Hundreds of public defenders in Minnesota would get significant pay raises if a provision in public safety bills continues on its way to Gov. Tim Walz's desk.

"The situation is kind of dire in Hennepin County," said Bob Kolstad, union steward for public defenders in the Minneapolis-based district, last week. "People are quitting. They're having to do too much work. Their caseloads are too high and they're not paid enough."

The Board of Public Defense, which oversees the state's public defender system, asked the state for an additional $115 million in the next two-year budget. The House and Senate passed public safety funding bills that would increase that spending over the two years by about $95 million. That would be an almost 50% increase per year over the current annual budget of roughly $100 million.

If the money is approved, the state Board of Public Defense and the union representing the lawyers would have to negotiate over pay.

State Public Defender Bill Ward and Board of Public Defense administrator Kevin Kajer declined interview requests, but they provided a breakdown of the impact of their initial proposal. The increases, however, would be smaller with the $95 million in the current bills.

In an email, Kajer said the additional $115 million would have boosted pay and addressed the salary inequity between public defenders and prosecutors. It also would have allowed the hiring of an additional 150 attorneys, an increase over the current allotment of 515.

Under the board's higher request, an entry-level public defender would be paid $82,900 with the salary range topping out at $158,000. Currently, a first-year public defender is paid $70,146 with a top salary of $123,903.

That board proposal also would have reduced from 17 to no more than 12 the number of annual increases it takes to get to the top salary tier.

Kajer and Ward didn't have examples to show the impact of the $95 million increase. "We and the board are committed to addressing the salary inequity and workload issues that we face," Ward wrote in an email.

In an interview, Kolstad said any increase likely would be divided between raises for current attorneys and hiring additional staff. He noted the U.S. Constitution requires the states to provide lawyers to defendants who can't afford them.

He expects raises and additional staff would boost morale. "It's going to result in fewer lawyers getting so burnt out they have to quit," he said.

A joint House-Senate conference committee began discussing the bill last week with the aim of creating a single compromise version of the bill to send back to the House and Senate for final votes before going to Walz, whose budget proposal also included a substantial increase for public defenders.