Act Today for Legal Aid Funding!

Good news – both the House and Senate have passed their supplemental budgets and both include increased funding for civil legal aid! However, there is an important difference between the House and Senate budgets, and we need your help in contacting your legislators to make sure the House budget for civil legal aid is the one that’s adopted and sent to the Governor.

Both budgets provide funding for five new civil legal aid attorneys and funding to create an automated family law document assembly system. The House version funds the new attorneys starting in July 2018, while the Senate version does not provide funding until January 2019. We know that low-income families are experiencing civil legal crises now, but the majority of them are unable to get services. The sooner we can add more capacity to our delivery system, the better.

This is where you can help. Please contact your legislators today and urge them to support the House funding level.  

In support of our funding request, we testified in both the House and Senate budget hearings last week to express our thanks for the increased funding. In both hearings, our testimony included legal aid providers and former clients – Jenny and Michael. Check it out!

Jenny’s and Michael’s experiences are a true testament to the power and importance of civil legal aid. Thank you for taking the time to speak up for justice for all. Your advocacy makes a difference for low-income families across our state.