State legislators have backed-off plans to transfer parts of the struggling public defender system back to
county control.

State Rep. Rich Golick says that the proposal would be delayed after he was assured that lawmakers would consider another measure to contain rising indigent defense system costs that have long frustrated legislators.

Golick is the chair of the House Judiciary Non-Civil Committee. He had earlier proposed returning thousands of indigent defense cases to county control.

Such a move would reverse legislation that created a state defender system in 2005.

Tags: Georgia, lawmakers, General Assembly, counties, Public Defender, State Rep. Rich Golick