For a detailed review of what is at stake, go to:  http://www.dcfpi.org/category/blog.   You can watch the Council meeting, which begins at 10 at:  http://www.dccouncil.washington.dc.us/watchhearinglive.

In years past, the COW has retreated to the Chair’s conference room to discuss the hard choices and make the necessary deals, coming out into the public only for the vote.   Behind closed doors, the compromising, horse-trading and reversal of commitments to constituents was hidden from view.  

But this year, thanks to pressure from advocates, things were different.  The COW still met in the Chair’s conference room, but it was televised.    For two days, the members sat around a cramped table and argued about programs, priorities and taxes and anyone with an internet connection could watch.   While we might not be enthusiastic about the all the decisions that were made (technically, they made no decisions but only “gauged the sense of the room”), this step towards transparency is large and important.

We also want to thank the Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary for their support of civil legal help for District residents living in poverty.  The Committee found sufficient money to restore the Access to Justice Fund to $3.5 million.   We are especially grateful to Council Members Mendelson and Cheh who were our champions, but also to Council Members Evans, Bowser and Alexander you provided support.  While this could change between now and the final vote on the budget, we are hopeful that this program will remain a Council priority.

With Medicaid covering more residents, however, the District will also need more Medicaid providers.  Yet the Mayor’s proposed budget reduces reimbursement rates to Medicaid providers, which will make it more difficult to recruit additional providers to the city’s Medicaid network.  The Mayor also proposed reduced funding for language access services, services that will be important as more immigrants who lawfully reside in the U.S. are transitioned to Medicaid and DC Healthy Families.  Legal Aid delivered this testimony at the Committee on Health’s budget hearing for the Department of Health Care Finance, and urged the council to raise revenue to restore these cuts, and others, to the District’s safety net. 

Today, the District of Columbia Council is holding hearings on funding for the Office of the Attorney General.  Funding for legal services is a line in the Attorney General’s budget.  The funds are placed in a grant program that is awarded to the D.C. Bar Foundation and then distributed to legal services providers.  These funds support community basing of services, language accessibility and loan forgiveness for poverty lawyers.  [Legal Aid's Testimony availabe here.]

The District has a very challenging set of choices to make.  With a $500 million budget gap, something must give.  We have been encouraging the Council to save the social services safety-net, including legal service and to look at revenue options as a way to spread the pain equitably.  (Significantly, yesterday the Ward 6 Democrats adopted a resolution supporting funding for safety-net programs and encouraging an increase in income taxes).

Why? Because the Mayor's proposed budget for FY2011 makes cuts to vital programs like child care vouchers, adult job training, and domestic violence services. Our safety net is already in tatters, after more than $100 million in cuts in the last two years. We can't afford to cut any more.  

What? Rally in front of City Hall. Hear Councilmembers speak at the rally about their plans to save the safety net through progressive revenue proposals. Visit Council offices to show the community is behind safety net programs.  WEAR RED!!! 

When? 11:30-1:00 Wednesday, May 5th 

Where? 1350 Pennsylvania Ave NW. Close to Federal Triangle (orange/blue) and Metro Center (red, orange/blue).

Please contact Kristi Matthew to RSVP and get additional information: Kristi@legalclinic.orgor 202-328-1262.

Note: We will not hold a Fair Budget general membership meeting that day.

Joni Podschun

Campaign Manager, SOS-DC
202-553-7248

@SaveDCSafetyNet

There is a movement underway to take a different approach.  The Fair Budget Coalition; the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute,  Save Our Safety Net campaign, and Think Twice Before You Slice Campaign have all called for modest increases in taxes that will be progressive and fair.  Particularly relevant to the legal community, there is a new effort, Lawyers Invest in DC.  The following is a letter from prominent D.C. lawyers urging a more balanced approach:

Dear Fellow Lawyers:

As you know so well from reading local news and more personally from your pro bono work, your service on legal assistance organization boards and your philanthropy, these are especially challenging times for low- and no-income residents of the District of Columbia.  The tumultuous economy has forced more community members into poverty and homelessness than ever before. 

