For the third year in a row, Gov. Rick Scott has vetoed funding for legal aid to low-income Floridians, reports Margie Menzel of the News Service of Florida.
The money had been slated for lawyers to help in cases of elder and child abuse, domestic violence, disabilities, consumer fraud and immigration, legal-aid officials said Wednesday. The program, funded through the Florida Access to Civil Legal Assistance Act, also helps clients gain access to federal benefits.
“The Legislature understands the need,” said Kent Spuhler, executive director of Florida Legal Services. “They were providing funding even during the recession. But we have never been able to convince the governor.”
Scott axed a $1 million appropriation for the legal-aid program Monday, as part of issuing $368 million in vetoes to the fiscal 2013-14 budget.
He wrote in his veto message, “The following is vetoed as the Civil Legal Assistance funds, distributed through the Florida Bar Foundation, have been vetoed for the past two fiscal years. The Attorney General is distributing $5 million from the National Mortgage Settlement directly to civil legal aid offices to assist homeowners in danger of foreclosure. The Attorney General will receive an additional $10 million, through Senate Bill 1852, to distribute directly to these civil legal aid offices in Fiscal Year 2013-2014.”
The problem, Spuhler said, is that those funds are only for cases related to foreclosure and housing, and not for cases dealing with issues such as domestic violence and defrauding the elderly.
“It cuts people out of a lot of kinds of legal assistance,” he said.
Last year Scott vetoed a $2 million appropriation for civil legal assistance in the 2012-2013 budget. The year before, he vetoed $1 million in the 2011-2012 budget.
Scott spokeswoman Jackie Shutz responded to questions Wednesday about this year’s veto by referring to the veto message.
Last year, Schutz told the News Service of Florida there was no clear justification for the size of a $2 million appropriation and no need for recurring funds. She also said the program had other funding sources on which it could rely during a tough budget year.
“While the governor believes in the right for everyone to have representation, he doesn’t necessarily believe in funding programs with recurring funds in these economic times,” Schutz said in April 2012.
Spuhler said the recession has been especially hard for low-income Floridians, who have disproportionately borne the brunt of foreclosures, evictions, consumer fraud and denial of government benefits.
In 2010-2011, the last fiscal year in which the state funded civil legal assistance, the program used the $1 million appropriation to close 3,975 cases, including 270 domestic-violence and 27 elder-abuse cases.
Legal aid-funded lawyers also closed 1,116 cases in which they won $870,547 in annualized federal benefits and $1,296,165 in lump-sum benefits for Florida residents.
“All of that case service has been lost,” Spuhler said. “When $2 million in funding was vetoed last year, around 8,000 case services were lost.”
Since the Florida Access to Civil Legal Assistance Act was passed in 2002, the program has grown from a pilot project to a statewide effort administered by the Florida Bar Foundation. Local legal-aid organizations receive funds based on grant applications, which include income limits on participants. The Legislature made annual state appropriations every year but one, with lawmakers providing up to $2.5 million — until Scott took office.
As to other sources of funding, Spuhler said they’re meager. Civil legal assistance is funded in part by an endowment from the Florida Bar Foundation, and funding has suffered as the economic downturn affected investment portfolios.
