Massachusetts lawmakers passed a funding bill that includes a pay raise for public defenders as part of an effort to end a legal crisis.

So-called "bar advocates"  — private attorneys who take on the criminal cases of indigent defendants — have stopped accepting new cases for more than two months as they seek higher hourly rates. Lawmakers say they plan to increase wages by $20 per hour — less than the $35 per hour bar advocates are asking for.

A bill that gives attorneys a pay bump is heading to Gov. Healey to sign into law. On Thursday, the Massachusetts House of Representatives and Senate passed ( S 2575 ), which would give attorneys taking on cases as a public defender for indigent people a $10 an hour pay raise with an additional $10 raise the following year.