Early in April, Mayor Fenty released his budget proposal for FY 2011 against the backdrop of a forecasted half-billion dollar budget deficit.  This gap can not be closed through program cuts alone without causing great pain and hardship for those who can least afford it.  There are a number of ways to generate revenue that would allow vital programs such as the access to justice initiative, interim assistance to persons with disabilities and child abuse prevention programs to be protected.  The Invest in DC campaign, which includes several local legal service organizations, has recommended the following:

1. Increase the income tax for DC  households with incomes above $200,000 (by less than $9 per $1,000 of income)
2. End DC’s tax exemption for interest paid on out-of-state bonds
3. Update the sales tax to include more services
4. Increase the minimum tax on businesses to $250
5. Bring parity to the alcohol tax by taxing alcohol bought at a store at the same rate as alcohol at a restaurant 
6. Tap into the DC’s “Rainy Day Fund”

As a legal community, we are well positioned to say that justice demands a balanced approach to addressing this budget crisis.  Many in the legal community are high-income earners and would be impacted by a bump up in the highest income tax bracket (Did you know that a legal aid lawyer earning $40,000 in DC is taxed at the same rate as a top partner in a large DC firm?).  Who better than those of us who would pay this modest amount to say "A tax increase is okay; it will cause no material change in my life, but could in fact save the life of a vulnerable District resident."  

It may not come naturally to say "tax me more," but to all of us who are part of this privileged profession of the law, it should come naturally to say "I am committed to justice in my community."  We urge you to join us in signing on to the Invest in DC campaign and calling on our elected officials to do right and do justice.  You can endorse this effort by following this link to the Lawyers Invest In DC page on the campaign's website.

Thanks so very much for your consideration.

              Jonathan Abram, Hogan & Hartson*

              Laurie Davis

              Lisa Dewey, DLA Piper*

              Peter Edelman, Georgetown Law Center*

              Robert Fleishman, Steptoe & Johnson*

              Tony Herman, Covington & Burling*

              Chris Herrling, WilmerHale*

              Jamie Hoag, DLA Piper*

              Barbara Kagan, Steptoe & Johnson*

              Bill Kelly, Stewards of Affordable Housing for the Future*

              Deanne M. Ottaviano, Arent Fox*

              Roberta Ritvo, DLA Piper*

              Dave Roll – Lex Mundi Pro Bono Foundation*

              George Ruttinger, Crowell & Moring*

              Don Salzman, Skadden*

              *firms listed for identification purposes only

The Mayor has made a “no tax” pledge, so revenue options are limited.  In addition, neither the Mayor nor the Council seem to have the courage to dip into the rainy day fund despite the fact that it was set aside to help with precisely these circumstances.  Instead, the Mayor chose to balance the budget through cuts to agencies, restructuring of the City’s debt (which will cost more over the long term) and the prospect of new federal stimulus funds.  He has also proposed new revenue items which tend to be regressive in nature.

Program cuts fall disproportionately on low-income residents, including:

• $4 million reduction in child care vouchers;
• $2 million cut in Grandparent Care giver program;
• $1.8 million in Access to Justice (civil legal assistance) funds;
• $7 million in adult education;
• Elimination of 29 direct care workers in the Department of Mental Health;
• Continuation of tens of millions in cuts to homeless services, housing vouchers and the housing production trust fund imposed in 2010;
• Continuation of drastic cuts to public libraries from 2010; (see http://www.dcfpi.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/4-5-10budgetfirstlook.pdf for more information on the budget)

Disturbingly, the Mayor did increase income taxes, but only for the very lowest income tax payers.  He proposed a reduction in the Earned Income Tax Credit which provides a critical tax break to low-income working families.

Below is a list of the locations, times, and dates for the scheduled budget briefings (some have already been sent to the FBC listserve by the event sponsors). Please note that some briefings ask for an RSVP and questions to be submitted in advance. That doesn’t mean you can’t ask questions at the briefing, but it helps give agency directors an idea of the types of questions people are interested in.

