This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains notices to the public of the proposed

issuance of rules and regulations. The

purpose of these notices is to give interested

persons an opportunity to participate in the

rule making prior to the adoption of the final

rules.

Proposed Rules Federal Register

38270 

Vol. 83, No. 151 

Monday, August 6, 2018 

LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION 

45 CFR Part 1607 

Governing Bodies 

AGENCY: Legal Services Corporation. 

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking. 

SUMMARY: This proposed rule revises the 

Legal Services Corporation (LSC or 

Corporation) regulation regarding 

recipient governing bodies. LSC is 

proposing two revisions to give 

recipient governing bodies flexibility in 

how they recruit, appoint, and retain 

client eligible members while remaining 

faithful to the LSC Act’s requirement to 

appoint client-eligible board members 

who may also represent associations or 

organizations of eligible clients. First, 

LSC proposes to revise the definition of 

the term eligible client to remove the 

requirement that a client-eligible board 

member must be financially eligible ‘‘at 

the time of appointment to each term of 

office’’ (emphasis added). Second, LSC 

proposes to eliminate the requirement 

that client-eligible members be 

appointed by outside groups. 

DATES: Comments must be submitted by 

October 5, 2018. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

by any of the following methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http:// 

www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

• Email: lscrulemaking@lsc.gov. 

Include ‘‘Comments on Revisions to Part 

1607’’ in the subject line of the message. 

• Fax: (202) 337–6519. 

• Mail: Stefanie K. Davis, Assistant 

General Counsel, Legal Services 

Corporation, 3333 K Street NW, 

Washington, DC 20007, ATTN: Part 

1607 Rulemaking. 

• Hand Delivery/Courier: Stefanie K. 

Davis, Assistant General Counsel, Legal 

Services Corporation, 3333 K Street NW, 

Washington, DC 20007, ATTN: Part 

1607 Rulemaking. 

Instructions: Electronic submissions 

are preferred via email with attachments 

in Acrobat PDF format. LSC will not 

consider written comments sent to any 

other address or received after the end 

of the comment period. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Stefanie K. Davis, Assistant General 

Counsel, Legal Services Corporation, 

3333 K Street NW, Washington, DC 

20007; (202) 295–1563 (phone), (202) 

337–6519 (fax), or sdavis@lsc.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

In December 1977, Congress amended 

§ 1007(c) of the LSC Act. Public Law 

95–222, 11, 91 Stat. 1619. Through the 

amendment, Congress directed LSC to 

fund only those organizations whose 

governing bodies consisted of ‘‘onethird . . . persons who are, when 

selected, eligible clients who may also 

be representatives of associations or 

organizations of eligible clients.’’ Id. at 

1622. LSC published a notice of 

proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to 

implement the new requirement in May 

1978. In that NPRM, LSC proposed to 

define ‘‘eligible client’’ as an 

‘‘individual eligible to receive legal 

assistance under the LSC Act.’’ 43 FR 

21902, May 22, 1978. The proposed 

definition was narrower than the LSC 

Act’s definition of the term ‘‘[e]ligible 

client,’’ which the Act defines as ‘‘any 

person financially unable to afford legal 

assistance.’’ Sec. 1002(3), Public Law 

88–452, title X; 42 U.S.C. 2996a(3). LSC 

also proposed to adopt a requirement 

that eligible client members ‘‘be selected 

from, or designated by, a variety of 

appropriate groups including, but not 

limited to, client and neighborhood 

associations and organizations.’’ Id. This 

language reflected LSC’s ‘‘attempt to 

insure that programs will be 

accountable to the communities that 

they serve.’’ On July 28, 1978, LSC 

adopted the proposed rule without 

change. 43 FR 32772, July 28, 1978. 

The provisions governing the 

appointment of client-eligible members 

to recipient governing bodies remained 

unchanged for 16 years. In 1994, LSC 

proposed to revise Part 1607 in two 

relevant ways. First, LSC proposed to 

amend the regulation to reflect its 

interpretation of the statutory language 

requiring one-third of a recipient 

governing body’s members to be 

‘‘persons who are, when selected, 

eligible clients’’: 

[T]he language has been revised to make it 

clear that client board members must be 

eligible at the time of their appointment to 

each term of office. Thus, a client member 

who is financially eligible for services when 

first appointed to a recipient’s board may not 

be reappointed to a second or subsequent 

term if, at the time of reappointment, the 

client board member is no longer financially 

eligible for LSC-funded services. 

