Shriver Center: Poverty Law News

Poverty Law News

2007-01-26T18:11:51Z

Consumer

Senate Hearing on Credit Card Fees
The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs held a hearing on January 26, 2007, on the billing, marketing, and disclosure practices of the credit card industry and their impact on consumers. Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren testified that "the credit card market is broken, and consumers pay a steep price in this non-functioning market."

State Farm Agrees to Reconsider Hurricane Katrina Claims
State Farm will participate in a court-supervised resolution process to reconsider and fully resolve claims from Hurricane Katrina in three Mississippi coastal counties. The process is part of an agreement reached through the settlement of a class action lawsuit against the insurer by families who believe their damage claims were not adequately resolved. This agreement may affect some 35,000 Mississippi families, if approved by the U.S. District Court in Mississippi overseeing hurricane litigation.

Health

No Bargain: Medicare Drug Plans Deliver High Prices
Medicare drug plan prices for the top drugs prescribed to seniors are 58 percent higher than the same drugs provided to veterans by the Department of Veterans Affairs, according to this report from Families USA. For the top 20 drugs prescribed to seniors, the report examined prices charged by the VA compared to the prices charged by the five companies with the largest enrollment in the Medicare (Part D) drug program.

Housing

The Safe Homes Act:
New Housing Protections for Victims of Domestic and Sexual Violence
The Shriver Center has prepared numerous flyers, brochures, and legal tools that outline provisions of the Safe Homes Act and the Violence Against Women Act of 2005 (VAWA). These laws protect the housing rights of victims of domestic and sexual violence.

Public Housing and Housing Choice Voucher Capacity in Illinois
Across Illinois, waiting lists for public housing or housing choice vouchers are often closed, meaning many families eligible for housing assistance cannot even secure a place in line to receive assistance. The Mid-America Institute on Poverty of Heartland Alliance for Human Needs and Human Rights has released Not Even a Place in Line - 2007 - Public Housing and Housing Choice Voucher Capacity and Waiting Lists in Illinois.

Juveniles

In-Depth Summary of the Child and Family Services Improvement Act of 2006
The Child and Family Services Improvement Act of 2006 represents an important step toward providing crucial services to children and families involved or at risk of becoming involved with the child welfare system. Of particular benefit are the addition of $40 million annually and the attention given to improving the workforce and addressing substance abuse, specifically methamphetamine abuse. The Center for Law and Social Policy has released an in-depth summary of the law's provisions.

Welfare

President Remains Silent on the State of Poverty
The President's State of the Union address ignored the plight of the 37 million Americans living in the largest state in the union—The State of Poverty. The address, unfortunately, seems to be an accurate representation of the President's thinking, or lack of it, about poverty, writes John Bouman, President of the Shriver Center.

Poverty in America
The Government Accountability Office has published Poverty in America: Economic Research Shows Adverse Impacts on Health Status and Other Social Conditions as well as the Economic Growth Rate. The report documents research that suggests that individuals living in poverty face an increased risk of adverse outcomes, such as poor health and criminal activity, both of which may lead to reduced participation in the labor market. The GAO also released related testimony on the issue, Poverty in America: Consequences for Individuals and the Economy.

2007 Poverty Guidelines
The Department of Health and Human Services has published its annual update to the poverty guidelines to account for increases in the cost of living. The poverty threshold for a family of three living in the 48 contiguious states is $17,170.

Women and Family Law

The President Ignores Women in Poverty
There are more women living in the State of Poverty than in the states of Wisconsin, Indiana, and Iowa combined. Wendy Pollack, Director of the Women's Law and Policy Project at the Shriver Center, responds to the President's State of the Union address.

Poverty Law News
January 26, 2007

Poverty Law News

2007-03-12T16:21:43Z

Shriver Center Sets National Agenda

The Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law has been helping poor people in courtrooms and setting policies at the state and national level for forty years, but now is a time when the country may be ready for deep and broad change. At this time of renewed promise in the fight against poverty, the Shriver Center puts forth twelve ways to lead the change. Each policy idea cites opportunities for action that all antipoverty advocates can take on both the federal and state levels in 2007.

Education

The Changing Landscape of American Public Education
This report from the Pew Hispanic Center examines the intersection of two trends that have transformed the landscape of American public education in recent years: a rapid increase in enrollment and a surge in the opening of new schools. The report describes the racial and ethnic components of enrollment growth at various levels of the K-12 system. It also examines the composition of enrollment in newly opened schools and older schools still in operation as well as the impact of rapid growth in Hispanic enrollment.

Employment

Court of Appeals Rules on FMLA Leave
In Repa v. Roadway Express, the Seventh Circuit has held that defendant employer violated the Family and Medical Leave Act when it required an employee on FMLA leave who was also receiving disability benefits to concurrently use her sick and vacation leave.

Health

Where Do the Uninsured Live in Illinois?
A new report, released by Health & Disability Advocates in collaboration with Heartland Alliance and other partners, identifies where Illinois’ 1.4 million adults who lack healthcare coverage live by legislative district and by poverty level.

Housing

Justice Department Reaches Settlement with Racetrack Owners
The Justice Department has reached a settlement with the owners of the Arlington Park Racecourse in Arlington Heights, Illinois, resolving claims that the owners violated the provisions of the federal Fair Housing Act that prohibit discrimination on the basis of familial status. In 2004, HOPE Fair Housing Center, a fair housing advocacy organization based in Wheaton, Ill., filed a complaint with the Department of Housing and Urban Development alleging that the owners had a policy in place that restricted families from living in six residential buildings on the track’s “backstretch,” in violation of the Fair Housing Act. At the time HOPE filed its complaint, five of the six buildings had private bathrooms and air conditioning, and these five buildings were the only residential buildings on the backstretch that had these amenities.