Department of Mental Health

April 8th, 3-5pm

64 New York Avenue, N.E., 4th Floor Conference Room

• Submit questions to Shannon Hall at shall@dcbha.org by April 7th

Department of Human Services

April 13th, 10am-12pm

True Reformer Building, 1200 U St. NW

• RSVP to Katie Kerstetter at kerstetter@dcfpi.org by April 11th

Department of Disability Services

April 13th, 4-6pm

True Reformer Building, 1200 U St. NW

• Submit questions to advocacy@arcdc.net by April 12th

Child and Family Services Agency

April 14th, 4-6pm

DC Primary Care Association 441 4th Street, NW, Room 1114, Washington, DC 20001

• Submit questions to Yolanda McPhail-McKinley at yolanda.mckinley@dc.gov by COB Friday, April 9th

Department of Housing and Community Development and DC Housing Authority

April 15th, 12-2pm

Coalition for Nonprofit Housing and Economic Development, 1432 U St. NW

• RSVP to http://cnhed.wufoo.com/forms/please-rsvp-to-cnheds-budget-briefing/

Department of Health Care Finance

April 15th, 10-11:30

DC Primary Care Association, 1411 K St. NW

• RSVP to Anastacia Arons at Aarons@dcpca.org by April 12th

• Send questions to Jenny Reed at reed@dcfpi.org by April 12th

Staff Attorney

On Friday March 19, the Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary of the District of Columbia Council held its performance oversight hearing on the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH).   OAH is the central panel administrative tribunal for the District and hears a broad range of cases, including those related to public benefits, housing, and the Homeless Services Reform Act. 

I testified about the language barriers that Legal Aid’s clients have faced at OAH.  We have been concerned about OAH’s reliance on telephonic interpreter services for hearings, its failure to translate important documents for limited English proficient individuals, and the problems our clients have had communicating with OAH staff both in person and on the phone.  We also raised questions about OAH’s liability under the DC Language Access Act of 2004, as the agency had long denied being covered by the Act. 

I was encouraged to hear testimony from Chief Judge Walker about her plans to transition to in-person interpretation for hearings and her acknowledgement that OAH is, indeed, covered by the DC Language Access Act.  This is great news for LEP litigants, and we look forward to seeing positive changes in OAH’s delivery of language services in the coming year.

Executive Director

With the Mayor poised to release his proposed budget on April 1 and the prospect that the growing projected gap between expenses and funding needs, advocacy groups are gearing up for the budget process.   There are a number of important events coming up that address the needs of low-income or other vulnerable communities.

Defeat Poverty DC:   A broad coalition, including Legal Aid, has come together to push poverty reduction onto the political landscape.   The campaign launch event is March 24 at 9:00 at the True Reformer Building.   For more information, see our prior blog posting on the event.  

 Also on March 24, activists concerned about how the government disposes of surplus property will have a briefing.  The Demand the Plan Campaign event is March 24^th, 6:30-8:30 PM, Reeves Center, 14th & U Sts, NW.   The event will cover:  “How the absence of a facilities plan has assisted the give-away of public property and cost taxpayers hundreds of millions in wasteful leases; How this plan could help under-served communities get the resources they are demanding and deserve; What DC residents can do in the next 60 days to pass legislation requiring the plan, and hold the city accountable to carrying it out.”  RSVP or for more information contact Parisa (parisa@empowerdc.org) at Empower DC.  (202) 234-9119, . 

The ARC of DC and the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute are holding a forum on What’s in the Proposed 2011 Budget for the DC Department on Disability Services? on Tuesday April 13, 2010,  4:00 PM – 6:00 PM at   1200 U Street, NW – True Reformer Building, Marsh Conf. Room (U St./ Cardozo Station on the Yellow/Green Line).   Please send any advance questions for the Department Director to advocacy@arcdc.net or 202-636-2963 by 12 noon on Monday, April 12^th.  Sign language interpreter services will be provided.   More info at:  www.arcdc.net · www.dcfpi.org