The Office of Civil Legal Aid (OCLA) is an independent judicial branch agency established by the Legislature in 2005 to administer and oversee state funds appropriated by the Legislature for the provision of civil legal aid services to eligible low-income people in Washington.
The OCLA is prohibited from providing direct representation of clients. Instead, moneys appropriated by the Legislature for civil representation are to be used solely for the purposes of contracting with qualified legal aid programs for legal representation of indigent persons in matters relating to:
Moneys distributed to qualified legal aid programs by the OCLA may not be used directly or indirectly for:
Moneys appropriated for civil legal representation may not be used for legal representation that is either expressly prohibited or beyond the scope of what is permitted.
The prohibition on the use of funds by qualified legal aid programs to represent individuals who are in the United States without legal authority is removed.
(In support) This bill eliminates discriminatory provisions that deny equal protection and enforcement of state laws that protect all state residents. Current law denies immigrants the protection under or the ability to enforce these laws because it makes state-funded legal assistance unavailable to them. If the Legislature wants to deny immigrants the protection of state laws of general applicability, it should do so, as it has done in limited circumstances, directly and explicitly in the body of those laws.
The prohibition on the use of state funds for civil legal aid to people in the United States without legal authority also places immigrants in great danger because those who could harm them understand that these individuals are unable to secure the legal help they need, whether it is to prevent an eviction or foreclosure of their home, wrongful garnishment, secure a protection order, or defend against predatory debt collection. Washington is a nationwide leader in terms of labor standards and protections, but many workers still experience labor violations, along with immigration-based retaliation, when they try to enforce their rights. State labor laws do not exclude undocumented workers, but civil legal aid funding does, and the lack of unrestricted legal services funding is a tremendous obstacle for small organizations providing labor-related legal aid.
Emergency Coronavirus Disease 2019 civil legal aid funding does not have the same prohibition on the use of funds to assist undocumented individuals. This bill will have no fiscal impact, as the availability of state funding is subject to appropriation by the Legislature. Elimination of this prohibition simply ensures equity in the availability of civil legal aid services for all Washingtonians who have important legal rights at stake.
(Opposed) None.