CAC Congressional Campaign: The EQUAL Defense Act

The NLADA Corporate Advisory Committee is in the midst of its current campaign in support of H.R. 1408, Ensuring Quality Access to Legal (EQUAL) Defense Act. The bill, introduced in the last Congress by now-Vice President Harris and Representative Ted Deutch, would invest $250 million each year in state, local, and tribal defender systems to reduce public defender workloads and create pay parity between defenders and prosecutors through a new federal grant program.

It was reintroduced by Congressman Deutch earlier this year and we anticipate it will be reintroduced in the Senate. NLADA believes that this would be an historic step towards realizing the promise of the Sixth Amendment, and that the corporate community can play a pivotal role in building the widespread and bipartisan support for the bill we need in order for it to pass. NLADA has prepared this issue brief and fact sheet that provide an overview of the bill and how it responds to the needs of the public defense community. 
 
The current draft of the letter can be viewed here. We greatly appreciate and welcome any additional General Counsel support by signing the letter, which you can do by completing this form by Monday, March 11, 2022. We will circulate the final letter to all signatories before submitting to Congress.
 
If you have any questions about the campaign, please e-mail David Miller at d.miller@nlada.org.
 
Thank you for your commitment to our public defense community and equal justice for all!