District Attorneys Council Seeks $8M for Child-Prosecution Staffing, $2.5M for Rural Loan Assistance

The District Attorneys Council presented multiple workforce-focused requests to the Senate subcommittee, with an emphasis on recruiting and retaining prosecutors to handle complex child-related and juvenile dockets and to staff rural counties.

Primary asks: DA Tommy Humphreys and DAC leadership detailed an $8 million recurring request aimed at creating at least two specialized child-protection prosecutors in each judicial district to handle child abuse, deprived, delinquent and related family cases. Humphreys said specialized prosecutors, training, and support reduce burnout and improve outcomes.

Rural recruitment strategy: DAC proposed a $2.5 million recurring Rural Loan Assistance program to subsidize educational loans for prosecutors who serve in rural or remote offices. The program would be administered by a committee of DAs and is structured so payouts are made to loan servicers; DAC described a model where a participant could receive up to $50,000 over a 10-year period, with annual cash-flow budgeting to support payouts.

Other items: DAC also requested locality incentive funding to recruit prosecutors to underserved towns, resources to support a Capital Homicide Resource Committee for training and document templates, and recurring funding to expand digital storage and support the statewide case-management rollout.

Committee scrutiny: Senators questioned eligibility criteria, the program’s cash-flow math, how funds would be targeted to districts that need them most (e.g., counties far from law schools), and whether the funding would primarily be used for hiring or to increase pay. DAC representatives emphasized flexibility for district needs and said the request balances hiring, retention pay, and training.