Poverty Law News, September 23, 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.

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Education

No Child Left Behind Act
Danielle Holley-Walker, an assistant law professor at the University of South Carolina School of Law, writes for Law.com that the annual review schedule that the No Child Left Behind Act imposes on schools may lead to a crisis situation involving massive school closures. Holley-Walker points to some hard issues that Congress should consider before renewing the Act.

Elections

Georgia Court Overturns Law Requiring Voters to Show Photo ID
A Fulton County Superior Court judge has found that a state law requiring voters to show government-issued photo identification is unconstitutional. The court found that the law disenfranchises citizens who are otherwise eligible to vote. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reports that the House of Representatives has passed a bill, H.R. 4844, that would effectively deny the right to vote to any U.S. citizen who cannot produce a passport or birth certificate.

Health

500,000 Foster Children's Medicaid Likely to Be Secured
The court has issued an interim ruling in Bell v. Leavitt, a federal class action lawsuit filed by the Shriver Center to challenge the new citizenship documentation requirement in the Medicaid program. In his opinion, Judge Ronald Guzman ruled that he would likely order an injunction exempting 500,000 children in foster care from the requirement.

Health Care Coverage and Access for Hispanics
A new report from the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured finds that, as the Hispanic population grows and moves beyond urban centers, Hispanics in "new growth communities" face greater barriers to health care than those in cities considered "major Hispanic centers." By 2003, the uninsured rate for Hispanics in new growth communities rose to a level equal to that of Hispanics in major centers. However, less than half (43%) of the Hispanic population in new growth communities live within five miles of a community health center compared to 71% of the population in major centers. Additionally, only half of the new growth community Hispanics live within 10 miles of a safety-net hospital compared to 82% of Hispanics in major centers.

Juveniles

Medical Support

The Administration for Children and Families has published a proposed rule that would revise federal requirements for establishing and enforcing medical support obligations in child support enforcement program cases receiving services under Title IV-D of the Social Security Act. The proposed changes would require that all support orders in the IV-D program address medical support; redefine reasonable-cost health insurance; require health insurance to be accessible, as defined by the state; and make conforming changes to the federal substantial-compliance audit and state self-assessment requirements.

Serving Families with Limited English Proficiency
The Government Accountability Office has published "Child Care and Early Childhood Education: More Information Sharing and Program Review by HHS Could Enhance Access for Families with Limited English Proficiency."

Prisons

Prisoner Reentry:Addressing the Challenges in Weed and Seed Communities
Each year, more than 650,000 prisoners are released from state and federal prisons, and more than 12 million cycle through local jails. Taken together, this large volume of people moving in and out of correctional institutions impacts public safety, public health, family networks and community well-being—especially in disadvantaged neighborhoods already affected by crime, unemployment, and other factors. In order to understand the extent to which Weed and Seed sites are engaged in prisoner reentry efforts—and to foster peer-to-peer support among sites—the Department of Justice's Community Capacity Development Office, the Center for Community Safety of Winston-Salem State University, and the Urban Institute surveyed Weed and Seed sites around the country. This report summarizes the responses from the survey, illustrating the various ways that Weed and Seed sites are focusing on prisoner reentry and working with partner organizations to reduce recidivism and create safer, healthier communities.

Welfare

The Hidden Cost of Low-Wage Work in Illinois
Researchers at the Center for Urban Economic Development at the University of Chicago found that low-wage jobs cost Illinois $2.2 billion a year through public benefits paid to workers in those jobs. The study, which examined census data and state expenditures for Medicaid, food stamps, the Earned Income Tax Credit, KidCare, TANF, and subsidized child care programs found that 37 percent of all public benefits go to low-wage workers in the state.