Rendell plan could leave judges short

LEWISTOWN - Nearly every corner of Pennsylvania's legal community is on edge as the budget negotiations heat up in the General Assembly.

Shortly after Democratic Gov. Edward G. Rendell released his proposed budget for fiscal year 2009-2010, Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Ronald D. Castille issued the annual State of Commonwealth's Courts report.

Within this two-page report, Castille painted a bleak picture of the impact the proposed executive budget could have on the Pennsylvania Judiciary. The report states that under the governor's spending plan, a 6-percent across the board funding cut would translate to a shortfall of roughly $33 million for the Pennsylvania Judiciary. Furthermore, the budget would not provide sufficient funds to pay 68 trial judges - including 11 new posts created by the General Assembly to begin in January 2010 - and 90 magisterial district judges.

Senate Bill 850, which recently was voted down by a House Committee, also would have had substantial cuts to funding for the Pennsylvania Judicial System.

"Generally, (it's a) 10-percent cut across the board for the judiciary," Judicial System Communications Manager James Koval said of SB 850. "The problem with this is, judges are constitutionally mandated positions and must be paid."

Koval was quick to point out that specific judges were not being singled out and the above figures are meant to reflect what the cuts would translate to financially for the judiciary.

MidPenn Legal Services Development Director Jim Kearney said that right now, the Pennsylvania Bar Association is very concerned about two specific issues: the first is listed above in the Chief Justice's report and the second is legal aid funding for the poor.

Kearney describes legal aid programs, such as MidPenn, as the "emergency room of the legal world," because their clients have nowhere else to turn for help.

MidPenn's district offices span 18 counties throughout the commonwealth, including Mifflin and Juniata counties. MidPenn is tasked with handling civil cases for the poor, such as child custody matters and foreclosures, as well as a significant number of domestic violence cases.

"We are trying to keep a roof over people's heads, make sure they have basic health care access, are safe and have something to eat," Kearney said of the program's ultimate goal.

Kearney said as the economy struggles to regain solid ground, the case load for legal aid attorneys keeps growing because there are more people joining the ranks of the unemployed, while at the same time funding for these types of legal aid programs keeps shrinking.

"It's created a perfect storm," he said.

Kearney added that legal aid programs have always been underfunded, but now these programs have started to take a serious turn for the worse.

Since 1976, state funding sources for Civil Legal Services programs have not kept up with inflation and have essentially remained stagnant, according to the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center, a nonpartisan organization that monitors the commonwealth's budget.

Unrelated to the budget negotiations but directly tied into the faltering economy is the issue of interest rate cuts. The rate cuts had a direct effect on the interest accumulated through the "Interest on Lawyers Trust Account Program," which among other things, helps to fund civil legal assistance programs such as MidPenn.

"We lost 14 percent of our budget," Kearney said of the drop in IOLTA funds.

In addition to the reduced funding available through the IOLTA program, if a state budget that resembles SB 850 is passed, legal aid programs will again take a serious hit. The now-deceased bill killed off by the House provided zero funding for legal aid programs.

Kearney said passage of SB 850 would have eliminated the $3.2 million in state funding for legal aid programs in Pennsylvania, which would have meant a "40-percent hit in funding" and would have affected 7,500 families across the state.

Although President Barack Obama is seeking an increase in federal funding for the Legal Services Corporation, which is the national legal aid program that helps fund organizations like MidPenn, Kearney said in the grand scheme of things it will not fill the gap from the loss in funds from IOLTA or the potential cuts from the state budget. He also said there is no federal stimulus money available for legal aid programs to supplement their funding.

Brenda Zimmerman, who works for the Lewistown MidPenn office, said the governor's budget proposal essentially kept the current funding rate flat. Zimmerman said she is very concerned about how the General Assembly may view legal aid programs during the budget negotiations and what the end result will mean for MidPenn.

"The state budget threat of elimination is really frightening," Zimmerman said, adding that even in times of economic prosperity, legal aid programs typically have minimal funding and can barely get by.

Zimmerman said she already has noticed an increase in demand for legal aid assistance, and if that trend continues, it will push programs like MidPenn to the very edge.

"What it boils down to in the end is if you don't have this kind of grassroots organization, who is going to do it?" Kearney said.