Social Security/SSI

EAJA Filing Deadline
In Van v. Barnhart, the Ninth Circuit has held that Equal Access to Justice Act’s 30-day filing period does not begin to run until after the 60-day appeal period in Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 4(a) has lapsed, even when the Commissioner of Social Security Administration, following a sentence-six remand, has awarded benefits to a claimant who then obtains a judgment to which the Commissioner consents in the district court.

Welfare

Between Welfare Reform and Reauthorization
This report, part of MDRC's Project on Devolution and Urban Change, describes how — in the early 2000s, a time marked by an economic downturn, state budget cuts, and welfare time limits — Cleveland and Philadelphia met the three main challenges of welfare reform: how to assist recipients in moving from welfare to work, how to serve recipients who have multiple or severe barriers to employment, and how to provide work supports to low-income families.

Poverty Law News
March 10, 2007

Poverty Law News

2006-07-29T16:35:19Z

Poverty Law News

Employment

Employment Problems in Louisiana and Mississippi
The Catholic Legal Immigration Network has published "Employment Problems in Louisiana and Mississippi: An Advocacy Manual." The manual outlines basic problem-solving techniques, answers common questions about workplace rights, and identifies situations in which legal advice should be sought. In addition, it includes descriptions of governmental agencies that address workplace issues, organizations that provide free and low-cost legal assistance for employment cases, low fee health clinics for workers, and resources for job placement, training and education.

Food Programs

Summer Is No Picnic for Hungry Children Missing School Meals
About 2.8 million children received meals at parks, schools, religious congregations, recreational programs, and other community sites through U.S. Department of Agriculture summer meals programs on an average day in July 2005. Unfortunately, that represented only 18 children for every 100 who receive a free or reduced-price school lunch in the regular school year, according to this report from the Food Research and Action Center. The summer of 2005 was the seventh straight year in which participation in the program declined.

Guide to the Disaster Food Stamp Program
The Food Research and Action Center has released its guide to the Disaster Food Stamp Program that highlights how responding quickly, planning ahead, utilizing technology, and conducting outreach are important ways that public agencies and social service providers can assist with disaster relief and connect needy families to valuable nutrition programs. The guide is a revised version of a prior FRAC publication that builds on the lessons learned in 2005.

Health

Court Invalidates Maryland Health Plan Mandate
The federal district court has held that the Maryland Fair Share Health Fund Act is preempted by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). The Fair Share Act required for-profit employers of 10,000 or more people to expend no less than 8 percent of their payroll on health insurance or to pay the difference into a state Medicaid fund. The Brennan Center notes that the court rejected plaintiff's argument that the Act, which effectively applied only to Wal-Mart, was unconstitutionally discriminatory in violation of the Equal Protection Clause.

Utah to Use Private Donations to Pay for Medicaid
Stateline.org reports that Utah Gov. John Huntsman plans to use $2 million in private donations to fund dental coverage for 40,000 Medicaid recipients in 2007.

Housing

Moving to Work Demonstration
A series of reports by HUD'Âs Inspector General have found serious flaws in the implementation of the Moving to Work (MTW) housing demonstration, including ineffective oversight by HUD and poor use of funds by some local housing agencies. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, these findings, considered together with other risks posed by MTW, suggest that sharply expanding MTW'Âs size and scope--Âas some members of Congress are seeking to do--Âwould be unwise. Instead, MTW could be improved by strengthening accountability while maintaining the demonstration at roughly its current size.

Juveniles

Child Welfare Systems Affected by Disaster
The Government Accountability Office has published "Child Welfare: Federal Action Needed to Ensure States Have Plans to Safeguard Children in the Child Welfare System Displaced by Disasters."

Welfare

Center on Poverty, Work, and Opportunity Summit on Poverty
In November 2005, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Center on Poverty, Work, and Opportunity held a summit on solutions to poverty. The full transcript from this event will be published in the forthcoming issue of Employee Rights and Employment Policy Journal, published by Chicago-Kent School of Law. Topics include family structure, poverty, and family well-being; moving out of low-wage jobs; and community economic development.

Analysis of Interim Final TANF Rules
The Center for Law and Social Policy has prepared an overview of the major regulatory provisions and the implications for state implementation of the changes in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005.

Rebuilding America's Lower Ninth Campaign
The Shriver Center has launched a media advocacy effort to reopen a national dialogue on poverty while advocating for effective federal antipoverty strategies. The Rebuilding America's Lower Ninth Campaign seeks to promote innovative solutions to ending poverty in the United States.

Poverty Law News

2006-08-04T20:05:57Z

Consumer

Public Recognizes Debt as a Fast Growing Problem
A national survey sponsored by the Center for American Progress reveals broad concern about the growing problem of household debt in America. Survey respondents identified debt as an obstacle to middle-class families and were very supportive of a range of policy solutions to empower and protect borrowers to make better decisions. The Center recently sponsored a one-day conference on household debt, and has posted presentations and video as well as other resource materials on its website.

Employment

Undocumented Workers Rebuilding New Orleans Suffer Workplace Violations
A study released by researchers at Tulane University and the University of California, Berkeley reveals that undocumented workers are being abused even as they provide critical help to rebuild New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. The comprehensive study of more than 200 workers surveyed in March 2006 discovered vulnerability of undocumented workers, including severely reduced access to health care, wage discrepancy and unsafe working conditions.

Worker Exploitation in New Orleans
A new report from the Advancement Project, the New Orleans Worker Justice Coalition, and the National Immigration Law Center, And Injustice for All: Workers’ Lives in the Reconstruction of New Orleans, provides the most comprehensive documentation of post-Katrina worker conditions to date. This report is a compilation of personal narratives based on more than 700 worker interviews that raises the voices of New Orleanians struggling to return and reconstruction workers, all of whom are attempting to survive in the face of inequitable and unjust policies and practices of public and private institutions.

Waging a Living
Following a screening of the new documentary "Waging a Living: Opportunities for Action," the Brookings Institution sponsored a panel discussion on the obstacles facing low-income workers and steps that can be taken by employers and federal, state, and local policymakers to provide better lives for low-income workers' families.

