Legal Aid Day 2008 - Legal Services Invades the Capitol
It was Legal Aid Day at the Florida State Capitol on Wednesday, March 19. Organized and sponsored by Florida Legal Services, Inc. (FLS), Legal Aid Day is the annual event set aside at the Florida Legislature for directors and staff from civil legal aid programs to have their voices heard in support of low-income Floridians. This year eleven (11) FLS staffers took part, in addition to fifteen (15) directors and staff members of civil legal services programs from every region of Florida.
This year’s Legal Aid Day marked a first for our community, as one member of the Florida House of Representatives holds a dual role in this important work. Representative Clay Ford of Gulf Breeze is also the Executive Director of Northwest Florida Legal Services, Inc. Representative Ford is in a position to understand the challenges and opportunities that we face with State government.
The focus of Legal Aid Day 2008 was the restoration of the indigent waiver for civil filing fees. The waiver was taken from the poor in 2004 in the implementing legislation for the revision to Article V of the State Constitution, making Florida the only state in the union without an indigency waiver, which curtails court access for low-income people. Representative Ford introduced HB719, which is a measure that seeks to reinstate the filing fee waiver. The bill, along with its Senate counterpart, SB608 introduced by Senator Victor Crist of Tampa, has received bipartisan co-sponsorship and support, though its fate in this year’s session is unknown.
Senator Dave Aronberg of Greenacres, the Senate Minority Whip and a practicing attorney, treated Legal Aid Day participants to an illuminating lunchtime talk. An urgent press conference was also convened where Representative Ford and Senator Crist, along with a client of Legal Services of North Florida, emphasized the need for swift passage of the measure in order to restore court access for our poorest neighbors. At the press conference, TaxWatch presented their study on the cost versus benefits of seeking to collect filling fees from the indigent and their recommendation that the fee waiver be restored. Dominic Calabro, president of TaxWatch, commented, “The juice is not worth the squeeze.”
In all, participants in Legal Aid Day at the Capitol took more than forty meetings with Senators, Representatives, chief aides, and several officers of the Executive Branch. FLS considers the effort a success and plans are already underway for Legal Aid Day 2009.