Copyright 1999 Federal News Service, Inc.
Federal News Service
SEPTEMBER 29, 1999, WEDNESDAY
SECTION: IN THE NEWS
LENGTH:
1034 words
HEADLINE: PREPARED STATEMENT OF
JOHN
MCKAY
PRESIDENT
LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION
BEFORE
THE SENATE INDIAN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
SUBJECT - S. 1508, THE
INDIAN TRIBAL JUSTICE SYSTEM TECHNICAL
AND LEGAL ASSISTANCE ACT OF 1999
BODY:
Good morning, Chairman Campbell and
distinguished members of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. Thank you very
much for the opportunity to testify on S. 1508, the Indian Tribal Justice System
Technical and Legal Assistance Act of 1999. The Legal Services
Corporation ("LSC" or "the Corporation") appreciates your invitation to
offer our comments on this legislation.
Because this opportunity to appear
before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee is a unique opportunity for the
Corporation, let me provide the Committee with some background on LSC.
The
Legal Services Corporation is a private, non-profit corporation
established by Congress in 1974 to seek to ensure equal access to justice under
the law for all Americans. Our mission is to promote access to our system of
justice to improve opportunities for low- income people throughout the United
States by providing high quality civil legal representation to those who would
otherwise be unable to afford it. The Corporation provides grants to local legal
services programs to address critical legal problems for eligible clients and
their families in every state and county in the United States.
LSC is headed
by an 11-member Board of Directors appointed by the President and confirmed by
the Senate. By law, the Board is bipartisan: no more than six members may be of
thesame political party. Local programs are governed by their own Boards of
Directors, which set priorities and determine the types of cases that will be
handled by the program, subject to restrictions set by Congress. A majority of
each local Board is appointed by local bar associations. One-third of each local
Board is composed of client representatives appointed by client groups. Programs
may supplement their LSC grants with additional funds from state and local
governments, IOLTA (Interest on Lawyer Trust Accounts) programs, other federal
agencies, bar associations, United Way and other charitable organizations,
foundations and corporations, and individual donors. They further leverage
federal funds by involving private attorneys in the delivery of legal services
for the poor, mostly through volunteer pro bono work. LSC-funded programs do not
handle criminal cases, nor do they accept fee-generating cases that private
attorneys are willing to accept on a contingency basis.
I should note that,
pursuant to congressional direction in 1996, LSC funded programs are prohibited
from engaging in class actions, challenges to welfare reform, collection of
court-awarded attorneys' fees, many types of lobbying, litigation on behalf of
prisoners, and representation of undocumented and other categories of aliens.
The Legal Services Corporation strongly supports S. 1508,
legislation recently introduced by Chairman Campbell. This bill would authorize
the Attorney General to award grants to national or regional tribal justice
system organizations or non-profit entities that provide legal assistance
services for tribes and tribal members for the purpose of improving tribal
judicial systems through training, technical assistance, and civil legal and
criminal assistance. LSC appreciates that the thirty Indian Legal Services (ILS)
programs that receive LSC funding are specifically included as eligibleentities
to whom the Attorney General may award grants for civil legal and criminal
assistance programs under Sections 102 and 103 of the bill.
Since 1968, ILS
programs have been performing essential capacity building services to many
tribal courts across the country, and have provided representation of Indian
individuals in those courts. ILS programs have assisted tribes in such
activities as the development of tribal courts, development of written tribal
codes, and training of tribal judges and lay advocates, as well as provided
legal representation to individual Native people and, in some eases, where
permitted under the LSC Act and governing regulations, to tribal governments
themselves. An important theme of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee this year
has been the facilitation and enhancement of strong tribal government,
reservation infrastructure and economic opportunities for American Indians,
Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians. Just as the staggering poverty and
unemployment statistics of many tribal reservations are an anomaly to the
glowing reports of the economic health of America, so too the lack of equal
access to the courts for many poor, small, rural and/or tribal communities
undermines the overall level of confidence in our justice system. Without the
full participation of the individuals in these communities and all others who
must rely on our justice system to access the rights guaranteed to them through
the Constitution, our nation's promise of "equal justice under law" is illusory.
Whether greater confidence in tribal courts is achieved through the
provision of training or through technical or civil legal assistance, the broad
goal of ensuring equal access to justice through equipping tribal justice system
personnel with additional skills and tools will benefit individuals,local
businesses, contractors of various services, school districts, and local
governments -- in short,
these steps will benefit entire communities, Native
and non-Native.
The legislation's goal is also consistent with the intent of
the Committee in a number of bills it has considered this year to maximize
resources and to encourage partnerships. LSC recognizes that its funding alone
is not sufficient to meet the vast unmet legal needs of low-income people in
this nation, particularly in the Native American community. Any additional
sources of funding can only benefit the ability of ILS programs to serve
eligible Indian tribes and individuals who cannot afford legal assistance. LSC
views the additional direct tie between LSC Indian Legal Services programs and
the Department of Justice that would be authorized under this Act as an exciting
opportunity to strengthen legal assistance to Native Americans.
On behalf of
LSC, thank you for this opportunity to comment on S. 1508. The Corporation
supports this initiative, and urges the Committee to take favorable action on
the bill in the near future.
LOAD-DATE: October 1,
1999 
