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

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

The Washington Post published an article on Tuesday by Petula Dvorak in its Metro Section entitled Long lines in D.C. shouldn’t be filled with the city’s poor, discussing the work of Defeat Poverty DC.  Defeat Poverty DC is a coalition of social justice organizations that is working to turn the focus of this year’s city elections to poverty.  The article features one of Legal Aid’s clients, Neki Swinton, with whom I have been working for the last two years.  Ms. Swinton has been a remarkable voice for those living in poverty in this city, speaking out time and again about the importance of maintaining the District’s safety net.  Ms. Dvorak’s column gives a brief glimpse into the precarious state of families who are barely surviving in this economy – families who now face devastating consequences as a result of even the slightest changes in circumstances, such as losing a paycheck due to illness.

Executive Director

 Individuals with Disabilities Assistance program (IDA) provides a small cash benefit to people who have applied for and are awaiting a decision from Social Security.   The Social Security application process can take months, leaving some people with disabilities in terrible financial straights.   Once an application is granted, the recipient receives Social Security benefits back to the date of application, a portion of which it given to the District to refund the IDA.

We understand from our friends at the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless (WLCH) that the IDA program may be cut in the Mayor’s proposal for the 2011 budget.   Even if a cut is not in store, recent reductions in funding have left more than 1500 applicants on a waiting list for benefits.

The WLCH is seeking support for this critical safety-net program and urging everyone to email the head of DHS, Clarence Carter at Clarence.carter2@dc.gov, the Mayor at Adrian.fenty@dc.gov and the City Administrator at Neil.albert@dc.gov.   It is important that emails be sent before the budget is finalized on Friday March 19.

At Legal Aid we can attest to the importance of IDA.   It provides critical financial support to very vulnerable District residents.   Cuts to the program are causing great harm.

With the District’s budget in free fall, the next few months will be critical to preserving safety-net programs.   Please consider attending this important briefing:

 ******************************************
What’s In Store
For FY 2011?

 A forum on the D.C. budget outlook
for fiscal year 2011.

 ******************************************

 Monday, March 8, 2010

Registration and Coffee: 9:00 a.m.
Program: 9:30 – 11:30 a.m.

Charles Sumner School, Great Hall
1201 17th Street NW

Speakers include:

•  Ed Lazere, Executive Director, DC Fiscal Policy Institute
• Eric Goulet, Budget Director, Council of the District of Columbia
• Fitzroy Lee, Chief Economist, Office of the Chief Financial Officer
• Dawn Slonneger, Chief of Staff, Office of the Honorable Vincent C. Gray
• T.J. Sutcliffe, Director of Advocacy & Public Policy, The Arc of the District of Columbia

 R.S.V.P. requested to Tina Marshall, marshall@cbpp.org

Sponsors:

The Arc of DC
DC Fiscal Policy Institute
Fair Budget Coalition
Think Twice Before You Slice

Executive Director

The snow week in February has consumed a small lake of press ink, and nothing has gotten more attention than the skill, or lack thereof, of the Mayor to clear it from the roads.  The obsession with plowing has obscured a much larger issue: how will the District pay for all those trucks on the road?

The tens of millions of dollars in extra expense for snow removal could not come at a worse time.  The District is facing a budget shortfall over the next two fiscal years of $500 million.  If the past is any guide, the District’s budget will be balanced by cutting services to vulnerable citizens: those living in poverty, the elderly, children and persons with disabilities.

Cuts to social welfare programs are especially harsh this year.  Unemployment in some wards approaches 30%, recent studies reveal a spike in childhood hunger, there is an unprecedented affordable housing crisis and the District has among the lowest welfare payments in the country.

When faced with a similar budget crisis last summer, the District chose to cut programs and impose only a nominal tax increase.  In contrast to the Council’s reluctance to increase revenue, Steven Pearlstein suggested in his Washington Post column that there be a new snow removal tax to create a several hundred million dollar plowing fund.