59 FR 30885, 30886, June 16, 1994. The 

second proposed revision ‘‘would 

codify the current LSC interpretation of 

the language to require that client board 

members be selected by client groups 

that have been designated by the 

recipient.’’ Id. at 30886–87. 

In a final rule published on December 

19, 1994, LSC adopted both proposed 

changes. LSC revised the proposed 

definition of ‘‘eligible client’’ to make 

clear that the member had to be 

financially eligible ‘‘to receive legal 

assistance under the Act and part 1611’’ 

of LSC’s regulations. 59 FR 65249–50, 

Dec. 19, 1994. In so doing, LSC rejected 

comments recommending that LSC 

expand the definition to include 

individuals whose income exceeds 

LSC’s financial eligibility limit, but who 

are eligible to receive non-LSC-funded 

legal assistance from a recipient. LSC 

limited the definition to individuals 

who were financially eligible for LSCfunded legal assistance because it 

‘‘wished to insure that the focus of the 

legal services program remains on the 

indigent population.’’ Id. at 65250. As it 

did in 1978, LSC adopted a narrower 

definition of the term ‘‘eligible client’’ 

than the one provided in § 1002 of the 

LSC Act. 

With respect to LSC’s proposal to 

require that client-eligible members be 

appointed by organizations or 

associations, LSC received comments 

both in support of and opposing the 

requirement. In the preamble to the final 

rule, LSC explained that favorable 

comments ‘‘supported the clarification 

and the policy choice that it 

represented.’’ Id. at 65251. LSC 

provided more detailed explanations of 

the comments in opposition. One basis 

for opposition was that it would be 

difficult or impossible for some 

recipients to comply with the 

requirement because ‘‘often there are no 

organized client groups within the 

service area and, even when there are, 

it is not necessarily true that client 

groups speak for the client community.’’ 

Id. at 65251. The other was that 

‘‘recipients often come into contact with 

program clients or other financially 

eligible individuals who would make 


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Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 151 / Monday, August 6, 2018 / Proposed Rules 38271 

good client board members but who, for 

one reason or another, are not involved 

with any client group.’’ Id. LSC adopted 

the language from the NPRM without 

change. 

In 2015, LSC Board Member Julie 

Reiskin provided Management with a 

memorandum detailing concerns clients 

had expressed to her. The primary 

concerns expressed in the memorandum 

were that some client governing body 

members were not truly representative 

of the population eligible for LSCfunded legal services and that the rule 

was more prescriptive than § 1007(c) of 

the LSC Act, which states that clienteligible members (1) must be eligible 

when selected; and (2) may be 

representatives of associations or 

organizations of eligible clients. 42 

U.S.C. 2996f(c). Following up on this 

memorandum, in 2017, the Office of 

Legal Affairs (OLA) participated in 

Board Member Reiskin’s and President 

Sandman’s client-listening session at 

the National Legal Aid and Defender 

Association’s annual conference. 

Recipients and their clients 

communicated that two provisions in 

Part 1607 present obstacles to recruiting 

and retaining qualified client-eligible 

members: the definition of ‘‘eligible 

client’’ and the requirement that outside 

organizations appoint client-eligible 

members. 

LSC takes seriously the client 

community’s concerns and believes 

regulatory action is justified for two 

reasons. First, LSC believes that the 

current rule interprets § 1007(c) too 

restrictively. Second, LSC believes that 

recipients should have discretion to 

establish board member appointment 

procedures that maximize their ability 

to recruit qualified client-eligible board 

members. 

On April 23, 2017, the Committee 

approved Management’s proposed 

2017–2018 rulemaking, which included 

revising part 1607 as a Tier 2 

rulemaking item. On April 8, 2018, the 

Committee voted to recommend that the 

Board authorize rulemaking on part 

1607. On April 10, 2018, the Board 

authorized LSC to begin rulemaking. On 

July 25, 2018, the Committee voted to 

recommend that the Board authorize 

publication of this NPRM in the Federal 

Register for notice and comment. On 

July 26, 2018, the Board accepted the 

Committee’s recommendation and voted 

to approve publication of this NPRM. 

