Deep Impact: The Consequences of Defunding LSC, 0917 COBJ, Vol. 46, No. 8 Pg. 72
| Author | MELISSA HART, J. |
August, 2017
THE SIDEBAR
MELISSA HART, J.
In March 2017, President Donald Trump proposed a federal budget that, among other things, called for the elimination of funding for the Legal Services Corporation (LSC).1 The primary consequence of eliminating funding for the LSC would be a sharp decline in the ability of legal aid organizations, including Colorado Legal Services (CLS), to provide essential civil legal aid to low-income Americans.
The LSC is an independent nonprofit that was established by a bipartisan Congress in 1974 to provide federal funding to support civil legal aid for low-income Americans.2 While the LSC has always enjoyed broad bipartisan support, it has continually faced threats by individual politicians to eliminate funding. Those threats have never come to pass, but LSC has endured many years of funding cuts, and even its current budget (which has seen modest increases in the past few years) is below pre-recession funding in inflation-adjusted dollars.3 In the past three decades, however, completely defending the LSC has not been part of any budget proposed by a president or passed by Congress.
Consequences in Colorado
The consequences of refunding LSC—or even cutting funding below current levels—would be felt significantly in Colorado. CLS is the only agency in the state that provides free civil legal services to clients in every Colorado county. The agency receives 40% of its annual budget from LSC.4 With its current budget, CLS provides legal assistance—either full representation, brief service, or advice—each year to more than 10,000 low-income Coloradans.5 These clients are victims of domestic violence, families facing foreclosure or eviction, veterans denied rightfully earned benefits, seniors victimized by consumer scams, and disabled individuals denied access to necessary healthcare. Nearly all CLS clients live at or below 125% of the federal poverty guideline, which means an annual income ceiling of $15,075 for an individual and $30,750 for a family of four.6
While CLS provides extraordinary assistance to those it is able to help, the organization’s already tight budget requires it to turn away half of the Coloradans who come seeking help. CLS has only 51 lawyers working to assist an income-eligible population of almost 900,000 Coloradans.7 The elimination of LSC would worsen the already serious challenge CLS faces in trying to serve a large, geographically dispersed, and exceptionally vulnerable segment of the Colorado community.
The Domino Effect
The consequences of eliminating LSC funding would be felt well beyond those prospective clients who would be denied representation. It would also undermine the system of supports that the Colorado judicial branch has developed for an even broader spectrum of low- and middle-income people. In addition to CLS, this system includes self-help centers in all 22 of our state’s judicial districts, family court facilitators to help unrepresented litigants in domestic matters (in which the statewide pro se rate is 76%), and pro bono attorneys who provide free legal services.
Cutting CLS funding would have a direct negative impact on all of the other elements...
To continue reading
Request your trial