BATON ROUGE — East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Hillar Moore joined other DAs from across Louisiana at the State Capitol on Wednesday to request more assistant district attorney positions.

Moore said he and other DAs came up with a formula to determine how many ADAs are needed per parish. He said that, by that formula, East Baton Rouge Parish needs a total of 78 ADA positions, 23 fewer than he currently has. However, due to his office's backlog, he is asking for 25 ADAs. That's 10 more than he asked for last May, when a property tax failed that would have given more funding to the DA's office. 

In a presentation he gave at the Capitol, Moore said his office is severely underfunded, especially when compared to other DA offices that serve smaller populations, like Orleans and Jefferson Parishes.

"For years, the EBRDA's Office has operated under austerity while its peers received millions more (despite serving smaller populations)," Moore's presentation read. "Had the DA's tax proposal passed, it would have provided comparable resources for EBR."

If Moore receives warrants for his requested ADA positions, he will next have to push the legislature to find the funding for them. 

Also at the Capitol on Wednesday, Moore testified in support of House Bill 59, which would provide more funding for the EBR public defender's office.