Counties will share the financial load in some death-penalty cases and will have more influence over the state's public defender system, under legislation that passed the House on Tuesday.

"This is a program worth saving," the bill's sponsor, Rep. David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge), said before the 141-21 vote. "To save it, we need to make changes."

House Bill 1245 sets a cost-sharing formula with private attorneys for death-penalty cases. The state picks up the first $150,000 of the defense cost, but the county would pay $25,000 of the next $100,000. The state and county split the costs beyond $250,000.

In addition, H.B. 1245 would prohibit senior judges from presiding over capital cases. Lawmakers criticized Senior Superior Court Judge Hilton Fuller, who presided over Brian Nichols courthouse shooting case until recusing himself last month, for the trial's repeated delays and mountainous defense fees.

Elected judges would be more fiscally accountable, Ralston said.

The legislation also recommends that the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council set a flat fee for private lawyers taking indigent capital cases in the future and not allow the attorneys to bill by the hour.

"There's not an endless pot of money to spend on these cases," Majority Whip Barry Fleming (R-Harlem) said. "We have a limited amount of resources. This will help us use it wisely."

In a nod to counties, which pay more than 60 percent of the $110 million indigent defense system, county commissioners would get four more seats on the council's board.

The bill heads to the Senate, where leadership is in a standoff with the House over funding for the defender system. Council officials say they might have to furlough its work force if the council does not get $3.6 million to tide it over before the end of the 2008 fiscal year, which runs through June 30.

Senate President Pro Tem Eric Johnson (R-Savannah) has said he thinks that the council is exaggerating its fiscal plight.

Johnson said Tuesday that disagreement over funding of public defenders is holding up approval of mid-year adjustments to the current budget. The Senate's version calls for $513,000; the House recommended the full $3.6 million.

Rep. Ben Harbin (R-Evans), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said House leaders worked with Gov. Sonny Perdue and arrived at a reliable figure. "The Senate, personally, I find a little difficult, because I think their numbers are irresponsible," Harbin said.

If the system is not fully funded, he said, "We're going to find the state of Georgia in court for not meeting our constitutional obligations."

Staff writers Aaron Gould Sheinin and Andrea Jones contributed to this article.