Justice Programs Office July 2015 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

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. On February 3, 2015, LSC sought comments on the use of that data for grants beginning in January 2016 and related issues. Based on the comments received, LSC will not use the data for 2016 grants. LSC will make public additional information underlying the new data, contract with the Department of Labor for assistance addressing issues raised in the comments, consider development of revised data, and seek public comment on any revised data and a revised implementation plan. Implementation would begin January 2017.

This final rule revises the Legal Services Corporation (LSC or Corporation) regulation on recipient fund balances to give the Corporation more discretion to grant a recipient's request for a waiver to retain a fund balance in excess of 25% of its annual LSC support. This final rule also provides that recipients facing a fund balance in excess of 25% of their annual LSC support may submit a waiver request prior to submitting their annual audited financial statements.