Legal Services Corporation February 2015 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) is issuing this Notice to describe the conditions under which Letters of Intent will be received for the Technology Initiative Grant (TIG) program. LSC's TIG program was established in 2000. Since that time, LSC has made 570 grants totaling more than $46 million. This grant program provides an important tool to help achieve LSC's goal of increasing the quantity and quality of legal services available to eligible persons. Projects funded under the TIG program develop, test and replicate innovative technologies that can enable grant recipients and state justice communities to improve low-income persons' access to high quality legal assistance through an integrated and well managed technology system. When submitting Letters of Intent, applicants should consider the growth and continued development of technology and the resulting effects on the practice of law, program management and service delivery.

The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) provides special population grants to effectively and efficiently fund civil legal aid services to address the legal needs of agricultural workers and their dependents through grants entitled ``Basic FieldMigrant.'' The funding for these grants is based on data regarding the eligible client population to be served. LSC has obtained from the U.S. Department of Labor new data regarding this population that are more current than the data LSC has been using and that better reflect the population to be served. LSC seeks comments on a proposal to (1) use the new data for grants beginning in January 2016, (2) phase in the funding changes to provide intermediate funding halfway between the old and new levels for 2016 and to fully implement the new levels for 2017, and (3) update the data every three years on the same cycle as LSC updates poverty population data from the U.S. Census Bureau for the distribution of LSC's Basic FieldGeneral grants.

The Legal Services Corporation (Corporation) is required by law to establish maximum income levels for individuals eligible for legal assistance. This document updates the specified income levels to reflect the annual amendments to the Federal Poverty Guidelines issued by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).