Lawmakers push to restore funding for vetoed legal aid and pro bono projects
A legal aid society, and two iconic affinity bar associations stand to gain hundreds of thousands of dollars as House Speaker Daniel Perez, a Miami attorney, weighs whether to restore funding that Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed from the current $116.5 billion budget.
Sponsors of projects benefitting Coast to Coast Legal Aid of South Florida, the Virgil Hawkins Chapter of the National Bar Association, and the Cuban American Bar Association, pushed them to the top of a list of 51 justice-related spending projects that last year landed on the governor’s veto list — and that the “House Combined Workgroup on Vetoed Justice Services Budget Issues” reviewed this week for a potential override.
The panel wrapped up a third and final meeting Tuesday.
Rep. David Smith, a Winter Springs business consultant and the workgroup manager, reminded members that the House is vetting budget items for possible restoration because it led annual budget negotiations last year.
An override would require a two-thirds vote in each chamber for each restored spending item.
Three other House workgroups are reviewing vetoes from separate portions of the budget. Combined, DeSantis cancelled about $1 billion in spending.
Workgroups were instructed to forward their recommendations to Perez by the end of the week.
“The Senate is going to go along and follow our lead,” Smith said. “This is not an exercise in futility.”
At stake for CABA is a $500,000 appropriation for pro bono services, and another $300,000 appropriation for a pro bono pilot program to help low-income condo dwellers fight eviction.
Rep. Juan Carlos Porras, a Miami small business owner, told the workgroup that CABA pro bono initiatives serve indigent veterans, seniors, and others. He said he sponsored the CABA pilot program because many of his constituents are facing soaring condo assessments that resulted from new state safety regulations.
“CABA every year assists residents in Florida, all the way from Maimi-Dade County to the Panhandle, people who require legal services,” he said. “In many of these cases, people across the state are struggling to pay their condo fees”
Hanging in the balance for Virgil Hawkins, one of the state’s largest African American bar associations, is a $250,000 appropriation.
Rep. Dianne Hart, a Tampa business owner, stressed that the association has a long history of providing pro bono legal services to a community that is too often overlooked.
“It provides access to legal resources and services to underserved populations, and these are non-criminal matters,” she said. “We looking to actually help some of our seniors.”
Coast to Coast Legal Aid of South Florida could stand to gain $250,000, money that would be used to hire two attorneys and a paralegal to help low-income condominium and homeowner association residents fighting “wrongful” eviction, Gottlieb said.
Rep. Mike Gottlieb, a Davie lawyer, told the panel that he has a “fondness” for pro bono attorneys working in the trenches.
“Legal aid, as we know, assists a very vulnerable population,” he said. “In this situation, this is dealing with people who are low income and dealing with foreclosure.”
Workgroup procedures are less formal than the regular budget committees. No attendance was taken, and members were invited to defend projects by speaking up at workgroup meetings.
Other workgroup members pushed for criminal justice programs that help families of inmates and at-risk youth.
Also on the list of vetoed projects that the workgroup reviewed is a $250,000 appropriation for the Legal Services Clinic of the Puerto Rican Community, Inc.
A request form notes the money would support “culturally and linguistically competent legal services to low-income families.”
“Our Pro Se project, operated from the County Clerk’s office, provides a special service, we assist the citizens who cannot fill out the forms. This allows for more efficient administration of the court dockets as the Judges are looking at well prepared documents, which reduces the time for the court to attempt to understand them.”
Read Full Article