Chicago's Retail Living Wage Ordinance
On July 26, the Chicago City Council voted 35-to-14 to approve a new ordinance requiring large retailers in the city to pay their employees a living wage. The policy represents an important new tool for cities trying to ensure that economic development delivers good jobs for their residents. The Brennan Center advised in the design and drafting of the proposed law and is providing economic policy research to help communities assess its impact.

Health

The Role of Employer-Sponsored Health Care for Immigrants
Access to employer-sponsored health insurance is declining for all families living in the United States, and this problem is especially acute for immigrant families. Employer-sponsored coverage is a particularly important source of insurance for immigrant families since their eligibility for public coverage through Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) is restricted. This primer from the Kaiser Commission on Health Care and the Uninsured examines the role of employer-based coverage for immigrants and the specific hurdles they face in obtaining this coverage.

Housing

Safe Homes Act Signed into Law
Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has signed the Safe Homes Act into law—the first of many steps toward making the homes of domestic and sexual violence victims a safer place. The Safe Homes Act allows victims (1) to terminate a lease due to an imminent threat of domestic or sexual violence against the tenant; (2) to terminate a lease due to sexual violence on the property; and (3) to change their locks without the landlord's permission under certain circumstances.

Immigration

Social Security Administration No-Match Letters
The National Immigration Law Center has published a set of advocacy resources for submitting comments to the Department of Homeland Security regarding proposed rules for using Social Security Administration "no-match" letters for immigration enforcement. Comments on the proposed rule are due August 14, 2006.

Welfare

Outcomes of 1996 Welfare Reform
The House Ways and Means Committee held hearings on July 19, 2006, to review outcomes of 1996 welfare reform legislation. The committee heard testimony from Ronald Haskins of the Brookings Institution, Sharon Parrott of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, and Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation, among others.

When Work Doesn't Pay
This brief from the National Center for Children in Poverty seeks to inform policymakers and others about the difficulties faced by low-income working parents as they strive to make progress in the workforce. Using data from NCCP’s Family Resource Simulator, it highlights ways in which the current structure of work support policies often leads to unintended consequences. As low-wage workers increase their earnings above the federal poverty level, their families begin to lose eligibility for government work supports. Given that some of these benefits drop off quickly, earning more does not always improve a family’s financial bottom line.

Welfare Reform Roundtable
On July 25, writers and critics of the landmark 1996 welfare reform bill took part in an Urban Institute roundtable event with federal officials, state and local human service practitioners, researchers, and analysts to mark the legislation's approaching 10th anniversary. Audio of the discussion is available at the Institute's website.

Poverty Law News

2006-08-12T16:26:04Z

Attorneys/Legal Services

ABA House of Delegates Passes Resolution Calling for Civil Right to Counsel
On August 7, 2006, the American Bar Association's House of Delegates unanimously passed Resolution 112A, proposed by the Presidential Task Force on Access to Civil Justice, as amended. The resolution urges federal, state, and territorial governments to provide legal counsel as a matter of right at public expense to low income persons in those categories of adversarial proceedings where basic human needs are at stake, such as those involving shelter, sustenance, safety, health or child custody, as determined by each jurisdiction. The July-August 2006 issue of Clearinghouse Review: Journal of Poverty Law and Policy covers the movement to establish a civil right to counsel.

Consumer

Life and Debt Cycle
The National Consumer Law Center's Report "The Life and Debt Cycle Part One: The Implications of Rising Credit Card Debt Among Older Consumers," examines the extent and consequences of credit card borrowing by elders. A second report, to be released in August 2006, focuses on the types of programs and resources available to help older consumers with credit card problems.

Employment

$5.4 Million Awarded to Test Employment Strategy for Ex-Prisoners
The Joyce Foundation is awarding grants totaling nearly $5.4 million to test a promising strategy for enabling people leaving prisons to connect to jobs. The Joyce grants provide the lynchpin for a $14.5 million initiative that will provide the first large-scale evaluation of whether “transitional jobs” can improve employment outcomes and reduce recidivism for the growing number of people, currently estimated at 600,000, who return home from the nation’s prisons each year.

Family Law

Child Support
On August 2, 2006, Vicki Turetsky of the Center for Law and Social Policy made a presentation to the National Child Support Enforcement Association on "Child Support Assignment and Distribution Provisions in the Deficit Reduction Act." CLASP has posted the slides from that presentation.

Health

Language Barriers to Health Care
In this editorial published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Glenn Flores, a pediatrician at the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, notes that, although 49.6 million Americans speak a language other than English at home, many patients who need medical interpreters have no access to them. Dr. Flores argues that the time has come for payers to be required to reimburse providers for interpreter services.

Housing

Social Policy Issues in Public Housing
The first issue of Northwestern University's new Journal of of Law and Social Policy is devoted to social policy issues in public housing. Article topics address racial inequality, assisted housing mobility, and comprehensive approaches to urban development. The issue features an article by William P. Wilen, Shriver Center Director of Housing Litigation, on "The Horner Model: Successfully Redeveloping Public Housing."

Family Housing Choices in the Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program
The Poverty & Race Research Action Council and the National Fair Housing Alliance have sponsored a new report that looks at all Low Income Housing Tax Credit units developed between 1995 and 2003 to show the extent to which the program produces family housing in low poverty and non-racially concentrated neighborhoods in large metropolitan areas. The report includes rankings of all large metropolitan areas in the country to compare the extent to which states promote family housing in low poverty and racially integrated areas.

Preservation Information Exchange
The Department of Agriculture has launched a Preservation Information Exchange website where nonprofits interested in preserving affordable housing can access the site to obtain information regarding RD Section 515 Rural Rental Housing and Section 514 and 516 Farm Labor Housing projects whose owners have applied to prepay their RD loans. Only nonprofit and public agencies have access to the website and they must register with the agency on the site before gaining full access to it.

