BP BHEAD INT H

AN ACT Relating to legal aid programs; amending RCW 43.08.250 and 43.08.260; and making appropriations.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1. RCW 43.08.250 and 1995 2nd sp.s. c 18 s 912 are each amended to read as follows:

The money received by the state treasurer from fees, fines, forfeitures, penalties, reimbursements or assessments by any court organized under Title 3 or 35 RCW, or chapter 2.08 RCW, shall be deposited in the public safety and education account which is hereby created in the state treasury. The legislature shall appropriate the funds in the account to promote traffic safety education, highway safety, criminal justice training, crime victims' compensation, judicial education, the judicial information system, civil representation of indigent persons, winter recreation parking, and state game programs. During the fiscal biennium ending June 30, 1997, the legislature may appropriate moneys from the public safety and education account for purposes of appellate indigent defense, the criminal litigation unit of the attorney general's office, the treatment alternatives to street crimes program, crime victims advocacy programs, justice information network telecommunication planning, sexual assault treatment, operations of the office of administrator for the courts, programs for alternative dispute resolution of farmworker employment claims, and Washington state patrol criminal justice activities.

Sec. 2. RCW 43.08.260 and 1995 c 399 s 62 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) Any money appropriated from the public safety and education account pursuant to RCW 43.08.250 for civil representation of indigent persons shall be used solely for the purpose of contracting with qualified legal aid programs for legal representation of indigent persons in matters relating to: (a) Domestic relations and family law matters, (b) public assistance, health care, and entitlement programs, (c) public housing and utilities, ((~~and~~)) (d) unemployment compensation, and (e) farmworker employment. For purposes of this section, a "qualified legal aid program" means a not-for-profit corporation incorporated and operating exclusively in Washington which has received basic field funding for the provision of civil legal services to indigents under Public Law 101-515 or the successor of such a corporation.

(2) Funds distributed to qualified legal aid programs under this section shall be distributed on a basis proportionate to the number of individuals with incomes below the official federal poverty income guidelines who reside within the counties in the geographic service areas of such programs. The department of community, trade, and economic development shall use the same formula for determining this distribution as is used by the legal services corporation in allocating funds for basic field services in the state of Washington.

(3)(a) Funds distributed to qualified legal aid programs under this section may not be used directly or indirectly for lobbying or in class action suits. Further, these funds are subject to all limitations and conditions imposed on use of funds made available to legal aid programs under the legal services corporation act of 1974 (P.L. 93-355; P.L. 95-222) ((~~as currently in effect or hereafter amended~~)).

(b)(i) For purposes of this section, "lobbying" means any personal service, advertisement, telegram, telephone communication, letter, printed or written matter, or other device directly or indirectly intended to influence any member of congress or any other federal, state, or local nonjudicial official, whether elected or appointed:

(A) In connection with any act, bill, resolution, or similar legislation by the congress of the United States or by any state or local legislative body, or any administrative rule, standard, rate, or other enactment by any federal, state, or local administrative agency;

(B) In connection with any referendum, initiative, constitutional amendment, or any similar procedure of the congress, any state legislature, any local council, or any similar governing body acting in a legislative capacity; or

(C) In connection with inclusion of any provision in a legislative measure appropriating funds to, or defining or limiting the functions or authority of, the recipient of funds pursuant to chapter 54, Laws of 1992.

(ii) "Lobbying" does not include the response of an employee of a legal aid program to a written request from a governmental agency, an elected or appointed official, or committee on a specific matter. This exception does not authorize communication with anyone other than the requesting party, or agent or employee of such agency, official, or committee.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. The sum of two million dollars, or as much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated from the general fund for fiscal year 1997 to the department of community, trade, and economic development solely for contracts with qualified legal aid programs for civil indigent representation.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. The sum of two hundred thousand dollars, or as much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated from the public safety and education account for fiscal year 1997 to the department of community, trade, and economic development for reimbursing the costs of arbitrating and mediating farmworker employment claims.