PSJD Public Interest News Digest – July 23, 2021
Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives
Hello, interested public! Big stories this week include further coverage of the fallout from FedLoan’s decision to withdraw from the business of collecting on student debt–and the news that another loan servicer has also decided to pull up stakes. Meanwhile, in Washington DC the House of Representatives is working to increase funding for the Legal Services Corporation and to reinstate the Dept. of Justice’s Office for Access to Justice while in California, groups are pressuring the state Supreme Court to consider expanding the right to counsel to include adults entangled in probate conservatorships. And the July 31st end of the federal eviction moratorium is slouching over the horizon.
These stories and more are in the links below.
Take care of one another,
Sam
Rule of Law
Immigration, Refugee, and Citizenship Issues
Student Loans & Student Debt
- The College Investor speculated that “a few factors [] point towards [] a strong possibility…there might be a fourth [student loan] payment pause and interest waiver extension.”
- In South Carolina, “[l]eaders at South Carolina State University [] announced it would be forgiving $9.8 million in student debts using $4 million in CARES Act funding and $5.8 million it received from the American Rescue Plan. Most of those students, the university said, were continuing students who had not re-enrolled or had dropped out entirely due to debt.”
- In New York, “a federal appeals court has ruled [that p]rivately issued student loans may be discharged in bankruptcy[.]”
- In Pennsylvania, “FedLoan[‘s …decision] that it won’t seek an extension of a 12-year government contract to collect payments for millions of borrowers on a portfolio of federal education loans…has led to…concerns over what happens this fall when the huge federal loan-servicing apparatus starts collecting loan payments again.”
Non-Profit & Gov’t Management & Hiring
- In Washington DC, “[a] House panel on Tuesday voted 24-16 along party lines to advance legislation that would provide federal employees with up to 12 weeks of paid family leave each year, over objections from Republicans about a last-minute report from the Congressional Budget Office.”
- Also in Washington DC, “the Supreme Court said [that] ‘[i]n light of the potential for actual or apparent conflicts of interest, Jessica Garland will not serve as a law clerk for Justice Kagan while Attorney General Garland remains in office.’”
- For more on the controversy, see The Volokh Conspiracy.
Access to Justice – Civil & Economic
- In Washington DC, “[t]he Legal Services Corporation could get an additional $135 million in its pockets, the largest single increase in the legal aid organization’s history, following an approval of funding legislation by the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations. The committee on Thursday approved funding legislation that includes $600 million for LSC in 2022 – a 29% increase from its current appropriation.”
- Also in Washington DC, “[a] powerful, bipartisan group in Congress is reviving a proposal to permanently restore the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office for Access To Justice, in a bid to codify the unit dedicated to legal representation for the poor that was shuttered by the Trump administration.”
- In California, “[t]he California Supreme Court was asked today to convene a blue-ribbon panel to review deficiencies in legal defense services provided to adults who become entangled in probate conservatorship proceedings. The request was submitted by Spectrum Institute and a variety of organizations involved in disability rights, elder care, and mental health services, along with a national coalition advancing the right to counsel.”
- In Milwaukee WI, “Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley signed the ‘Right to Counsel’ ordinance into law [] outside the County Courthouse, in an effort to assist local residents facing eviction or foreclosure.”
- In Texas, “[a] state eviction diversion program launched in response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been extended, according to a new emergency order from the Texas Supreme Court[.] The diversion program was set to expire on July 27. The new order extends it until Oct. 1.”
- Across the United States, “[l]egal aid, housing advocacy groups and tenants — especially tenants — are bracing for the inevitable wave of eviction filings that will crash on the shores of courthouses throughout the U.S. at the end of the month, when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s national eviction moratorium expires at midnight on July 31.”
Access to Justice – Criminal
- In Illinois, “[a] two-year study commissioned by the Illinois Supreme Court has found that people in many Illinois counties are being routinely processed through the criminal courts without the advice of an attorney.”
- In Utah, “[a] Salt Lake City Justice Court judge kayaks down the river with a flotilla of prosecutors, defense attorneys and judicial assistants. Social workers on bicycles are up ahead meeting people who are camped out along the banks…The social workers and public defense attorneys make contact with people experiencing homelessness, asking if they want help. Then they tell them the judge is right up the river, willing to take care of their legal troubles. They’ve got tablet computers and can pull up a name, check for warrants and other charges and resolve it right on the river.”
- In Harrison County WV, “[t]he staffing situation with the Harrison County Public Defender Corporation continues to percolate at problematic levels.”
Criminal Justice Reform and Counter-Reform
- In Pennsylvania, “Gov. Tom Wolf joined lawmakers and law enforcement officials Friday to mark the launch of a police hiring database of misconduct records. The database was approved by the General Assembly in the wake of the May 2020 police killing of George Floyd.”
- In Maine, the state recently “bec[a]me the fourth state to abolish civil forfeiture.”
- In New York NY, “[t]wo watchdog groups sued the New York Police Department over the agency’s refusal to disclose public records about its acquisition of facial recognition technology and other surveillance tools.”