26934 Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 104 / Wednesday, May 29, 1996 / Notices

(6) An estimate of the total public

burden (in hours) associated with the

collection: 4,950 annual burden hours.

If additional information is required

contact: Mr. Robert B. Briggs, Clearance

Officer, United States Department of

Justice, Information Management and

Security Staff, Justice Management

Division, Suite 850, Washington Center,

1001 G Street, NW, Washington, DC

20530.

Dated: May 22, 1996.

Robert B. Briggs,

Department Clearance Officer, United States

Department of Justice.

[FR Doc. 96–13314 Filed 5–28–96; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4410–18–M

LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION

Suggested List of Priorities for LSC

Recipients

AGENCY: Legal Services Corporation.

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: This notice sets out a

suggested list of priorities adopted by

the Legal Services Corporation’s (‘‘LSC’’

or ‘‘Corporation’’) Board of Directors on

May 20, 1996, pursuant to a Fiscal Year

(‘‘FY’’) 1996 appropriations act

requirement. The list is intended to be

considered by LSC recipients when

setting their own priorities for the

provision of legal assistance.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Victor M. Fortuno, General Counsel,

(202) 336–8810.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Public

Law 104–134, the omnibus legislation

that includes the FY 1996 appropriation

for the Legal Services Corporation,

contains two modifications of current

law relating to grantees’ allocation of

priorities in the use of resources. The

governing boards of grantees are

directed to set specific priorities in

writing, pursuant to the Legal Services

Corporation Act and the Corporation’s

priority-setting regulation, of the types

of matters and cases to which they will

devote time and resources, and their

staffs must sign written agreements not

to undertake cases or matters other than

in accordance with these specific

priorities except in emergency

situations [Section 504 (a)(9)]. The

Corporation itself is directed to

promulgate a suggested list of priorities

that local boards of directors may use in

setting their local priorities [Section 504

(c)]. Accordingly, the following

suggested list of priorities has been

adopted by the Board at its meeting on

May 20, 1996.

A one-third reduction in funding for

the Legal Services Corporation for FY

1996 requires that the Corporation’s

grantees exercise the utmost care in

making the difficult and, at times,

painful decisions as to the types of cases

they can accept and the nature of the

service they will provide. While the

ultimate decision in these matters rests

with the local program—which must

develop its own priorities within the

context of the circumstances in its own

community, in consultation with the

client community, subject to applicable

legislative and regulatory restrictions—

the Corporation expects each program to

respond to the most compelling and

critical needs of its eligible clients and

to leverage its resources in order to

compensate to the greatest degree

possible for the inevitable reduction in

client service resulting from this cut in

funding. In meeting this crisis, each

program must continue to maintain a

high level of professionalism and

quality in the delivery of legal services

and in the observance of ethical

standards.

To this end, and in response to the

direction of Congress, the Corporation’s

Board of Directors has identified the

following suggested priorities to help

guide local legal services programs as

they strive to continue to provide high

quality, effective legal services to

members of their communities. It has

formulated this response in the context

of the existing pattern of individual

cases being handled nationwide, the

largest category of which involves

family matters, in which the client base

is disproportionately comprised of

women and children. Hence, a principal

focus by the Board of Directors is in the

context of the family. Recognition is

given, however, to other critical case

needs comprising the everyday

problems encountered by our eligible

clients.

Suggested List of Priorities

Support for Families: The

cohesiveness of the family is not only a

time-honored value fundamental to our

American way of life, but also the

undergirding of the stability of our

American society. Programs should take

cognizance of the vulnerability of

American families to problems requiring

legal assistance for their resolution. The

Corporation suggests that programs

place a high priority on those cases in

which legal assistance supports the

integrity, safety, and well-being of the

family.

Preserving the Home: Preservation of

the home is essential to the well-being

of every person. The loss of housing

through uninhabitability, eviction, or

foreclosure can precipitate exposure to

physical and medical risks in crowded

shelters or the streets, disruption of the

schooling of young children, loss of

employment, and the splintering of

families whose members may be

dispersed in seeking alternate shelter.

Enabling families to avoid loss of their

home should be an important priority

for grantees, as should assistance to

those families or individuals who have

become homeless.

Of equal importance is the assurance

that families can be safe and secure in

their places of residence. This is of

particular concern in public housing

complexes where crime and violent

behavior put many families at risk.

Legal assistance to tenant associations

or other groups of eligible clients

seeking to ameliorate the condition of a

dangerous environment contributes to

family well-being and should be a

priority where appropriate. The

Corporation also encourages grantees to

give a high priority to representation of

individual families threatened by unsafe

or unhealthy conditions in both public

and private rental housing.

Help may also be needed when

physical harm to family living quarters

is caused by natural disaster, such as

flood, earthquake, fire, and hurricane.

Programs are urged to respond to the

needs of clients in such emergencies

and, when appropriate, to cooperate in

joint endeavors with the Federal

Emergency Management Agency. Funds

may be available through special

appropriations, which programs can use

to provide emergency services to clients

in matters such as relocation, repair of

housing, filing for benefits, and dealing

with insurance, contractors, and

creditors.

Maintaining Economic Stability:

Families must be economically viable in

order to survive. The Corporation

encourages programs to give high

priority to cases in which the family’s

source of income is at risk.

For the working poor, those seeking to

avoid dependency and find a route out

of poverty, the loss of a job may trigger

a plummet into abject poverty, possibly

leading to the loss of housing and access

to health care, and even to the breakup

of the family. The prevention of

unemployment may obviate a sequence

of far greater legal activity, and should

therefore be a high priority for legal

services programs. In addition to

matters directly involving employment

law, other cases may fall into the

category of potentially preventing

joblessness, for example, consumer

cases relating to the tools of a worker’s

trade or to an automobile which is

needed to transport the worker to the
Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 104 / Wednesday, May 29, 1996 / Notices 26935

site of the job. A category of the working

poor whose legal needs should not be

overlooked in setting priorities are

family farmers, who are especially

vulnerable to the vagaries of weather

and markets.

