PSJD Public Interest News Digest – January 5, 2018
Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives
Hello there, interested public! Welcome to 2018. In a roundup of stories from the end of last year, the main news items involve continued discussion of the student debt crisis (both in DC and within state governments) and the impact of recent policy changes at the Department of Justice on post-Ferguson federal reforms of court fines.
Until next week,
Sam
Student Loans
- Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) voiced his support for strengthening Public Service Loan Forgiveness, in opposition to proposals currently being discussed by other members of the House Republican Caucus.
- Washington State’s Attorney General called for legislation to give college borrowers greater safeguards against deceptive loan practices in a report on student indebtedness in his state.
- Democratic legislators in Wisconsin criticized a Republican proposal to provide student loan relief to attorneys who take public defender cases in sparsely-populated counties (mentioned in an earlier edition of this digest), arguing the strategy would create favor some areas of the state at the expense of others.
- The American Association of Law Schools’ new president expressed concern about proposals to eliminate Public Service Loan Forgiveness and cap graduate borrowing.
Access to Justice – Civil
- Idaho Legal Aid Services announced plans to hire a lobbyist to seek state funding in the face of a possible loss of federal support.
- The Baltimore, MD City District Court expanded its self-help aid for tenants in housing cases, as Maryland Legal Aid secured a $90,000 grant to expand its “Lawyer in the Library” program in Baltimore.
- Judge Workman of the West Virginia Supreme Court defended her institution’s access to justice record against recent criticism from a former Court administrative director, mentioning (among other measures) a new court rule directing half of all excess residual funds in class-action suits to Legal Aid.
- TVO.org discussed challenges francophones face exercising their rights to court proceedings in French in Ontario Province.
Access to Justice – Criminal
- Salon.com profiled Attorney General Sessions’ policies ending the practice of using nonbinding guidance to create policy at the Department of Justice–a procedural decision that has effected a reversal of federal positions created in the aftermath of the Ferguson protests to discourage local municipalities from financing government operations with court fines levied on poor defendants.
- The Lansing State Journal laid out the potential impact of Michigan’s attempts at indigent defense reform–with counties submitting plans which, if fully funded, would create an $87 million budget for public defense in the state, narrowing the gap between spending on prosecution and spending on defense from roughly $108 million to roughly $26 million.
- In Washington State, local reporting identified rising indigent defense costs as another consequence of the opioid epidemic.
Music Bonus!
Tiny Desk Concerts are often excellent.