BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A North Dakota agency that provides lawyers for criminal defendants who cannot afford to hire their own is struggling to find staff attorneys as its case numbers climb, according to its director.

Travis Finck, executive director of the state Commission on Legal Counsel for Indigents, said the agency is requesting increased legal aid funding from the Legislature — including for additional positions and pay increases for staff and contract attorneys — in order to meet increased need.

Created by the Legislature in 2005, the agency assigns a defense attorney in cases where defendants are declared eligible for such counsel. The agency handled 16,059 cases during the 2022 fiscal year, which ended in June — about equal to the previous year, but an 11-percent increase from the 2020 fiscal year.

Not only are the number of cases increasing, the types of crimes statewide have gotten more serious and take more time for attorneys, Finck said. Felonies make up the bulk of the agency’s caseload.

Juvenile cases also are up — from 1,583 in 2021 to 2,315 in 2022, according to agency data.

Furthermore, the total number of cases in the current fiscal year that began in July are already outpacing the two previous years, data shows.

The agency is asking for a $2 million increase from its current, two-year $20.9 million budget. The additional money would go toward additional investigators in each public defender office, and a pay increase from $75 to $80 an hour for contract attorneys.

The commission is currently funded for 20 attorneys, but is three — and soon to be four — short at present, Finck said. The attorneys are based in Bismarck, Minot, Fargo, Williston, Devils Lake, Dickinson and Grand Forks. The agency also has a pool of about 60 private attorneys to help with the workload.

Finck said contract attorneys in the federal court system are reimbursed about twice the rate as what the state allows.

The Legislature created the agency during the infancy of North Dakota's oil boom, which bumped the state’s population to record levels — increasing need for defendants who can’t afford attorneys. The agency’s budget has more than doubled since it was established.

The idea for the agency, led by former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Gerald VandeWalle, was to take the job of providing criminal defense attorneys for indigent defendants out of the hands of judges.

Supporters of establishing the agency argued the previous system created a conflict of interest because the judges later may have had to rule on whether the lawyer properly represented a defendant.