Prisons

Orleans Parish Prisoners Abandoned in Wake of Hurricane Katrina
The ACLU Prison Project has released a report, Abandoned and Abused: Orleans Parish Prisoners in the Wake of Katrina, that details the experiences of thousands of men, women, and children who were abandoned at the Orleans Parish Prison in the days after the storm. n conjunction with the report's release, the National Prison Project urged the president to direct the Department of Justice to evaluate the Orleans Parish Prison's current evacuation plans in an effort to determine whether any meaningful improvements have been made over the past year. The ACLU also asked Congress to audit the jail's emergency preparedness plans.

Welfare

Getting On, Staying On, and Getting Off Welfare
This Urban Institute brief reviews state variations in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, from initial and ongoing eligibility to work requirements, reductions in benefits because of sanctions, and time limits. It includes a table summarizing variations, as of 2003, in such areas as the minimum hourly work requirement, the obligation to look for a job when applying for TANF, and the benefit reductions for infractions of TANF rules.

Poverty Law News

2006-09-02T16:42:14Z

Disaster Assistance

Louisiana Supreme Court Upholds Extended Deadlines for Insurance Claims
The Louisiana Supreme Court has held that two state laws that extended the time limit for making insurance claims for damages suffered in Hurricanes Katrina and Rita are constitutional.

Employment

Guest Workers Charge Luxury Hotel Chain in New Orleans with Exploitation
Eighty-two guest workers have filed a federal lawsuit against Decatur Hotels, alleging that they were lured through false promises and charged thousands of dollars in fees to fill jobs held by New Orleaneans prior to Hurricane Katrina.

Health

Suit Alleges That CMS Supresses Truthful Speech Regarding Insurance Coverage
The Washington Legal Foundation has filed suit in federal court against the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services alleging that CMS is trampling on First Amendment rights in seeking to supress truthful speech regarding insurance coverage available to senior citizens under Medicare Part D. WLF filed suit on behalf of members who, as a result of CMS's actions, are unable to obtain accurate information about competing insurance providers.

Medicaid Citizenship Documentation Rule
The Center for Law and Social Policy submitted comments to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services on the interim final rule that would require certain Medicaid applicants to document their citizenship. The Shriver Center has filed a federal class action lawsuit challenging the policy.

Key Resources on Health Coverage and the Uninsured
Coincident with the Census Bureau's release of its annual update on health insurance coverage and the number of uninsured Americans, the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured has compiled a series of links to key resources on health care and the uninsured.

Welfare

Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage
The Census Bureau has released data on income, poverty, and health insurance coverage from the 2005 American Community Survey. Although real median income rose by 1.1 percent between 2004 and 2005, the poverty rate remained steady at 12.6 percent. Moreover, the number of people without health insurance coverage rose by 1.3 million to 46.6 million. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has published analysis of the data. According to John Bouman, Director of Advocacy at the Shriver Center, the Census data are misleading because the federal government does not accurately measure poverty.

Targeting Poverty: Aim at a Bulls Eye
Forty years after the war on poverty and a year after Katrina struck, commitments to tackle poverty are beginning to come back onto political and policy agendas. This report from the Center for Law and Social Policy identifies efforts around the nation to set poverty targets -- numerical goals and timelines -- for the reduction or elimination of poverty.

Poverty Law News
September 2, 2006

Poverty Law News

2006-09-09T15:15:55Z

Attorneys/Legal Services

Client Grievance Procedure
The Legal Services Corporation has published a proposed rule that would amend LSC's client grievance procedures. The proposed changes are intended to improve the utility of the regulation for grantees and their clients and applicants for service. Comments are due September 20, 2006.

Survey Finds Adults Likely to Turn to the Web for Legal Information
According to a survey recently commissioned by Lawyers.com, three times as many adults turn to the Internet to get advice and information about legal matters, aside from asking a lawyer, than did so six years ago. Other than family and friends, and aside from asking a lawyer, the Internet is now the single biggest source for legal information.

Disaster Assistance

Disaster Preparedness
The Government Accountability Office has published "Catastrophic Disasters: Enhanced Leadership, Capabilities, and Accountability Controls Will Improve the Effectiveness of the Nation's Preparedness, Response, and Recovery System."

Employment

Migrant Workers Cleaning Up After Katrina Win Unpaid Wages
A major Hurricane Katrina contractor has agreed to pay more than $200,000 to migrant workers who were denied overtime pay. In a federal lawsuit brought by the Southern Poverty Law Center, the workers alleged that Belfor USA Group, Inc., and its subcontractors systematically denied the workers overtime pay, despite the fact that they were often working 12-hour days, seven days a week, to remove mold, mud, and other toxic contamination from flooded buildings.

Housing

Suit Challenges Landlord's Conversion of Federally Financed Housing
A group tenants represented by the Shriver Center have filed suit in federal court claiming that their landlord is converting their apartment building to corporate and student housing, despite the fact that the building was financed with government support and built for the express purpose of providing affordable housing to Chicago-area senior citizens and disabled persons.

Social Security/SSI

Income and Resources for SSI Purposes
The Social Security Administration has published a final rule revising the the methods used to determine income and resources under the Supplemental Security Income Program. This rule implements provisions of the Social Security Protection Act of 2004.

Opinions from Sources That Are Not "Acceptable Medical Sources"
The Social Security Administration has published notice of Social Security Ruling 06-03p, which clarifies how SSA will consider opinions from sources that are not "acceptable medical sources" and how it will consider decisions made by other governmental and nongovernmental agencies on the issue of disability or blindness.

Welfare

The Changing Role of Welfare in the Lives of Low-Income Families with Children
The National Survey of America's Families, conducted by the Urban Institute as part of its Assessing the New Federalism project, documented changes in low-income families' circumstances at the national level over the 1996 to 2002 period. This study uses these data to summarize what was learned about families in the welfare system. The authors describe outcomes for three low-income groups: families currently on welfare, families that recently left welfare, and those that never received welfare. The outcomes discussed include family structure, demographic characteristics, work and barriers to work, income, and well-being.

