[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 598 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 598

To amend section 3006A of title 18, United States Code, to provide for 
the public disclosure of court appointed attorneys' fees upon approval 
                       of such fees by the court.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 16, 1997

 Mr. Domenici introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend section 3006A of title 18, United States Code, to provide for 
the public disclosure of court appointed attorneys' fees upon approval 
                       of such fees by the court.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. PUBLIC DISCLOSURE OF COURT APPOINTED ATTORNEYS' FEES.

    Section 3006A(d) of title 18, United States Code, is amended by 
striking paragraph (4) and inserting the following:
            ``(4) Disclosure of fees.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Subject to subparagraphs (B) 
                through (E), the amounts paid under this subsection for 
                services in any case shall be made available to the 
                public by the court upon the court's approval of the 
                payment.
                    ``(B) Pre-trial or trial in progress.--If a trial 
                is in pre-trial status or still in progress and after 
                considering the defendant's interests as set forth in 
                subparagraph (D), the court shall--
                            ``(i) redact any detailed information on 
                        the payment voucher provided by defense counsel 
                        to justify the expenses to the court; and
                            ``(ii) make public only the amounts 
                        approved for payment to defense counsel by 
                        dividing those amounts into the following 
                        categories:
                                    ``(I) Arraignment and or plea.
                                    ``(II) Bail and detention hearings.
                                    ``(III) Motions.
                                    ``(IV) Hearings.
                                    ``(V) Interviews and conferences.
                                    ``(VI) Obtaining and reviewing 
                                records.
                                    ``(VII) Legal research and brief 
                                writing.
                                    ``(VIII) Travel time.
                                    ``(IX) Investigative work.
                                    ``(X) Experts.
                                    ``(XI) Trial and appeals.
                                    ``(XII) Other.
                    ``(C) Trial completed.--
                            ``(i) In general.--If a request for payment 
                        is not submitted until after the completion of 
                        the trial and subject to consideration of the 
                        defendant's interests as set forth in 
                        subparagraph (D), the court shall make 
                        available to the public an unredacted copy of 
                        the expense voucher.
                            ``(ii) Protection of the rights of the 
                        defendant.--lf the court determines that 
                        defendant's interests as set forth in 
                        subparagraph (D) require a limited disclosure, 
                        the court shall disclose amounts as provided in 
                        subparagraph (B).
                    ``(D) Considerations.--The interests referred to in 
                subparagraphs (B) and (C) are--
                            ``(i) to protect the defendant's 6th 
                        amendment rights to effective assistance of 
                        counsel;
                            ``(ii) the defendant's attorney-client 
                        privilege;
                            ``(iii) the work product privilege of the 
                        defendant's counsel;
                            ``(iv) the safety of any witness; and
                            ``(v) any other interest that justice may 
                        require.
                    ``(E) Notice.--The court shall provide reasonable 
                notice of disclosure to the counsel of the defendant 
                prior to the approval of the payments in order to allow 
                the counsel to request redaction based on the 
                considerations set forth in subparagraph (D). Upon 
                completion of the trial, the court shall release 
                unredacted copies of the vouchers provided by defense 
                counsel to justify the expenses to the court. If there 
                is an appeal, the court shall not release unredacted 
                copies of the vouchers provided by defense counsel to 
                justify the expenses to the court until such time as 
                the appeals process is completed, unless the court 
                determines that none of the defendant's interests set 
                forth in subparagraph (D) will be compromised. ''.
                                 <all>