The Corporation also suggests that

programs accord a high priority to cases

involving parental responsibility for the

support of their children. In light of

recent legislative attention to this issue,

the rate of success in obtaining child

support from absent parents makes such

representation an ever more efficient

and cost-effective use of legal time.

For workers who have lost their jobs

or become disabled or those who are

otherwise unable to obtain employment,

representation in cases involving

eligibility for benefits to which they

have a claim may be the only way to

preserve a source of income for the

family.

Other legal matters may threaten basic

economic stability and therefore merit

high priority. For example, a family

entrapped by a fraudulent scheme may

be forced into bankruptcy if it has no

recourse to legal assistance.

Safety, Stability and Health: Domestic

violence threatens the security and

stability of families at all economic

levels. The physical abuse of women,

frequently mothers of children in the

household, as well as neglect and harm

to children themselves, calls for

heightened awareness and a fast

response by, the justice system. The

intervention of legal service lawyers in

obtaining judicial remedies, such as

orders of protection, can be life-saving.

Every program should endeavor to offer

that vital assistance.

Representation in legal separation or

divorce may also be essential to sustain

what remains of a viable family

structure, especially as it relates to

regularization or clarification of the

custody of children. Programs should

also consider representation where

dissolution of the marital relationship is

the result of abandonment or other

compelling circumstances, applying

their own assessment of priorities to

take cognizance of the exigencies of

each situation.

Representation in cases involving

access to health care may also be

essential to preserve the security and

stability of families, and should be

accorded an appropriate priority.

Populations with Special

Vulnerabilities: While the Corporation

encourages programs to focus prime

attention on providing support for

families, this cannot and should not be

to the exclusion of assistance to

individuals living outside a family

context. This is particularly true with

respect to the growing numbers of

elderly individuals in our population

who are among the most vulnerable,

particularly as their capacity to make

independent and informed judgments

diminishes. In addition to assurance of

access to basic needs of life—food,

shelter and medical care—they often

require remedies against the

unscrupulous who take unfair

advantage in their dealings with them.

Programs should also pay particular

attention to other similarly vulnerable

individuals within their service areas

who, in addition to being in a marginal

economic status, are less capable of

fending for themselves by reason of

difference in language, cultural and

educational backgrounds, disability, or

other special problems of access to legal

assistance or special legal needs.

The Delivery of Legal Services: Apart

from the focus on substantive issues or

client populations, the Corporation

expects its grantees to give attention to

matters relating to the nature or method

of delivery of legal services. The sharp

reduction in funding will necessarily

cause programs to turn away an

increasing number of eligible clients

needing assistance. Before the FY 1996

reduction, it had been estimated that

only a fraction of the legal needs of lowincome clients were being met, perhaps

as little as twenty percent. In some of

our programs, the turn-away rate of

those who sought assistance was over

fifty percent. The Corporation

understands that a one-third budgetary

cut may well, in a given program,

translate into a reduction in service

capability greater than one-third, as staff

and fixed commitments do not yield to

simple proportionate reductions. It is

therefore essential that each program

consider methods by which it can

stretch its resources in an effort to

compensate in part for the substantial

loss in capacity.

To this end, the Corporation urges

programs to make maximum use of

available technology in screening,

researching and responding to client

needs. Because the Corporation can

offer no assistance with acquisition of

equipment, we suggest programs

consider discrete fundraising projects

for this purpose. Centralized intake

through hotlines and computerized

networks can facilitate referrals and

brief service and result in more efficient

use of lawyer time. Similarly,

community legal education, pro se

representation and other forms of selfhelp can reduce the need for legal

intervention, enabling programs to

conserve their resources for matters

most requiring a lawyer’s help.

The Corporation recommends that

programs place a high priority on

activities designed to involve the entire

community in sharing the responsibility

for facilitating access to justice. Special

attention should be accorded to the

involvement of the private bar in the

provision of pro bono client

representation. Although increased pro

bono services will not make up for the

effects of the current cutbacks in

funding for the Corporation,

involvement of the private bar

represents an important supplement to

direct service by Corporation grantees.

In addition to pro bono representation,

the private bar can provide assistance in

relevant substantive areas of law,

training for staff and volunteers, and

both direct financial support and

assistance with fundraising. Law

schools and other law-related entities

can also make unique contributions.

The community at large, including

clients, religious and civic groups,

community service agencies, and

business enterprises and organizations

should also be included in efforts to

broaden each program’s outreach effort.

Conclusion: The Legal Services

Corporation recognizes that different

communities have different needs and

will respect the autonomy of every

grantee to make decisions that reflect

the resources available to it and the

demographics and particular

circumstances of its client populations.

In some communities, issues not

touched upon here may be of grave

concern to clients and worthy of being

accorded a high priority. Nevertheless,

we expect that each grantee will give

careful consideration to the issues that

have been identified here as priorities

from the Corporation’s nationwide

perspective.

Dated: May 23, 1996.

Victor M. Fortuno,

General Counsel.

[FR Doc. 96–13413 Filed 5–28–96; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 7050–01–P

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND

SPACE ADMINISTRATION

[Notice 96–052]

NASA Advisory Council, Life and

Micorgravity Sciences and

Applications Advisory Committee,

Space Station Utilization Advisory

Subcommittee; Meeting

AGENCY: National Aeronautics and

Space Administration.

ACTION: Notice of meeting.