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News Release
“We learned today that a House-Senate conference agreement cuts
funding to the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) by $56,190,000, or 13.9 percent. The entire cut comes from
funding for basic field programs, amounting to
14.8 percent of the critical funding used by LSC grantees to
provide access to justice in the
In
Clearly, this is a
challenging environment for fiscal decisions, as it
is also for the more than six million low-income
Texans who qualify for legal aid. This funding cut will directly affect the
families who desperately seek representation in
cases like those involving child abuse, domestic
violence, foreclosures, and denial of disability
benefits to veterans.
We are extremely grateful for the leadership and support of /span>
Sen. Kay Bailey
Hutchison in this arduous budget process, as this
cut represents a compromise that splits the
difference between the Senate and House
appropriations bills.
We also are fortunate to have the support of
the Texas Legislature, which provided critical state
funding to help deal with some of the gap resulting
from the IOLTA funding crisis.
Regrettably, the LSC cuts further widen the
already existing gap.
We must continue
our work in finding solutions for funding legal aid
at the national, state, and local levels.
We will continue to support the State Bar of
Texas in efforts to increase the hundreds
of millions of dollars worth of pro bono
representation now being given and to enhance
alternatives such as self-representation for those
who cannot obtain any kind of legal representation.
We will also
continue to inform lawmakers, lawyers and the public
about the critical need for legal services and the
role of the rule of law in these very difficult
economic times.” # # #
The
Texas Access to Justice Commission
was created in 2001 by the Supreme Court of The Texas Access to Justice Foundation (www.teajf.org), created by the Supreme Court of Texas in 1984, is the primary state-based funding source for the provision of civil legal aid in Texas. The organization is committed to the vision that all Texans will have equal access to justice, regardless of their income. The Foundation administers a variety of funding sources, which are earmarked to assist nonprofit organizations in providing legal aid to more than 100,000 Texans each year.
Contact: Kimberly Schmitt
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