LAO expresses concerns about Access to Justice Pilot Projects in Budget
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
- Organization: Legislative Analyst's Office
New Commitment to Legal Aid Program Raises Concerns
We recommend rejection of a $5 million proposal to establish a new three-year pilot program to increase legal representation in civil proceedings because (1) the benefits of the new program are not clear, relative to other potentially less expensive approaches and (2) it would move the state in the direction of a major new funding commitment it could not easily afford. (Reduce Item 0250-111-0001 and Item 0250-101-0932 by $5,000,000.)
Background
Legal Representation for Low-Income Persons. Numerous nonprofit legal aid providers throughout the state assist the poor with various civil legal issues, such as domestic violence and landlord-tenant disputes. The legal aid provided by these programs includes direct legal representation of poor clients who could not otherwise afford an attorney.
In 2003, the most recent year for which complete data are available, California legal aid centers received $182 million from state, federal, and private sources. The state provides a relatively small portion of the overall funding for legal aid through the Equal Access Fund, which was created by the Legislature in 1999. The Governor's 2007-08 budget plan would provide $16 million for the Equal Access Fund. These funds are distributed to legal aid agencies through the State Bar's Legal Services Trust Fund Program and are overseen by the Judicial Council.
Assistance for Self-Represented Litigants. The state also operates several programs within the superior courts that do not provide legal representation, but do assist self-represented litigants in properly navigating through the court system. Through the Model Self-Help Program, numerous courts provide basic information about the legal process and help individuals properly fill out legal forms to process their court cases. The Family Law Facilitator and Family Law Information Center programs, which are also operated by the courts, provide assistance to self-represented litigants in divorce, child/spousal support, and custody cases. The budget provides $13 million in state and federal funds for these programs in 2007-08.
Proposal Would Expand State Role to Include Legal Representation. The Governor's budget includes $5 million from the General Fund for the Trial Court Funding program to establish an Access to Justice Legal Representation pilot program in three superior courts. The funding would allow AOC, the staff for the Judicial Council, and the trial courts to develop criteria for determining which individuals seeking help in self-help centers are most in need of legal representation. The courts would then pay for the legal services of those individuals who have been determined to be most in need. Under the proposal, legal representation would be provided at state expense through legal aid agencies and private attorneys. This goes beyond the self-help programs now operated by the courts that we have described above.
Analyst's Concerns
Based upon our review and discussions about several aspects of the pilot programs with AOC, we have several concerns about this proposal.
More Cost-Effective Approaches Available. Based upon our analysis, it is unclear how creating this new program would be preferable to other approaches to providing civil legal services to the poor. Under the proposed approach, a significant portion of the funds allocated for the pilot programs would be used to pay administrative costs associated with creating the new program. Specifically, AOC and the courts would use part of the funding to develop their own criteria to determine which individuals are most in need of legal services, then contract with legal aid agencies to provide representation for these individuals. However, given that legal aid agencies often operate with limited resources, they are likely to have already developed their own systems for prioritizing incoming workload.
If the Legislature determines that expansion of civil legal services to the poor is a priority, there are more efficient means to do so. Rather than creating a new program that would incur these administrative costs, we believe a better approach would be to directly provide funding to legal aid agencies. Less state funding would go to administrative costs and more would go directly to providing legal services for the poor.
Pilot Project Could Lead to Significant Future Costs. Our additional and larger concern is that this proposal moves the courts in the direction of providing legal services to unrepresented litigants in civil cases on a statewide basis. Funding affordable legal services for the poor, while a commendable goal, would ultimately be a very expensive new commitment for the state. The Commission on Access to Justice, a group of lawyers, judges, and community leaders appointed by the State Bar and other state agencies, estimated in a 2002 report that an additional $384 million annually would be needed to provide legal services for all the poor in California. (The cost undoubtedly would be significantly higher now.) This pilot program would move the state in the direction of incurring these additional costs at a time when the state continues to face a persistent structural budget problem.
Analyst's Recommendation
Because it takes an approach that generates unnecessary administrative costs, and undertakes an expensive effort to provide legal services for the poor that could lead to significant future costs, we recommend that the Legislature reject this proposal and reduce General Fund support for Trial Court Funding program budget by $5 million.
