Update from Albany: A Tale of Two Cities

August 13, 2009

Author: Kristin Brown Lilley

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of  wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us…“ so go Charles Dickens’ famous lines from his work, A Tale of Two Cities written 150 years ago and which perfectly capture the mood of this year’s legislative session. 

Theses words immediately came to me as I sat down to review Empire Justice’s 2009 Legislative outcomes for this article.  A quick glance at our Legislative Agenda Scorecard on page 7 of the Summer 2009 Legal Services Journal shows success or at least progress in almost every area.  Nine out of fifteen of our priorities were accomplished and the rest saw substantial progress over the course of the last seven months. (Details on these accomplishments are highlighted in separate articles.)

Despite these positive outcomes, it’s hard to whole heartedly celebrate victory. Critically important issues remain unaddressed. Concurrent nagging fears about the specter of mid-year budget cuts, continued shifts in power dynamics and leadership in the State Senate, ongoing staffing and appointment changes across state government and the general direction of the economy among other things have resulted in the same cognitive dissonance that Dickens so artfully captured as he wrote those words in London back in 1859.

Here at Empire Justice we continue to look for signs of coming stability, seeking indicators that the many sources of upheaval affecting us all, but particularly our low income clients, will begin to subside. Most of us believe they are coming, the real question is when?  In the meantime, we will remain vigilant in seeking out opportunities to improve the way the law impacts low income people and will continue to doggedly pursue our established priorities.  As always, we welcome your participation in this process. You should always feel free to contact us if you have an idea or a problem that could be addressed through legislative or administrative advocacy.  We will do what we can – resources permitting of course – to work with you to identify the best course of action. 

We are very excited about our new website which provides a new way for you to join us in our advocacy by responding to periodic action alerts.  Should you be interested in receiving alerts from us, please take a moment to register and be sure to sign up for alerts.

As we move from summer into fall, a number of unresolved issues remain, awaiting Senate action.  Those items and their status are described briefly below.  If you are interested in working with us to move these issues forward before the end of the year, please contact me at kbrown@empirejustice.org.

Civil Legal Services Funding...Still a Rollercoaster Ride

Contributing to this year’s dissonance in the civil legal services community are several factors at play in the funding realm on both the state and  federal levels.  As our new President and Congress contemplate lifting some of the restrictions placed on Legal Services Corporation grantees and potentially changing the legal services landscape in exciting ways, providers across the country have already been crippled by massive losses in IOLTA funding as a result of the dramatic drop in interest-based earnings.  Here in New York, our civil legal services providers will not be hit by that crisis until after the first quarter of 2010, thanks to the creative thinking of our IOLA Fund Board of Trustees and staff.  However every provider across the state has already begun bracing for the expected IOLA funding reductions when they DO come. 

State Legislative funding has also contributed to the upheaval.  When the Executive Budget came out in December of 2008 with no funding for civil legal services, providers were shocked.  Empire Justice, working with the Legal Services Funding Alliance, our coalition of the 20 civil legal services providers outside New York City http://www.empirejustice.org/issue-areas/civil-legal-services/lsfa/legal-services-funding.html), our legal services colleagues in the City, the New York State Bar Association (NYSBA), the UAW and other   service providers, testified at town hall meetings and hearings, wrote to Editorial Boards and participated in numerous meetings with Executive Chamber staff to urge Governor Paterson to restore funding to the budget.  This advocacy resulted in a 30 day amendment which ultimately restored a symbolic $1 million to the Executive Budget.  

When the Legislature began negotiating the budget it became clear that the Assembly Majority would remain steadfast champions for civil legal services funding, and that they would now have partnership from the new Senate Majority. It was just not clear what level of partnership the Senate would be able to provide. Once again, the Legal Services Funding Alliance actively engaged lawmakers, presented testimony, spoke to the press and worked with NYSBA and local bar associations, New York City colleagues and of course the UAW to build support for legal services. Early on, the Assembly committed to maintaining the same level of funding they had provided in previous years – a total of $7.2 million (which includes $609,000 for legal assistance for domestic violence victims).  The Senate tried to bring substantial new funding to the table – but was forced to reduce the level as available funds dwindled once budget negotiations began to draw to a close.  Ultimately the new Senate Majority still made history – for the first time making Senate funding available for the provision of civil legal services – a lump sum totaling $4.4 million.  A portion of these funds would go to civil and a portion would go to provide legal assistance in criminal matters.  As I write, it remains unclear how much of this new funding will go to civil legal services and of that portion, which providers will receive how much. 

The Senate was expected to pass a resolution  outlining these details within days of the Senate coup that held Albany in gridlock for a month.  With the recent resolution of the Senate leadership,  Empire Justice sent out an advocacy alert asking people from across the state to contact the Senate and urge them to move immediately to get the funds out to programs so that the dollars can be used to provide services to those in need. In response, over 1,750 emails were sent to Senate Leaders over the course of one week.  Unfortunately while we know that it was a priority issue for the Senate, they were unable to act on this funding before they left town.  As I write, the Senate plans to return to Albany August 6th.  We are pushing leadership to address this issue when they return.

Other Outstanding Issues Awaiting Action

The following bills have all passed the Assembly.  We had anticipated that they would be in the mix during the last days of the Legislative Session in June.  We remain hopeful that the Senate will pass their “same as” bills when they return to Albany August 6th. 

Improve the Employability of Welfare

Recipients - A.1827A (Wright)/S.05846A (Montgomery) – This bill would give welfare recipients the chance to build employability by allowing post secondary education to count towards mandated work requirements as permitted by federal law. The bill passed the Assembly at the end of June. 

Clarify that “Prevailing Party” is Entitled to Attorney’s Fees

A.7395 (Schimminger)/S.4534 (Sampson) – This legislation would improve access to justice for low income New Yorkers by ensuring that when a plaintiff’s lawsuit is the catalyst for a change in the defendant’s policy, the plaintiff is deemed the prevailing party and is able to recover attorney’s fees. The bill passed the Assembly in May.

Improve the Foreclosure Process

A.8917-A (Weinstein)/S.5931-A (Klein)  This bill will improve the new foreclosure process developed last year to help homeowners with subprime loans at risk of foreclosure by making the new settlement conference process available to all homeowners, providing new notice to tenants in properties that go into foreclosure and requiring lenders to maintain abandoned buildings that are foreclosed upon to prevent neighborhood blight.  The Assembly passed their version of this bill in June. 

Fix the Badly Broken Debt Collection Process

A.7558-A (Weinstein)/S.4398-A (Schneiderman) – This bill, called the Consumer Credit Fairness Act provides much needed protection to consumers who frequently fail to receive notice of the filing consumer debt collection lawsuits and often go  unrepresented. This would be accomplished by amending the CPLR to create additional pleading requirements and shorten the statute of limitations in these debt collection actions to prevent the continued mass filing of abusive debt collection lawsuits by buyers of commercial debt.  This bill passed the Assembly in June. 

A.8840-B (Pheffer)/S.6036 (Perkins) – This legislation provides greater protections to consumers than the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act currently does by expanding the  statute of limitations, increasing statutory the damages provision, and creating a critical private right of action for New York State consumers.  This bill also passed the Assembly in June.

We will be posting updates and breaking news to the web as action is taken on any of these bills.