Legal Services Corporation 2013 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) intends to merge the Texas, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Alabama migrant service areas. Grants for these individual service areas have been awarded to Texas RioGrande Legal Aid (TRLA) since 2001. For 2014, LSC will award TRLA 1-year grants for these migrant service areas. LSC intends to merge the seven migrant service area grants into one regional service area grant. Doing so will harmonize the grant structure with the longstanding delivery model.

The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) is the national organization charged with administering federal funds provided for civil legal services to low-income Americans. This Request for Applications (RFA) announces the availability of LSC's disaster relief emergency grant funds and solicits grant applications from current LSC recipients located in a federally- declared disaster area seeking financial assistance to mitigate damage sustained and who have experienced a surge in demand for legal services as the result of a federally-declared disaster.

This proposed rule updates the Legal Services Corporation (LSC or Corporation) regulation on legal assistance with respect to criminal proceedings. The Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010 (TLOA) amended the LSC Act to authorize LSC funds to be used for representation of persons charged with criminal offenses in tribal courts. This proposed rule will bring the regulations into alignment with the amended LSC Act. The proposed rule will also revise the conditions under which LSC recipients can accept or decline tribal court appointments to represent defendants in criminal proceedings.

This proposed rule updates the Legal Services Corporation (LSC or Corporation) regulation on legal assistance to aliens. The revisions are intended to implement three statutory changes on aliens eligible for legal assistance from LSC grant recipients that have been enacted since the pertinent provisions of the existing regulation were last revised in 1997. Those three changes are described in more detail in the Supplementary Information section of this preamble. LSC seeks comments on the proposed changes to the rule. LSC also seeks comments on specific items that it has identified in this notice.

The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) is conducting two Rulemaking Workshops (Workshops), as noticed at 78 FR 27339 (May 10, 2013), and is requesting public comments on revising LSC's Private Attorney Involvement (PAI) rule to respond to Recommendation 2 of LSC's Pro Bono Task Force (PBTF) Report. The discussions in the Workshops and the other comments received will be considered in connection with rulemaking by LSC. On July 23, 2013, LSC hosted the first of the two Workshops. LSC solicits expression of interest in participating as a panelist in the second Workshop on September 17, 2013, from the recipient community, the organized bar, pro bono organizations, and other interested parties. In preparation for that workshop, LSC is publishing the additional questions below. Additionally, LSC is extending the deadline for comments and expressions of interest for that Workshop. The new deadline is August 28 at 5:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. The final deadline for all comments in this stage of rulemaking remains October 17, 2013, at 5:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time.

The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) is developing its FY 2015 appropriations request to Congress and is seeking public comment and testimony on what the amount of its request should be.

The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) is the national organization charged with administering federal funds provided for civil legal services to low-income people. This Request for Applications (RFA) announces the availability of grant funds and is soliciting grant applications from current LSC recipients that provide legal services in service areas that have been federally-declared as disaster areas resulting from Hurricane Sandy. The Disaster Relief Appropriations Act, 2013, Public Law 113-2, 127 Stat. 4, includes $1 million for LSC to provide assistance to low- income people in areas significantly affected by Hurricane Sandy. The amount of the appropriation has been reduced by $50,000 because of sequestration. LSC anticipates providing the full $950,000 through grants awarded pursuant to this process. The funds must be expended by grantees within twenty-four (24) months following the obligation of the funds.

The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) is requesting public comments on issues associated with amending its regulations to align with the statutory authority granted to LSC under the Indian Arts and Crafts Amendment Act of 2010 (the IACAA). The IACAA amended the LSC Act to provide authority for LSC funds to be used by grantees to represent eligible persons in any and all criminal proceedings in tribal courts. Previously, the LSC Act and related regulations permitted representation only in criminal matters involving misdemeanors or lesser offenses in tribal courts. The information received as a result of this request will be considered in rulemaking undertaken by LSC.

The Legal Services Corporation (``LSC'') intends to revise the LSC Grant Assurances for calendar year 2014 funding since the last publication of the LSC Grant Assurances for 2013 funding and is soliciting public comment on the proposed changes. The proposed revisions affect Grant Assurances 13 and 17. The proposed LSC grant assurances for calendar year 2014 funding, in redline format indicating the proposed changes to the current ``LSC 2013 Grant Assurances,'' are at https://grants.lsc.gov/sites/default/files/Grants/ReferenceMat erials/ 2014-GrantAssurances-Proposed.pdf.

This final rule amends the Legal Services Corporation's regulations on enforcement procedures through the addition of options for limited reductions of funding, expansion of non-audit based suspensions for up to ninety days, and immediate special grant conditions for compliance issues. The final rule provides updates and enhancements to the rules regarding enforcement generally, terminations, debarments, and suspensions. It also provides a technical conforming update to a cross-reference in the private attorney involvement regulation.

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 as issued by the Department of Health and Human Services.