, expenses for expert witnesses and investigators.
(f) Work with the Executive Director and the Dean of the William S. Boyd School of Law of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or his or her designee, to determine incentives to recommend offering to law students and attorneys to encourage them to provide indigent defense services, especially in rural areas of the State.
(g) Review laws and recommend legislation to ensure indigent defendants are represented in the most effective and constitutional manner.
3. The Board shall adopt regulations to establish hourly rates of compensation for court appearances and other time reasonably spent on indigent defense services or representation for:
(a) In counties whose population is less than 100,000, an attorney, other than a public defender, who is selected pursuant to NRS 7.115 to provide indigent defense services; or
(b) In all counties, an attorney who is appointed pursuant to NRS 34.750 to represent a petitioner who files a postconviction petition for habeas corpus.
Except for cases in which the most serious crime is a felony punishable by death or by imprisonment for life with or without possibility of parole, the establishment by regulation of rates of compensation pursuant to this subsection does not preclude a governmental entity from contracting with a private attorney who agrees to provide such services for a lesser rate of compensation.
4. The Board shall adopt any additional regulations it deems necessary or convenient to carry out the duties of the Board and the provisions of this chapter.
(Added to NRS by 2019, 2882; A 2023, 1888, 3060)