PLAN e-News

The Pennsylvania Bar Association Pro Bono Office is looking for volunteers to help with disaster relief resulting from the severe weather that recently struck Pennsylvania. Attorneys are needed to:

1. Volunteer at one of the 7 current disaster recovery centers (There are Disaster Recovery Centers in seven counties--(Bradford, Columbia, Dauphin, Lure, Lycoming, Sullivan, and Wyoming)
    
2. Staff a virtual law clinic. Volunteers would be on a listserv where requests for assistance would be posted. Volunteers would respond to the requests by email with the option of following up with a telephone call to the person in need. We have already had requests for people to help with insurance companies who are denying coverage.
    
3. Conduct general research on common problems. The results of that research would then be reported in a legal memorandum for use by other volunteer attorneys or consumer materials outlining the results of that research for disaster victims.

Lawyers interested in volunteering to help should complete the sign-up form, which will be processed through the PBA Pro Bono Office.

Poverty has risen sharply in most regions of Pennsylvania, highlighting the widespread impact of the recession and the need for policymakers to protect struggling families and invest in building a stronger economy.

In urban areas of Pennsylvania, poverty rose to 14.7% in 2010 with 1,360,202 urban residents currently living in poverty, according to the Census Bureau’s annual American Community Survey. That is up from 12.7% in 2007, before the recession started. The picture is similarly bleak in rural Pennsylvania where 9.5% of residents (287,982 people) lived in poverty in 2010, up from 8.1% in 2007.

Six months after Pennsylvania terminated adultBasic, the state-funded health plan for low-income adults, many of the nearly 41,000 former enrollees who lost their coverage at the end of February likely have been left uninsured.

About 40 percent have enrolled in either Medicaid or the limited benefit Blue Cross Blue Shield plan that was opened to them, according to data provided by the Pennsylvania Insurance Department. Some of the remaining 23,000 individuals who lost their coverage may have found other options, but the insurance department believes many are accessing free or reduced-cost care through community health centers.

The National Center for Health Statistics at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released data illustrating that the Affordable Care Act has helped increase the number of young adults who have health insurance. Data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) shows that in the first quarter of 2011, the percentage of adults between the ages of 19 and 25 with health insurance increased by 3.5 percentage points, representing approximately 1 million additional young adults with insurance coverage compared to a year ago.

The Affordable Care Act allows most children to remain on their parents’ health insurance plans until age 26. No other age group experienced a gain in coverage, and experts agree that the Affordable Care Act made a difference.  

On September 21, the National Employment Law Project joined Representatives Rosa DeLauro (CT-3) and Hank Johnson (GA-4) and Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) to receive 250,000 petition signatures calling for an end to hiring policies that discriminate against the unemployed, and to call for passage of the Fair Employment Opportunity Act.

The bill, also included in President Obama’s American Jobs Act, would prohibit exclusion of the unemployed from job openings. The petition signatures were gathered by USAction, Change.org, ColorofChange.org and CREDO Action and represent Americans from across the country.

Changes in Technology Drive Proposed Updates

The Federal Trade Commission is seeking public comment on proposed amendments to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule, which gives parents control over what personal information websites may collect from children under 13. The FTC proposes these amendments to ensure that the Rule continues to protect children’s privacy, as mandated by Congress, as online technologies evolve.

The Commission proposes modifications to the Rule in five areas: definitions, including the definitions of “personal information” and “collection,” parental notice, parental consent mechanisms, confidentiality and security of children’s personal information, and the role of self-regulatory “safe harbor” programs.

The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies approved $396 million in Fiscal Year 2012 funding for the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) on September 14, a reduction of $8 million from the current level.

The Senate Appropriations Committee is scheduled to take up the Fiscal Year 2012 funding bill on September 15. Earlier this year, the House Appropriations Committee proposed cutting LSC funding by 26 percent in Fiscal Year 2012, to $300 million.

Victims of Hurricane Irene that began on Aug. 26, 2011 in parts of Pennsylvania may qualify for tax relief from the Internal Revenue Service.

The President has declared the following counties a federal disaster area: Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Lehigh, Luzerne, Monroe, Montgomery, Northampton, Philadelphia, Sullivan, and Wyoming. Individuals who reside or have a business in these counties may qualify for tax relief.

The declaration permits the IRS to postpone certain deadlines for taxpayers who reside or have a business in the disaster area. For instance, certain deadlines falling on or after Aug. 26, and on or before Oct. 31, have been postponed to Oct. 31, 2011. This includes corporations and other businesses that previously obtained an extension until Sept. 15 to file their 2010 returns, and individuals and businesses that received a similar extension until Oct. 17. It also includes the estimated tax payment for the third quarter, normally due Sept. 15.  

In addition, the IRS is waiving the failure-to-deposit penalties for employment and excise tax deposits due on or after Aug. 26, and on or before Sept. 12, as long as the deposits are made by Sept. 12, 2011.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced that federal aid has been made available to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and ordered federal aid to supplement commonwealth and local recovery efforts in the area affected by Tropical Storm Lee beginning on September 3, 2011, and continuing.

The President's action makes federal funding available to affected individuals in the counties of Adams, Bradford, Columbia, Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon, Luzerne, Lycoming, Montour, Northumberland, Perry, Schuylkill, Snyder, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Union, Wyoming, and York.

Assistance can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured or underinsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster.

Statement issued September 13, 2011 by John G. Levi, Chairman, Board of Directors of the Legal Services Corporation:

The U.S. Census Bureau released its official 2010 statistics on poverty this morning, and the data show that nearly one in five Americans qualifies for civil legal assistance at the legal aid offices funded by the Legal Services Corporation (LSC). The number of Americans now eligible for legal services is staggering: more than 60.4 million, up 3.6 million from the prior year.

These 60 million Americans had incomes at or below 125 percent of the federal poverty line—$13,613 for an individual and $27,938 for a family of four.

. . . .

Click title for full statement

The U.S. Census Bureau announced today (September 13,2011) that in 2010, median household income declined, the poverty rate increased and the percentage without health insurance coverage was not statistically different from the previous year.

Real median household income in the United States in 2010 was $49,445, a 2.3 percent decline from the 2009 median.

The nation's official poverty rate in 2010 was 15.1 percent, up from 14.3 percent in 2009 ─ the third consecutive annual increase in the poverty rate. There were 46.2 million people in poverty in 2010, up from 43.6 million in 2009 ─ the fourth consecutive annual increase and the largest number in the 52 years for which poverty estimates have been published.

The number of people without health insurance coverage rose from 49.0 million in 2009 to 49.9 million in 2010, while the percentage without coverage −16.3 percent - was not statistically different from the rate in 2009.