Budget Provision Eliminates Legal Aid Funding

The North Carolina House of Representatives’ Appropriations Committee has proposed a provision for the 2017 Budget entitled “Eliminate Access to Civil Justice Funds.” If enacted as written, this provision would eliminate approximately $1.7 million in combined funding for Legal Aid of North Carolina, Legal Services of Southern Piedmont, and Pisgah Legal Services. Eliminating Access to Civil Justice Funds would cause drastic reductions in legal aid agencies’ services to those most in need, undermining equal access to justice for North Carolina citizens.

The budget process in the General Assembly is moving very fast. We ask that you contact your representatives and senators in the North Carolina legislature today, as well as other legislators whom you know personally, and ask them to maintain full funding for legal aid services. Contact information for legislators may be found here: www.ncleg.net.

Seventeen percent of North Carolinians live in poverty, and legal aid providers are already stretched woefully thin. The household income for 59 percent of North Carolina legal aid clients is under $15,000, and 74 percent are women. Legal aid providers work to protect victims of domestic violence, to protect families, to prevent homelessness, to aid the disabled, and to assist veterans. But even at current funding levels, the legal needs of more than 80 percent of North Carolinians who qualify for legal aid go unmet.