Contract talks between Sacramento County and its criminal attorneys grind to a halt
Sacramento County’s prosecutors and public defenders say low pay has hollowed out their ranks and chased prospective and promising hires away to neighboring counties, setting up a potential crisis in one of the state’s busiest courts.
It’s the crux of the Sacramento County Attorneys’ Association fight with Sacramento County for a new contract.
The union’s leaders say a new contract is needed to close the pay gap and attract more experienced lawyers to restock overworked and underequipped District Attorney’s and Public Defender’s offices.
“There is no other union in Sacramento County that is more the backbone of the criminal justice system than this union because of its unique makeup of both sides of the aisle,” said union president Matt Chisholm, a lead trial attorney in the county’s District Attorney’s office. “How can we not at least fully fund the backbone of the system?”
Sacramento public sector attorneys — about 150 criminal prosecutors, 100 deputy public defenders and a handful of attorneys in child support services — have been working without a contract since their last labor pact ended in 2022.
The attorneys are asking for pay increases to keep pace with Sacramento’s cost of living and competing counties’ pay levels along with retroactive pay to backfill delays in enacting the previous contract. Armed with an independent mediator’s report that supports the proposed pay hikes, they have appealed to the county’s Board of Supervisors at board meetings and behind closed doors.
“We’re not here to get rich,” said Quoc To, a senior deputy public defender and union leader. “We’re here to maintain the health of our offices so that we can continue to provide for the people of Sacramento.”
The attorneys say their fight for a new contract is also a public safety and civil rights issue.
“When those who are willing to do the work leave due to the lack of fair compensation, the public suffers,” To said. “People languish in jails longer before their day in court. And when they get their day in court, they are not adequately represented. The victims in this process wait longer to find closure. The families on both sides suffer.”
“Equity for both defendants and victims demands fair pay,” To continued. “It is about ensuring that we can continue to adequately staff our offices and continue to maintaining equity and justice in the courtroom.”
The staffing shortfall could also pose another legal issue. The attorneys’ union points to Fresno County and a 2020 legal settlement between the county and the American Civil Liberties Union.
The ACLU in 2015 sued Fresno County alleging the county’s public defender’s office was too understaffed to provide adequate representation to clients unable to afford a lawyer. Fresno County agreed to add dozens of new public defenders and maintain the office’s budget at a minimum $24 million — $9.5 million more than the time of the 2015 ACLU filing — for two years as part of the deal.
The attorneys say “equity pay,” the pay raises that bring their salaries closer to those paid in counties like Placer, San Joaquin, Solano and Contra Costa, can draw and keep lateral hires — the seasoned professionals from other counties who normally make up the core of busy offices like Sacramento’s.
Both prosecutor Chisholm and public defender and union leader To say experienced criminal attorneys in both offices are walking away from Sacramento for better pay and opportunity leaving younger lawyers without experience to fill the breach.
That means fewer attorneys to handle trials and the serious violent crimes that make up much of the docket; along with new cases that arise out of criminal justice reforms, mental health and drug diversion courts.
Just 7% of prosecutors in the Sacramento County DA’s office, Northern California’s second-largest behind Santa Clara County, have 11 to 15 years of experience, Chisholm said. The office filed nearly 11,000 felony cases in 2023, one of the highest rates in the state, District Attorney’s leaders testified in labor talks. The 2023 filings fell just behind those of larger Riverside and San Bernardino counties, according to a mediator’s report.
Last summer, Sacramento County opened up 16 new positions in the public defender’s office to meet demand. It took the office nine months to fill the positions, public defender and union leader To said. Many were new attorneys. Six left within the year.
“The county claims there’s a low vacancy rate at our offices. Nothing could be further from the truth,” Chisholm said.
“The middle of the office is hollowed out right now. We can’t attract any laterals because the pay isn’t competitive. Instead we’re hiring very inexperienced attorneys. The kind of training that you took through the office has now been accelerated. These kids aren’t getting the experience that they need to go on and handle these serious cases.
“The bottleneck is we don’t have enough attorneys — experienced ones — on both sides to be churning these cases out at the levels that we used to because of the attrition,” Chisholm added.
In a rare step, a Sacramento Superior Court Judge has also weighed in.
“Retaining and hiring excellent lawyers to prosecute and defend cases saves money in the long run,” Judge Maryanne G. Gilliard, the longest-tenured jurist on the Sacramento bench, said in a statement to The Sacramento Bee. “Experienced lawyers efficiently and effectively represent their clients. Our community benefits from their expertise and professionalism.”
But the county is holding firm. Its own fact finder disputed the union’s concerns over the offices’ ability to recruit and retain attorneys. Sacramento County has made good faith efforts over the last two years to reach accord with its public sector attorneys, the fact-finder said, but he said those efforts were undone by the attorneys’ unwavering line on wage increases.
“The record makes it clear to me that they parties reached an impasse, not because they didn’t spend more time in negotiations, but rather because the Association had taken a hard uncompromised position regarding their total wage increase,” Jerry Camous of the county’s Office of Labor Relations, wrote in dissent.
“The only thing that we agree on is that we’re at an impasse,” said Chisholm. “We’re looking at a solution, but we don’t see it from the (county’s) labor department.”
This story was originally published August 8, 2024 at 12:56 PM.
CORRECTION: This story has been updated to correct Quoc To’s title. He is a senior deputy public defender.
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