Attorney General Opinion No.

Patricia A. Scalia, Executive Director State Board of Indigents' Defense Services Jayhawk Walk

714 SW Jackson, Suite 200 Topeka, Kansas 66603

Dear Ms. Scalia:

As Executive Director of the State Board of Indigents' Defense Services (BIDS) you ask whether BIDS is precluded by statute from requiring the attorneys it hires to raise the issue of payment of the BIDS application fee at the conclusion of a case.

Kansas law1 requires any defendant entitled to appointed counsel to pay a $100 application fee, unless the court finds that imposition of such fee would "impose manifest hardship on the…