Regional Trends in Child Poverty
This report from the National Center for Children in Poverty examines regional differences in the family characteristics of children who have seen the greatest rise in poverty. During the last five years, children living in the Midwest experienced the biggest increases in child poverty, accounting for 43 percent of the national rise in the number of poor children. At the same time, poverty did not increase among children living in the West.

States Stumble Privatizing Social Services
This article from Stateline.org describes the early results of privately run social services projects in Texas and Indiana.

Poverty Law News
September 9, 2006

Poverty Law News, September 15, 2006

2006-09-23T16:00:55Z

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).

Poverty Law News
September 15, 2006

Poverty Law News, September 23, 2006

2006-09-23T16:00:24Z

Federal Practice Manual for Legal Aid Attorneys--New Edition

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.

Poverty Law News

2006-09-29T20:06:35Z

Federal Practice Manual for Legal Aid Attorneys--New Edition

Disability

Justice Department Challenges Discriminatory Ordinance
The Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against the City of Boca Raton, Florida, alleging that a city ordinance discriminates against individuals with disabilities. The suit alleges that zoning ordinance passed by the city in 2002 and amended in 2003 excludes housing for persons recovering from alcohol or drug dependency from residential areas of the city and unreasonably restricts their operation in commercial zones in violation of the Fair Housing Act.

Disaster Assistance

Settlement Reached in Suit Seeking Accessible Trailers for Hurricane Evacuees
The district court has approved a settlement in Brou v. FEMA, a class action lawsuit brought to ensure that evacuees from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita who have disabilities are provided accessible trailers. Although approximately 25 percent of Katrina evacuees have disabilities, at the time suit was filed, only 1 to 2 percent of evacuees from Louisiana and Mississippi were provided with accessible trailers. As a result of the settlement, FEMA has created special, toll-free numbers for evacuees who need accessible trailers.

Food Programs

Confidentiality of WIC Information
The Food and Nutrition Service has published a final rule that amends a number of existing provisions in the WIC Program regulations to address issues raised by WIC state agencies, other members of the WIC community, and the Government Accountability Office. In particular, this rulemaking streamlines the federal requirements for financial and participation reporting by state agencies and clarifies the requirements pertaining to the confidentiality of WIC information in order to strengthen coordination with public organizations and private physicians.

Health

CMS Ordered Not to Collect Incorrect Payments Sent to Medicare Beneficiaries
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting the Medicare program from recovering Part D premium refunds mistakenly sent out by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) until the affected beneficiaries are given the opportunity to seek a waiver of recovery. CMS sent out a letter in late August demanding that the 230,000 beneficiaries who received the premium refunds repay them by September 30, 2006. The letter did not include a statement that the Medicare statute requires recovery of incorrect payments such as these to be waived in specified circumstances.

No Shelter from the Storm: America's Uninsured Children
This report from the Campaign for Children's Health Care finds that more than nine million children--one out of every five in the U.S.--are uninsured. The report notes that racial and ethnic minority children are at greater risk of being uninsured.

Medicare Part D Enrollment
The annual open enrollment period for Medicare Part D begins on November 15, 2006. The Center for Medicare Advocacy has published a tip sheet of factors to consider when renewing membership in a Part D plan or choosing a new plan and a timeline for Part D enrollment.

SCHIP Financing Update
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reports that 17 states will face federal funding shortfalls of $800 million in their State Children's Health Insurance Programs in 2007.

Housing

Fair Market Rents
The Department of Housing and Urban Development has published notice of final Fair Market Rents for fiscal year 2007 for the Housing Choice Voucher Program and the Moderate Rehabilitation Single Room Occupancy Program.

Juveniles

Basic Facts About Low-Income Children
The National Center for Children in Poverty has updated its popular fact sheet series, Basic Facts About Low-Income Children, with the most recent Census data. Millions of children with low-income parents find themselves without the basics, even though the majority of these parents work.

Unemployment Compensation

Confidentiality and Disclosure of State UC Information
The Department of Labor has published a final rule to set forth the confidentiality and disclosure requirements of Title III of the Social Security Act and the Federal Unemployment Tax Act concerning unemployment compensation information. The final rule also amends the Income and Eligibility Verification System regulations, a system of required information sharing primarily among state and local agencies administering several federally assisted programs.

Welfare

Cost Allocation Methodology in the TANF Program
The Administration for Children and Families has published a proposed rule to regulate the cost allocation methodology to be used in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. The proposed rule would require states to use the "benefiting program" cost allocation methodology required by OMB Circular A-87 (2 C.F.R. Part 225) and previously required under HHS's Office of Grants and Acquisition Management Action Transmittal 98-2. Comments are due November 27, 2006.

Women's Poverty in the United States
Legal Momentum has released analysis of recent Census data finding that a woman in the United States is 45 percent more likely to be poor than a man. In 2005, 14.6 million adult women and 9.4 million adult men were poor.

Poverty Law News

2006-10-13T20:51:07Z

Tools for Keeping Current While Avoiding Information Overload

Staying informed of legal developments and news is a challenge for most of us. In a sea of information sources, what are the best websites for poor people’s advocates seeking to stay informed on various topics? What technology tools are available to aggregate relevant information and serve it to you on demand?

Four articles recent posted to eJustice can help. Legal Research on the Internet is a guide to the best sources for substantive legal information of interest to poverty lawyers. An accompanying article describes the features of the Shriver Center website, which serves as an information hub for legal services advocates. Really Simple Ways to Keep Up with News and Information describes really simple syndication, or RSS, and how to use it to keep track of news that is of particular interest to you. A final article features links to particularly useful RSS feeds. Each article includes links to helpful screencasts that offer demonstrations of the topics discussed.

