Ongoing, sustainable investment is needed in Wisconsin's criminal justice system. The best way to ensure that happens this budget cycle is for lawmakers to hear from you.
Jun 9, 2025 – The Wisconsin Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee will soon consider a key State Bar Board of Governors priority: adequate funding for Wisconsin’s justice system. This includes judges, District Attorney (DA) and Assistant District Attorneys (ADAs), and the State Public Defender (SPD).
Wisconsin legislators made major investments in the criminal justice system in the 2023-2025 budget that helped avert a constitutional crisis. But prosecutors and the SPD continue to struggle under the burden of high caseloads, unfilled positions, and a need for additional attorney positions and support staff. In April, the president of the Wisconsin District Attorneys Association Mindy Tempelis
said the state is short 126 prosecutors.
To ensure that our legal system continues to deliver justice, legislators should focus on enhancing staffing and compensation to address workload challenges, retain staff, build support, and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the criminal justice system. Key requests from DAs and the SPD include:
Converting federally funded and program funded positions to GPR funding
- ADAs: Convert 29.5 federal and program funded positions to GPR funding.
- SPD: Create 52.5 new positions, including 6.5 appellate attorneys and 46 support staff such as paralegals, investigators, legal secretaries, and others to replace 65 expiring federally funded positions.
Additional Staffing and Support- ADAs: Create 47 new General Revenue-funded assistant district attorney positions to alleviate caseload burdens.
- Create 1 new position and allocate funding to support the District Attorney Information Technology program.
Enhanced Private Bar Reimbursement: Increase the private bar reimbursement rate paid for appointments to violent felony cases from $100 per hour to $125 per hour.
Pay Progression: Allocate money for merit-based pay progression for current staff attorneys.
Devin Martin, is the grassroots outreach coordinator with the State Bar of Wisconsin. He can be reached by
email, or by phone at (608) 250-6145.
Lawmakers are working quickly to build a budget over the coming weeks, and there have been
proposals to make targeted increases in prosecutor positions for Waukesha, Washington, and Brown counties. It is important that justice system leaders and interested attorneys across the state make their voice heard soon.
What You Can Do: State Bar of Wisconsin Advocacy Network
State Bar members can continue to advocate for ongoing investments in funding and staffing for District Attorney and State Public Defender offices by communicating your support to your elected officials using the
Advocacy Network. Pre-written email messages are editable to suit your own thoughts and opinions and help to demonstrate the breadth of support for policies that prioritize access to justice. The State Bar is committed to working with all political parties and leaders to address these concerns and advocate for funding.
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