Poverty Law News, September 15, 2006

Federal Practice Manual for Legal Aid Attorneys--New Edition

The Federal Practice Manual for Legal Aid Attorneys, an invaluable resource for legal aid and public interest lawyers, has recently been updated. The 2006 edition, edited by Jeffrey S. Gutman, Professor of Clinical Law and Associate Dean of Academic Affairs at George Washington University Law School and published by the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, is now available in PDF format. Individual chapters from the manual are available for download free of charge from the Shriver Center's online Poverty Law Library.

An HTML version of the manual, which will include links to hyperlinks to statutes, case documents, and model pleadings is forthcoming on eJustice.org, the Shriver Center's national technology project.

Attorneys/Legal Services

Second Circuit Vacates Preliminary Injunction in
Velazquez v. Legal Services Corporation
The Second Circuit has vacated the district court's partial grant of a preliminary injunction in favor of the plaintiffs and remanded the case to reconsider whether Legal Services Corporation regulations allow for an "adequate alternative channel" to protect their rights under the First Amendment. The decision found that the district court applied the wrong legal test in assessing whether or not the regulations, which restrict LSC-funded programs from using nonfederal funds to finance certain activities, place an "undue burden" on recipients of LSC funds.The New York-area legal services programs that brought the case are considering their options.

Transcripts of Oral Arguments Before the Supreme Court
The Supreme Court has announced that, beginning with the October 2006 Term, the Court will make thetranscripts of oral arguments available free to the public on its website on the same day an argument is heard by the Court. In the past, the transcripts had been posted approximately two weeks after the close of an argument session.

Disability

Kmart Settles Suit Challenging Accessibility of Its Stores
Kmart has settled a class action lawsuit concerning the accessibility of its stores for individuals who use wheelchairs or scooters for mobility. Under terms of the settlement, Kmart will make alterations to its stores nationwide to increase their accessibility for individuals who use wheelchairs or scooters and will pay $13 million ($8 million in cash and $5 million in gift cards).

Health

The Role of Medicaid and SCHIP as a Safety Net
The Urban Institute examines data from across the states to assess the two programs’ effectiveness in offsetting declining employer-sponsored coverage for low-income children and adults.

A New Strategy to Combat Racial Inequality in American Health Care Delivery
This article, originally published in DePaul Journal of Health Care Law, provides an overview of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and its application to the health care industry. The author advances a new strategy that would reestablish a private individual's right to bring a claim of disparate impact by alleging that civil rights violators have defrauded the U.S. government in violation of the Civil False Claims Act.

Vulnerable Medicaid Beneficiaries Being Placed in
Scaled-Back "Benchmark" Benefit Packages
The Deficit Reduction Act permits states to vary the benefit packages they offer to some groups of Medicaid beneficiaries. States can require most children and parents to enroll in new “benchmark” benefit packages that do not provide all the benefits covered by regular Medicaid. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reports that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have given states greater flexibility than Congress intended, by allowing them to offer exempt beneficiaries the choice of enrolling in a benchmark package or remaining in regular Medicaid.

Juveniles

Towards a National Strategy to Improve Family, Friend, and Neighbor Child Care
Family, friend, and neighbor child care is a widely used form of care for young children in the United States, particularly for children birth through age two. This symposium report from the National Center for Children in Poverty outlines the picture of current research, practice, and policy and identifies next steps to strengthen all three areas. A major step that would support practice, policy, and research alike is to increase public awareness of the widespread use of family, friend, and neighbor care by families of all economic levels and ethnicities.

Social Security/SSI

Privatization of Social Security
The House Democrats Committee on Ways and Means have released a state-by-state analysis of the impact of President Bush's proposed privatization plan on social security beneficiaries.

Unemployment Compensation

Reforming Unemployment Insurance for the 21st Century
This Brookings Institution paper proposes three broad reforms, each designed to help the unemployment insurance system better meet the needs of a 21st century workforce: (1) strengthening the federal role in UI by setting federal standards that would require states to harmonize their eligibility criteria and benefit levels; (2) a wageloss insurance program, as part of the UI program, to provide an earnings supplement for those workers who become reemployed at a wage lower than the wage they earned at their previous job; and (3) allowing self-employed workers, and perhaps others, to contribute up to 0.25 percent of annual income, up to $200 per year, into Personal Unemployment Accounts (PUAs).