Civil Rights

Race, Class, and Hurricane Katrina
There is No Such Thing as a Natural Disaster: Race, Class, and Hurricane Katrina, edited by Chester Hartman, director of research at the Poverty and Race Research Action Council and adjunct professor of sociology at The George Washington University and Gregory D. Squires, professor and chair of the sociology department at GW, examines the central role of race and class on housing and redevelopment in the Gulf region prior to and after Katrina, in urban disasters throughout American history, and the implications for future community development in New Orleans and metropolitan areas throughout the U.S. The book includes articles by two dozen critical scholars and activists who present a multifaceted portrait of the social implications of the disaster.

Disability

Disability Advocates Challenge Confinement in Nursing Home
Residents of Laguna Honda Hospital in San Francisco, California have filed a lawsuit in federal court to challenge their unnecessary continuing confinement at Laguna Honda Hospital, a 1,000-bed nursing home owned and operated by the city. The complaint asserts that, according to the city’s own assessment, “the vast majority” of the residents are capable of—and prefer—living in their own homes or in supportive community programs, and asks the court to require the city to offer and provide services in alternative community setting.

Employment

Workers' Compensation Fails Injured Workers
A report released by the Center for Justice and Democracy finds that workers' compensation programs throughout the United States have been devastating for injured workers, leaving them to contend with an adversarial bureaucracy and inadequate benefits that render many destitute.

Government and Governmental Services

Federal Spending
OMB Watch has launched FedSpending.org, a free, searchable database of federal government spending. Users can search for data on federal contracts by contractor, place of performance, or contracting agency. Moreover, the grants tab allows users to search through all federal assistance spending by grant recipient, place of performance, or agency.

Health

Language Access in Hospitals
The National Health Law Program (NHeLP) has produced a webcast on helping patients and caregivers communicate and removing language access barriers in hospitals. NHeLP has also released five new reports on language services for patients.

Health Savings Accounts
This brief from the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured finds that most low-income families would not benefit from health savings accounts or high-deductible health plans due to an already low level of tax liability and the amount of family income that the high-deductible health plan and potential cost-sharing would consume. In addition, greater cost-sharing potentially reduces the use of health care among those with low-incomes, particularly those who are not in good health.

Housing

Shortfalls in Public Housing Funding
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reports that the amount of funding Congress has provided for public housing operating subsidies in recent years has been inadequate to bridge the gap between rents and operating costs, with the shortfalls increasing with each passing year. Rising utility rates are a major factor behind the growing shortfalls.

Juveniles

Child Care Out of Reach for Many Low-Income Families
Although research clearly demonstrates that investments in high-quality child care pay off for children, a recent report by the National Women’s Law Center shows that states continue to woefully under fund programs that help low-income families pay for child care. The problem is likely to get worse because new welfare work requirements imposed by Congress early this year increase the need for child care assistance.

Taxation

State Earned Income Tax Credits
States that enact Earned Income Tax Credits (EITCs) can reduce child poverty, increase effective wages, and cut taxes for families struggling to make ends meet. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has released a report on the rising number of states that offer EITCs.

Welfare

Required Home Visit Does Not Violate Recipients' Rights
The Ninth Circuit has held that San Diego County's welfare eligibility program, Project 100%, which requires all welfare applicants to consent to a warrantless home search as a condition of eligibility, does not violate their rights under the U.S. or California constitutions. Plaintiffs in Sanchez v. County of San Diego had alleged that Project 100% violated their rights under the Fourth Amendment.

Poverty Law News

2006-10-27T19:18:26Z

Attorneys/Legal Services

LSC Grants to Civil Legal Services Providers
The Legal Services Corporation has announced its intent to award grants and contracts to provide civil legal services to eligible low-income clients effective January 1, 2007.

Consumer

Predatory Lending Prevalent in Rural Communities
A recent report from the Carsey Institute finds that predatory lending is increasingly prevalent in rural communities. According to "Subprime and Predatory Lending in Rural America," 17 percent of the rural mortgage loan originations reported in 2004 were classified as high annual percentage rate loans.

Elections

Felony Disenfranchisement in Alabama
The Sentencing Project and the Alabama Alliance to Restore the Vote report that Alabama has the third highest disenfranchisement rate in the nation. One of every 14 Alabama residents is disenfranchised--a rate that is three times the national average. The ACLU of Mississipi has filed a lawsuit against the Mississippi Attorney General challenging that state's denial of voting rights to citizens with felony convictions. The suit requests that the voter registration deadline for the upcoming election be extended for persons with felony convictions who are uncertain about their voting qualifications.

Food Programs

Food Stamp Access in Urban America
More than $1.9 billion in food stamp benefits was left unclaimed by 24 of the largest U.S. cities and urban counties in 2004, according to Food Stamp Access in Urban America, the Food Research and Action Center’s latest survey of food stamp usage and hunger.

Immigration

Lawsuit Challenges Seizure of Wire Transfer Funds
Three legal immigrants and an immigrant advocacy group have filed suit in federal court challenging the Arizona Attorney General's practice of seizing "suspect" wire transfers of funds from individuals out of the State of Arizona. The attorney general has seized $17 million in recent years, targeting money transfers in excess of $500 on the suspicion that they are payment to smugglers transporting people or drugs into Arizona from Mexico. Plaintiffs wired money for legitimate purposes but could not satisfy Arizona authorities' demands for information on the wire transfers.

Health

Medicaid at a Turning Point
The Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured's annual 50-state survey of Medicaid officials finds an improved economy combined with the implementation of the new Medicare prescription drug benefit has contributed to the lowest rate of Medicaid spending growth in a decade and the fourth consecutive year in which Medicaid spending growth has slowed.

Coverage of Parents Helps Children
A growing body of research demonstrates that one highly effective way of boosting health coverage among low-income children is to broaden health insurance programs so that the programs also cover their parents. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reports that states that have expanded Medicaid coverage for low-income parents have experienced significantly greater gains in enrollment among eligible children than states that did not expand parents’ coverage.

Medicare Privatization: Windfall for the Special Interests
Families USA reports that, three years after the passage of the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003, the move to privatize Medicare has resulted in windfalls for the drug and insurance industries and huge costs to taxpayers and beneficiaries.

