TRENTON — The Assembly Judiciary Committee is calling on Gov. Chris Christie to restore $10 million to the budget of Legal Services of New Jersey, which says its ability to help indigent people with legal problems has been drastically curtailed. "We hope he’ll realize the seriousness of the cuts," committee chairman Assemblyman Peter Barnes III (D-Middlesex) said after a...
A Legal Services of N.J. sign in this 2010 file photo. The N.J. Assembly Judiciary Committee is urging Governor Christie to restore the $10M budget cuts to the Legal Services of New Jersey.TRENTON — The Assembly Judiciary Committee is calling on Gov. Chris Christie to restore $10 million to the budget of Legal Services of New Jersey, which says its ability to help indigent people with legal problems has been drastically curtailed.
"We hope he’ll realize the seriousness of the cuts," committee chairman Assemblyman Peter Barnes III (D-Middlesex) said after a special hearing on the issue today. "I think he’s a big enough person intellectually to do that."
Legal Services, which provides attorney representation to indigent clients in civil cases, went from a staff of 750 in 2008 to 493 earlier this year because of recent budget slashing. Melville D. Miller, the agency’s executive director, said that figure could dip by another 100 by the end of the year if he doesn’t get more money.
Miller said Legal Services already turns away two-thirds of the people seeking help for issues such as foreclosure and tenancy. Without additional funding, Miller expects that figure to rise to three-quarters of potential clients. In 2009, Legal Services handled 69,300 cases, but that is expected to drop to 52,000 by the end of this year, Miller said.
The state, which provide a portion of the agency’s budget, allocated $29.6 million to Legal Services in 2009. It was reduced to $19.9 million last year. In his proposed budget for this fiscal year, Christie recommended keeping it at $19.9 million while Democrats, in their own budget proposal, wanted it boosted to $24.9 million. But in his subsequent line-item vetoes of the Democrats’ budget, Christie slashed Legal Services to $14.9 million.
The governor also eliminated funding for clinical legal programs for the indigent at Rutgers School of Law in Camden and in Newark. Both programs lost $200,000 under the cuts, which their representatives said Wednesday would prompt a cut of at least two staffers each and a reduction in the number of cases they can handle.
Christie spokesman Kevin Roberts said the Democrats’ budget "ignored" the amount of available revenue and was "out of balance": requiring Christie to cut nearly $1 billion in proposed spending. With increases to education aid and other programs, Christie had to prioritize spending and make choices, Roberts said.
Barnes said he also plans to introduce legislation in the fall authorizing the creation and funding of an electronic filing system for New Jersey courts. The bill, which calls for increased filing fees, would provide $10 million to $20 million annually for Legal Services, he said. He acknowledged the bill will be unpopular among Republicans who have already expressed their displeasure at increasing fees.
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