PSJD News Digest – February 16, 2024
Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives
Hello, interested public! We’re back with another week of news from the world of public service law. The biggest story this week concerns a letter sent by the senators from Massachusetts to the Department of Labor, “urging DOL to request additional funds in its upcoming budget request to add nonprofit data to future [Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages] reports”. This story and others are in the links below.
Sam
Editor’s Choice
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SENATORS MARKEY, WARREN CALL ON LABOR DEPARTMENT TO MORE CLOSELY TRACK NONPROFIT WORKERS’ EMPLOYMENT DATA (Ed Markey; 13 Feb 2024)
Student Loans & Student Debt
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CFPB to distribute more than $10.9 million to consumers harmed by student loan debt-relief business (CFPB.gov; 15 Feb 2024)
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CFPB Reports on Student Borrowers’ Experiences During Return to Loan Repayment (JD Supra; 14 Feb 2024)
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White House expands plans to cancel student debt (Politico; 15 Feb 2024)
Non-Profit & Government Management & Hiring
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Connecticut's first Black woman chief public defender placed on paid administrative leave (CT Post; 10 Feb 2024)
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Non-profit network for all of B.C. to be developed (My Comox Valley Now; 11 Feb 2024)
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Gen Z and millennials are trying to dodge layoffs by turning to low-paid but ‘stable’ government jobs (Fortune; 12 Feb 2024)
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Legal aid gets stronger: Two organizations merge to serve 36 Ohio counties (Scioto Valley Guardian; 15 Feb 2024)
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Some DHS agencies are more likely to discipline employees than supervisors, GAO says (Government Executive; 15 Feb 2024)
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Colorado Public Defender's Office Forced Offline by Cyber Attack (Government Technology; 13 Feb 2024)
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Internal Survey Shows Widespread Discontent Among Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office Employees (Willamette Week; 14 Feb 2024)
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Alberta creates grant funding for community justice organizations [supporting alternatives to the formal court system] (Yahoo! News; 15 Feb 2024)
Access to Justice – Civil & Economic
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Legal Aid Sues Mayor Adams to Enforce Housing Voucher Reform (La Voce di New York; 15 Feb 2024)
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$29 million legal aid expansion for people experiencing family violence (BC Gov News; 15 Feb 2024)
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SUPREME COURT EXPANDS CERTIFIED LEGAL INTERN PROGRAM; The change, “is intended to assist in the ‘avowed quest for experienced persons, while affording protections to the public’” (Florida Bar; 16 Feb 2024)
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AI for Self-Help and Legal Aid at the Innovations in Technology Conference (Legal Talk Network; 13 Feb 2024)
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‘Above the Line’ looks to boost middle class legal access: New network formed to help find affordable services (The Indiana Lawyer; 14 Feb 2024)
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NAACP-trained nonlawyers may provide limited advice to tenants facing eviction, top state court says (ABA Journal; 14 Feb 2024)
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A push in Albany for the right to counsel in immigration court (Erie News Now; 14 Feb 2024)
Access to Justice – Criminal
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If You Can’t Afford an Attorney, One Will Be Appointed. And You May Get a Huge Bill: In Iowa, people too poor to pay for a lawyer are on the hook for big fees they can’t afford (The Marshall Project; 12 Feb 2024)
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State public defender’s office to do analysis of indigent defense in Mariposa County [CA] (Mariposa Gazette; 16 Feb 2024)
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Public defender’s office urges legislators to reform ‘draconian’ parole system [with right to counsel at parole hearings] (New Jersey Monitor; 13 Feb 2024)
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Ending legal aid for cultural reports at sentencing may only make court hearings longer and costlier (
Prosecutorial and Public Defense Office Hiring Crises
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Checks For Court-Appointed Lawyers Have Been MIA (12 Feb 2024)
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‘The need is great’ for money to pay public defenders, Shapiro says after proposing $10M increase (Pennsylvania Capital-Star; 12 Feb 2024)
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Committee begins work to distribute Pa. public defender money as Shapiro asks for more (Penn-Live Patrio News; 12 Feb 2024)
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Bill increasing pay for attorneys representing indigent clients passes Alabama Senate (Alabama Reflector; 15 Feb 2024)
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Understaffed public defenders struggling to cover cases (Providence Business News; 16 Feb 2024)
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Pay raises sought for prosecutors and public defenders in McHenry County [IL] court amid recruiting struggles: Lower salaries make it ‘extremely difficult’ to retain attorneys in both offices (McHenry County Northwest Herald; 14 Feb 2024)
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Attorney shortage in S.E. Iowa raises concern for timely justice (KTVO; 15 Feb 2024)