Addressing HIV/AIDS in the Hispanic Community
Hispanics make up 14 percent of the U.S. population but account for one in every five people living with HIV/AIDS, including a disproportionate number of women and youth. The National Council of La Raza has released a report that discusses the growing HIV/AIDS crisis in the Latino community and outlines a new paradigm for addressing HIV/AIDS.

Housing

Shriver Center Attorney Wins 2006 Housing Justice Award
Katherine Walz of the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law won a 2006 Housing Justice Award last week at the Housing Justice Network conference of the National Housing Law Project. Walz received the award for her work on affordable housing and low-income housing rights. The award for Walz, who is a senior attorney at the Shriver Center, recognizes “an energetic and unstoppable activist … who is fearlessly and successfully tackling the systemic and often hostile obstacles that stand in the way of safe, decent and affordable housing for low-income and marginalized people.”

Advocates Challenge Conversion of Subsidized Housing into Dorms
Attorneys from the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, the Housing Preservation Project, and pro bono lawyers from Sachnoff & Weaver Ltd. are challenging in a class action lawsuit filed last month the Moody Bible Institute’s unlawful conversion of project-based Section 8 housing into student dormitories. Moody Bible’s action unfortunately is a national trend: universities purchase subsidized housing and attempt to use it as housing for students.

Ordinance Bans Landlords from Renting to Undocumented Immigrants
The City of Escondido, California, has passed an ordinance that would prohibit landlords from renting property to undocumented immigrants.

Welfare

Climbing the Economic Ladder and Rising Out of Poverty
MDRC, which conducts research to identify effective strategies to help low-income youth and adults escape poverty by achieving success in the labor market, has collected papers focused on these issues.

Analysis of Fiscal Year 2005 TANF and MOE Spending
The Center for Law and Social Policy has published worksheets analyzing how the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the nation as a whole spent the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grants and state Maintenance of Effort (MOE) funds in fiscal year 2005. States reported this information to the Administration for Children and Families.

Poverty Law News
October 27, 2006

Poverty Law News

2006-11-21T17:16:02Z

Food Programs

Food Insecurity Remains High
The Food Research and Action Center reports that, although food insecurity rates in the United States have dropped somewhat, in 2005 more than 35 million people were still living in households considered food insecure. Moreover, the food insecurity rate still remains higher than in 1999-2001.

Health

Medicare Part D Myths and Misinformation
The annual coordinated election period for Medicare Part D prescription drug plans began November 15, and the program remains as confusing and complicated as ever. The Center for Medicare Advocacy has published a list of common myths and misinformation that heard from beneficiaries, CMS, and Part D plans.

Covering Kids and Families
Mathematica Policy Research and its partners, Health Management Associates and the Urban Institute, are conducting a large-scale evaluation for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation of its Covering Kids & Families (CKF) initiative. CKF supports state and local coalitions from both the public and private sectors in expanding Medicaid and SCHIP programs to all eligible children and adults. The five-year evaluation focuses on documenting and assessing the strategies and actions of CKF coalitions; assessing the effectiveness of coalitions in conducting outreach, simplifying the application process, and coordinating efforts by state, federal, and private insurers to expand coverage; measuring progress on CKF's central goal—expanding enrollment and retention of all eligible individuals into Medicaid and SCHIP; and assessing whether CKF strategies are sustained after Foundation funding ends.

Abstinence Education
The Government Accountability Office has published "Abstinence Education: Efforts to Assess the Accuracy and Effectiveness of Federally Funded Programs." The report finds that efforts by the Department of Health and Human Services and states to assess the scientific accuracy of materials used in abstinence-until-marriage education programs have been limited, in part because HHS does not review its grantees' education materials for scientific accuracy.

Medicaid Expenditures
The Government Accountability Office has published "Medicaid: Strategies to Help States Address Increased Expenditures During Economic Downturns."

Immigration

Undocument Immigrant Youth: Guide for Advocates and Service Providers
This new policy brief from the National Collaboration for Youth and National Juvenile Network aims to provide advocates and youth service agencies the background necessary to enhance collaboration to serve foreign-born children living in the U.S. without authorization. The brief also recommends policies and actions that immigration advocates, youth advocates, and service providers could adopt to improve the safety and well-being of immigrant youth.

Social Security/SSI

Exemption of Work Activity as a Basis for Continuing Disability Review
The Social Security Administration has published final rules amending section 221(m) of the Social Security Act to clarify when SSA will conduct a continuing disability review if a Title II or Title XVI disability benefits recipient works. These rules also affect certain other standards used by SSA to determine whether a recipient's disability continues or has ended. An accompanying notice revises the rules for the issuance of work report receipts, payment of benefits for trial work period service months after a fraud conviction, changes to the student earned income exclusion, and expansion of the reentitlement period for childhood disability benefits.

Women's Law and Policy

Prevalence of Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault, Dating Violence, and Stalking
The Government Accountability Office has published analysis of the extent to which national data collection efforts report prevalence of victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking. The report found that, because current efforts use different definitions and vary in scope, they cannot be combined and leveraged to determine the nationwide prevalence of these categories of crime. GAO recommends that the Attorney General and the Secretary of Health and Human Services collaboratively take specific actions to address existing information gaps.

Poverty Law News
November 17, 2006

Poverty Law News

2006-11-04T18:35:09Z

Attorneys/Legal Services

LSC Revises Regulation Prohibiting Discrimination on Basis of Handicap;
Defers Action on Client Grievance Procedure Regulation
The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) has adopted a final rule revising LSC's regulation prohibiting discrimination on the basis of disability (45 C.F.R. Part 1624). The final rule updates the terminology used to refer to persons with disabilities, adds a reference to compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, and adds language to the enforcement provision setting forth LSC policy regarding investigation of complaints of violation of this regulation. LSC's Board also deferred consideration of the draft final rule revising LSC's regulation on client grievance procedures (45 C.F.R. Part 1621). The comment period for this regulation will be reopened for a period of 45 days after publication of the notice in the Federal Register. The Board will resume consideration of the draft final rule at its meeting in January 2007.