II. Proposed Changes 

§ 1607.1 Purpose 

LSC proposes to make no changes to 

this section. 

§ 1607.2 Definitions 

LSC proposes to remove the 

requirement that a board member be 

financially eligible ‘‘at the time of 

appointment to each term of office to 

the recipient’s governing body’’ to allow 

client-eligible members who improve 

their financial position to serve 

consecutive terms on a recipient’s 

governing body (emphasis added). 

Under this interpretation, the member’s 

eligibility status would be evaluated 

upon first appointment and at any 

subsequent appointment following a gap 

in service on the recipient’s governing 

body, but not upon reappointment to 

consecutive terms of service. This is not 

intended to require the recipient to 

reappoint the client-eligible member to 

another term; it merely permits the 

recipient to do so. Thus, for example, if 

a client-eligible board member’s income 

increases negligibly, but nonetheless 

sufficiently to exceed the applicable 

financial eligibility income ceiling, the 

recipient would have the discretion and 

flexibility to reappoint that clienteligible board member to a successive 

term. This is consistent with the 

statutory language of Section 1007(c) of 

the LSC Act that ‘‘at least one-third of 

[the recipient’s governing body] consists 

of persons who are, when selected, 

eligible clients . . .’’ (emphasis added). 

§ 1607.3 Composition 

LSC proposes to eliminate the 

§ 1607.3(c) requirement that clienteligible members be appointed by 

groups. Unlike the requirement that the 

majority of attorney members of 

recipient governing bodies be appointed 

by state, county, or local bar 

associations, LSC’s governing statutes 

do not require client-eligible members 

to be appointed by groups. LSC believes 

that each recipient governing body 

should have the authority and flexibility 

to implement an appointment procedure 

that takes into account its unique client 

population, including associations and 

organizations of client-eligible people. 

Under LSC’s proposal, recipients may 

choose to continue using the procedure 

required by existing § 1607.3(c), but will 

no longer be required to have outside 

organizations appoint client-eligible 

members to the recipients’ governing 

bodies. 

§ 1607.4 Functions of a Governing 

Body 

LSC proposes to make no changes to 

this section. 

§ 1607.5 Compensation 

LSC proposes to make no changes to 

this section. 

§ 1607.6 Waiver 

LSC proposes to make no changes to 

this section. 

List of Subjects in 45 CFR Part 1607 

Grant programs—law, Legal services. 

For the reasons set forth in the 

preamble, the Legal Services 

Corporation proposes to amend 45 CFR 

part 1607 as follows: 

PART 1607—GOVERNING BODIES 

■ 1. Revise the authority citation for part 

1607 to read as follows: 

Authority: 42 U.S.C. 2996g(e). 

■ 2. Revise paragraph (c) of § 1607.2 to 

read as follows: 

§ 1607.2 Definitions. 

* * * * * 

(c) Eligible client member means a 

board member who is financially 

eligible to receive legal assistance under 

the Act and part 1611 of this chapter, 

without regard to whether the person 

actually has received or is receiving 

legal assistance at that time. Eligibility 

of client members must be determined 

by the recipient or, if the recipient so 

chooses, by the nominating 

organization(s) or group(s) in 

accordance with written policies 

adopted by the recipient. 

* * * * * 

■ 3. Revise paragraph (c) of § 1607.3 to 

read as follows: 

§ 1607.3 Composition. 

* * * * * 

(c) At least one-third of the members 

of a recipient’s governing body must be 

eligible client members when initially 

appointed by the recipient. The 

recipient must solicit recommendations 

for eligible client members from a 

variety of appropriate groups designated 

by the recipient that may include, but 

are not limited to, client and 

neighborhood associations and 

community-based organizations that 

advocate for or deliver services or 

resources to the client community 

served by the recipient. Recipients 

should solicit recommendations from 

groups in a manner that reflects, to the 

extent possible, the variety of interests 


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38272 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 151 / Monday, August 6, 2018 / Proposed Rules 

within the client community, and 

eligible client members should be 

selected so that they reasonably reflect 

the diversity of the eligible client 

population served by the recipient, 

including race, gender, ethnicity and 

other similar factors. 

* * * * * 

Dated: August 1, 2018. 

Stefanie Davis, 

Assistant General Counsel. 

[FR Doc. 2018–16765 Filed 8–3–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7050–01–P 


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with PROPOSALS