The big picture
City of Austin officials approved final funding contracts Sept. 25, with the county to provide magistration services at the central intake facility in downtown, where individuals arrested by the Austin Police Department and other state and local law enforcement agencies are taken upon arrest for booking, identification, magistration and other services.
The CAFA program provides legal representation to individuals unable to afford it during their initial court appearance after arrest.
Some context
Amid growing public frustration, city and county leaders earmarked millions in their 2024-25 budgets to support the initiative.
The county began conducting “test” shifts, following a lawsuit filed in spring 2024, which argued that arrestees without a lawyer are left to defend themselves and vet questions and details about their alleged crime that could elicit answers that jeopardize the arrestee's case.
The CAFA program was then rolled out in a phased approach as departments hired and trained staff.
An initial $5.8 million in county funding was doled out in October 2024, paying for 43 new positions that support CAFA, including defense attorneys, clerks, legal secretaries and translators.
The first shift of CAFA, which was operational in February, provides legal support from 2-11 p.m. seven days a week.
Another $8.2 million in funding approved by commissioners in January supported the implementation of the remaining shift of legal representation, which now operates from 6 a.m.-3 p.m. The remaining $1.4 million allocated to the program by the county will cover costs incurred by the Sheriff’s Office.
"With 86 [new full-time employees], this is the largest commitment the county has ever made in the fastest time possible,” Travis County Budget Director Travis Gatlin said as CAFA efforts ramped up earlier this year.
To date, Travis County has provided legal services in around 17,000 magistration cases since launching the CAFA program, according to a spokesperson for the county.
Travis County commissioner Margaret Gomez previously noted local officials have been discussing equal access to legal representation for the last three decades, emphasizing that it has taken an extreme amount of effort and coordination to make the CAFA initiative a reality.
"People are working day by day, trying to reach the right decision and trying to make the money balance with the need, but we took a big step during the budget process," Gomez said, reflecting on the launch of the first phase of CAFA. "I think I've been waiting 30 years—I remember when I first got here, we talked about how we could represent poor people. ... This is taking time, but I think that we're at a good place."
What’s next
As Travis County assumes full responsibility for magistration services at central booking, the city will be contributing additional funding to support the CAFA initiative.
Under the approved interlocal agreement, the city will pay out a little over $16 million to the county for magistration operations, with $6 million specifically tied to CAFA.
Austin council member Mike Siegel, who has former experience as a civil rights lawyer, voiced concern for those arrested who still need to be seen by city magistrate judges.
“I remain concerned about a provision that is still in the interlocal agreement that allows overnight holds for people who are arrested on tickets out of the community court,” Siegel said.
Over a 56-day period, 48 people were held overnight for transport to community court for an average of 11 hours before being seen by a judge, Siegel said.
“For example, a man was arrested at 12:30 [p.m.] for jaywalking and held for 20 hours before being brought to see a judge. ... This was while the court was open, and he could have been brought directly to court instead of being booked,” he said.
He proposed a system that would allow county judges to magistrate cases of city Class C tickets, similar to that of Harris County. He also suggested that people arrested in these cases could potentially be brought to court first, rather than booking.
“Some people are being jailed, released to appear and expected to go to court later,” Siegel explained. “... A lot of people don’t take this step because they’re afraid to go to court. They don’t know that they can get jail credit, and think that if they don’t have the money to pay their tickets, there’s no point in going. So then they fall into a cycle where they get picked up on the same ticket multiple times.”
The city and county are still working to refine the magistration process for people who are arrested for a city ordinance or other Class C misdemeanor charges that are adjudicated by the Austin Municipal Court or the Downtown Austin Community Court, city documents state.
Additionally, county officials are working to recruit and maintain staffing for the program, evaluating salary competitiveness and case workload.
Geoff Burkhart, the county’s executive for Community Legal Services told commissioners earlier this year that the program was experiencing growing pains, noting the initiative is one of only a few in the state to offer legal representation during magistration.
“We are one of only seven counties out of 254 that has Counsel at First Appearance in Texas. So unfortunately, we're still a little bit of a rarity,” Burkhart said. "... It's my belief that we're going to have the most robust Counsel at First Appearance program in the state.”
Related highlights
Travis County’s control of central booking strengthens its long-standing push to establish a permanent mental health diversion center locally. The central booking site in downtown has been identified as a promising site for the diversion center, Travis County Judge Andy Brown previously told Community Impact.
“The goal is to have one place where law enforcement takes people. Whether they're going to the sobering center, diversion center or if they need to be booked in jail, we want it to be very easy for law enforcement to drop people off at one place, so they don't have to keep driving all around town,” Brown said.
Ben Thompson contributed to this report.
