JOURNAL INQUIRER / MONDAY, MAY 12, 2014 15
STATE / REGION
Conn. budget averts cut of $4.5 million in legal aid services
approved a plan to continue
using increased court filing
fees to fund legal aid, as part
of a massive budget bill
adopted just before the legislative
session
ended
Wednesday and sent to Gov.
Dannel P. Malloy for his signature. The increased fees
approved in 2012 for legal aid
were set to expire next year.
The $4.5 million cut could
have resulted in the layoffs of
By Dave Collins
Associated Press
HARTFORD — State lawmakers averted a $4.5 million
cut to legal aid services that
lawyers for the poor say would
have forced them to turn away
hundreds of low-income people seeking help with cases
involving domestic violence,
eviction, and health care.
The General Assembly
at least 35 legal aid staffers
around the state, or about a
quarter of the staff, said Steve
Eppler-Epstein,
executive
director of Connecticut Legal
Services, which serves 122 of
the state’s 169 cities and towns.
“It would have been a
catastrophe,” he said. “We
would have had ... to lay off
legal aid staff at a time when
people need help the most.”
Dwindling legal aid fund-
ing in recent years already
has led to staff and service
reductions and forced legal
aid lawyers to focus on the
most pressing cases. Those
cases involve women seeking
protection from domestic
violence, housing tenants
seeking to avoid homelessness in eviction cases, and
families seeking care for disabling health conditions,
legal aid lawyers say.
The Connecticut Bar
Foundation expects to distribute about $15.7 million to
legal aid offices statewide this
year, including about $12 million from the court filing fees.
Lawmakers approved the
increased fees in 2012 after a
main source of legal aid funding — interest from trust
accounts set up by lawyers for
their clients — plummeted during the recession and amid low
Esty votes with Republican Party for probe into IRS dealings
By Ana Radelat
www.CTMirror.org
U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty, D-5th
District, split from her party and with
the rest of Connecticut’s delegation
to the U.S. House with a vote last
week to require Attorney General
Eric Holder to appoint a special
counsel to investigate IRS targeting
of conservative nonprofit groups.
Esty was one of 26 Democrats
who broke ranks to vote for the
Republican-sponsored bill, which
isn’t likely to see the light of day in
the Democratic-controlled Senate.
“I strongly believe our government regulatory agencies must be
neutral and nonpartisan. It is completely unacceptable for the
Internal Revenue Service or any
GUY’S ELECTRIC
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other federal agency to target
groups or individuals based on their
political views,” Esty said in a statement. “Public confidence in the
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of our system.”
interest rates, dropping from
$20 million in Connecticut in
2008 to $1 million in 2012.
The Judicial Department
supported making the fee
increases permanent.
“The judicial branch recognizes the critical need that
legal aid organizations have
in enhancing access to the
courts for those unable to
afford an attorney,” Judge
Patrick L. Carroll III, said.
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