This new BLOG accompanies the release of our newly designed website which we hope you will all find more convenient and user friendly. For example, the site integrates password protected access, so that access to multiple locations is possible with a single password. The purpose of this BLOG is to convey information from the Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network about activities of interest to the staff, clients, and board members of legal aid programs, as well as the general public. For now, the BLOG is a posting of information. However, those who want to respond can do so. Some of these comments will be posted, with consent. Over time, we expect the BLOG to be opened up to the direct posting of public comments.A few days ago, I posted the testimony I presented to a New York state Senate/Assembly panel on January 7, which was reviewing New York’s legal services program. That same day, the New York Chief Judge also testified before this panel and there is some exciting news to report from New York.
The new Chief Judge, Jonathan Lippman, testified at the joint Senate/Assembly hearing yesterday on the IOLA crisis and the future of legal services. He has proposed a $15 million allocation in the budget for the Unified Court System to be passed through to IOLA to avert disaster. Noting that this is simply “a down payment” on the real need, he called for longer-term solution, stable and adequate funding and embraced a civil right to counsel. This is the first time a sitting Chief Judge has testified before the Legislature. The hearings, held by Senate Conference Leader John Sampson and Senator Ruth Hassell-Thompson, chair of the Senate Committee on Crime Victims, Crime and Corrections, along with the chairs of the Judiciary, Codes, and Veterans and Military Affairs Committees, and Assembly Judiciary Chair Helene Weinstein, ran from 11:00 until about 6:00.
The $15M will need to make it through the full budgetary process but it clearly has strong leadership support in the Legislature.