Civil Legal Justice Gap for People in Poverty in New Jersey
Legal Services of New Jersey has released a new report on the extent of the unmet need for such civil legal assistance in the state. “People Without Lawyers: New Jersey’s Civil Legal Justice Gap Continues” updates a similar report released by LSNJ last year.

Model Rule on Provision of Pro Bono Legal Services to Disaster Victims
The American Bar Association Standing Committee on Client Protection has circulated for comment a proposed new Model Rule that addresses the provision of pro bono legal services by out-of state lawyers in a jurisdiction that has been devastated by a catastrophic event. The proposed Model Rule also addresses the issue of lawyers whose practices have been disrupted by a catastrophic event continuing their law practices on a temporary basis in a jurisdiction in which they are not admitted to practice law.

Health

Health Care in America Survey
The Kaiser Family Foundation, ABC News, and USA Today jointly conducted a survey between September 7 and 12, 2006, to examine Americans' views and experiences related to health care costs and quality, as well as their attitudes toward possible solutions. One in four respondents said that they or a family member had had problems paying medical bills during the past 12 months.

Juveniles

Child Care Assistance
This set of state-by-state data published by the Center for Law and Social Policy includes new individual state pages analyzing 2005 child care spending from CCDBG and TANF funds, along with data (published in March 2006) on states’ use of community-based child care to provide Pre-K. An accompanying report finds that s tate spending on child care assistance declined in 2005 for the second consecutive year. Twenty-two states made cuts to their child care programs, as the number of children living in low-income families that received help from these programs continued to decline.

Social Security/SSI

Cost-of-Living Increases and Other Determinations
The Social Security Administration has announced cost-of-living increases in social security benefits under Title II of the Social Security Act, effective December 2006. This notice also announces an increase in SSI monthly benefit amounts, changes to the national average wage index, the earnings threshold for a trial work period, and other changes.

Poverty Law News
November 4, 2006

Poverty Law News

2006-12-08T18:08:59Z

Civil Rights

Race Equity Project
Legal Services of Northern California has launched a website for the Race Equity Project. The Project will digest, implement, evaluate and disseminate race-based advocacy resources and will facilitate a more efficient and effective delivery of race-based advocacy.

Employment

Undocumented Worker Who Was Injured on the Job Can Sue for Compensatory Damages
The Second Circuit has held that federal immigration law, as interpreted by the Supreme Court in Hoffman Plastic Compounds v. NLRB, 535 U.S. 137 (2002), does not necessarily preclude plaintiff, an undocumented worker, from recovering damages under New York State law for lost earnings.

Request for Comments on FMLA
The Employment Standards Administration, Wage and Hour Division, of the Department of Labor seeks information for its consideration and review of the Department's administration of the Family and Medical Leave Act and its implementing regulations. The Department held stakeholder meetings regarding the FMLA with more than 20 groups from December 2002 to February 2003. Many of the subject matter areas in this request are derived from comments at those stakeholder meetings. Comments are due February 2, 2007.

Food Programs

School Breakfast Scorecard
Participation in the School Breakfast Program continued its steady increase, with a record 7.7 million low-income children receiving free and reduced-price breakfasts on an average day during the 2005-2006 school year. The Food Research and Action Center’s School Breakfast Scorecard 2006 finds accelerating growth in school breakfast participation by low-income children--up by 622,000 children (8.7 percent) over the past two school years.

Health

Los Angeles Hospital Accused of Dumping Homeless Patient on Skid Row
The Los Angeles City Attorney has filed civil and criminal charges against Kaiser Foundation Hospitals in a case involving the dumping of a homeless patient on skid row. The 63-year-old patient, who had recently been discharged by Kaiser Permanente Bellflower Medical Center, was videotaped wandering in a daze in her hospital gown after being dropped off by a taxi. The criminal complaint charges the organization with two criminal counts, including false imprisonment and dependent adult endangerment.

Medicaid's Long-Term Care Beneficiaries
The Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured has published analysis of spending patterns of Medicaid's long-term care users (LTC) revealing that the 7% of Medicaid beneficiaries using LTC account for over half (52%) of all Medicaid spending. Medicaid's LTC users not only use LTC services, but they also use the program's acute care services more intensively than non-LTC users. Three-quarters of the spending by these high-cost LTC users went towards LTC (community-based and institutional care) and the remaining 25% went towards acute care and other supportive services. These high-cost beneficiaries are among the most disabled and chronically ill of the Medicaid population, with over half being elderly, one-third being disabled and under age 65, and 11% being adults or children not classified as disabled.

Housing

Craigslist Not Liable for Discriminatory Housing Ads
The district court has held that Craigslist is not liable for allegedly discriminatory housing ads posted by its users. The Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law had alleged that, during a six-month period, the site published more than 100 housing ads in Chicago that violated the Fair Housing Act. The court found that the Communications Decency Act provided Craigslist with limited immunity from plaintiffs' claims.

Juveniles

The Dangers of Juvenile Detention
Despite the lowest youth crime rates in 20 years, hundreds of thousands of young people are locked away every year in the nation's 591 secure detention centers. This report from the Justice Policy Institute looks at the consequences of detention on young people, their families, and communities. The authors assert that, given new findings that detaining youth may not make communities safer, the costs of needlessly detaining young people who do not need to be there are simply too high.

Welfare

Suburban Poor Outnumber Urban Poor
A recent Brookings Institution report, Two Steps Back: City and Suburban Poverty Trends 1999-2005, finds that, for the first time, there are more poor residents of suburbs than central cities. Although in 1999 large cities and their suburbs had nearly equal numbers of poor individuals, by 2005 the suburban poor outnumbered their city counterparts by at least 1 million. Poverty rates rose significantly in midwestern and southern metropolitan areas, but remained steady in the west and northeast.

Poverty Law News
December 8, 2006