A tax increase for snow removal may or may not be a good idea, but an increase to ensure that the social safety net remains intact merits consideration.   Wouldn’t it make more sense if we measured the success of government by whether every child is housed and fed and everyone who wants to work has a job, rather than how quickly snow is plowed.

Staff Attorney, Public Benefits

Today’s Washington Post includes an important article on the barriers many low-income residents face to accessing our city’s safety-net programs.  The story reveals what residents who participate in these programs already know, which is that Income Maintenance Administration (IMA) service centers – where residents apply for Food Stamps, Medical Assistance, and other assistance programs – are under-staffed, over-whelmed, and unable to meet the increased demand for services.

As noted in the article, the Mayor closed two IMA services centers last year in an effort to save money.  This has increased the burden on the remaining service centers at a time when the number of District residents who need assistance has risen dramatically.  For example, the number of people enrolled in the District’s Food Stamp program has increased 22% since 2007.  The article also notes that the administration pledged to fully staff the remaining service centers, but has so far failed to honor that pledge.  The result is that residents – many of whom are elderly, pregnant, or disabled – must often wait for entire days for the assistance they need to apply or recertify.  At the end of the day, many are turned away without being helped and are told to come back.

Many Legal Aid clients tell a similar story.  Legal Aid assists clients who have been denied or terminated from Food Stamps, Medical Assistance and/or TANF – not because they do not qualify – but because of problems with the application and recertification process.  Notices are not mailed or received, application/recertification papers are lost, and recipients are unable to communicate with case-workers.  Those without the assistance of an attorney or case manager undoubtedly face a more difficult process of gaining access to the benefits they need and deserve.

Reducing IMA’s capacity to serve its clients is yet another way that the Mayor’s efforts to close budget gaps have disproportionately burdened our city’s low-income residents.  Rather than making it more difficult for those in need to access the District’s safety-net program, the Mayor should focus on policies that reduce barriers to assistance.  A major step towards reducing these barriers would be for the Mayor to fulfill his administration’s pledge to the city’s low-income residents by adequately staffing all IMA service centers.

Executive Director

 Hunger:   On December 12, the Washington Post ran a story on hunger and children and the failure of nutrition programs to resolve the problem.  The article looks at the interplay between Food Stamps and other benefits programs, the need to increase Food Stamp benefits and raise the eligibility to cover more working families. 

Victory in Maryland for Benefits Applicants:  Congratulations to our friends at the Public Justice Center for their victory in litigation to speed up the processing of Food Stamp and Medicaid applications in Maryland.    As part of recession driven austerity, the State cut benefits workers at the same time that applications were soaring.   The result was long delays in the grant of benefits which denied families access to necessary medical care and nutrition.   On December 10, a permanent injunction was entered requiring that applications be processed within 30 days.

An Economic Recovery Plan for People in Poverty:   The Institute for Policy Studies gathered 11 progressive public policy experts to develop a jobs and relief plan in response to the recession.   In Battered by the Storm: How the Safety Net Is Failing Americans and How to Fix It, they recommend a $407 billion plan to create jobs that pay a living wage and fixes to the worst tears in the safety net.    This is a recovery plan that focuses on those who have been hardest hit by the recession, rather than Wall Street.

 Changes at the Legal Services Corporation:  Funding and Restrictions:  Despite the hard work of many and a great deal of optimism, the budget for LSC is only a small improvement over past years.  (Note:  Legal Aid is not a grantee of the Legal Services Corporation, although we support additional funding for other programs who serve our clients.)  The appropriation was increased by $30 million to $420 million.   .  While this is an important increase, it is still far from what is needed and leaves LSC behind the funding levels it had in the early 1990’s.  More troubling, Congress failed to remove most of the restrictions that impede the ability of programs to provide the full spectrum of services that clients require.   Helaine Barnett Resigns:  LSC President Helaine Barnett has announced that she will step down in January.   She has served in this role for the last six years, longer than any other person.   During her tenure, she was able to increase the LSC budget by more than $90 million and raised the profile of the crisis in civil justice through the Justice Gap report.