‘‘(e) LIMITATION ON USE OF GRANT FUNDS.—None
of the funds provided under subsection (a) shall be used
by a qualified legal service provider—
‘‘(1) to make available any funds, personnel, or
equipment for use in advocating or opposing any
plan or proposal or represent any party or partici-
pate in any other way in litigation, that is intended
to or has the effect of altering, revising, or reappor-
tioning a legislative, judicial, or elective district at
any level of government, including influencing the
timing or manner of the taking of a census;
‘‘(2) to attempt to influence the issuance,
amendment, or revocation of any executive order,
regulation, policy, or similar promulgation by any
Federal, State, or local agency;
‘‘(3) to attempt to influence the passage or de-
feat of any legislation, constitutional amendment,
referendum, initiative, confirmation proceeding, or
any similar procedure of the Congress of the United
States or by any State or local legislative body;
‘‘(4) to support or conduct training programs
for the purpose of advocating particular public poli-
cies or encouraging political activities, labor or anti-
labor activities, boycotts, picketing, strikes, and
demonstrations, including the dissemination of infor-
mation about such policies or activities;
‘‘(5) to participate in any litigation, lobbying,
rulemaking or any other matter with respect to
abortion;
‘‘(6) to participate in any litigation or provide
any representation on behalf of a local, State, or
Federal prisoner;
‘‘(7) to pay for any personal service, advertise-
ment, telegram, telephone communication, letter, or
printed or written matter or to pay administrative
expenses or related expenses, associated with an ac-
tivity prohibited in paragraph (1), (2), (3), (4), (5),
or (6);
‘‘(8) to solicit in-person any client for the pur-
pose of providing any legal service; or
‘‘(9) to pay any voluntary membership dues to
any private or non-profit organization.
‘‘(f) LIMITATION
ON USE
OF STATE FUNDS.—A
State which receives a grant under subsection (a) and
which also distributes State funds for the provision of legal
services shall require that such State funds be used to pro-
vide qualified legal services to qualified clients and shall
impose on the use of such State funds the limitations pre-
scribed by subsection (e).
‘‘(g) ATTORNEYS’ FEES.—A qualified legal service
provider of any qualified client or any client of such pro-
vider may not claim or collect attorneys’ fees from parties
to any litigation initiated by such client.
‘‘(h) AUTHORIZATION
OF APPROPRIATIONS.—For
grants under subsection (a) there are authorized to be ap-
propriated to the Attorney General $278,000,000 for fis-
cal year 1996 and $141,000,000 for fiscal year 1997.
‘‘SEC. 4. CONTRACTS.
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Each State which receives a
grant under section 3(a) shall make funds under the grant
available for contracts entered into for the provision of
qualified legal services within the State.
‘‘(b) BIDS.—
‘‘(1) AUTHORITY.—The Governor of each State
shall designate the authority of the State which shall
be responsible for soliciting and awarding bids for
contracts for the provision of qualified legal services
within such State.
‘‘(2) SERVICE AREA.—The authority of a State
designated under paragraph (1) shall designate serv-
ice areas within the State. Such service areas shall
be the counties or parishes within a State but such
authority may combine contiguous counties or par-
ishes to form a service area to assure the adequate
provision of qualified legal services.
‘‘(3) NON-ENGLISH-SPEAKING
CLIENTS.—If 5
percent or more of the population of qualified clients
in a qualified legal service provider’s service area in-
cludes individuals whose household language is other
than English, the qualified legal service provider
shall include provision in the provider’s bid for satis-
fying the communication needs of that portion of
such population.
‘‘(c) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—A State shall allo-
cate grant funds for contracts for the provision of quali-
fied legal services in a service area on the same basis as
grants are made available to States under section 3(b).
‘‘(d) CONTRACT AWARDS.—A State shall award a
contract for the provision of qualified legal services in a
service area to the applicant who is best qualified, as de-
termined by the State, and who in its bid offers to provide,
in accordance with section 5, the greatest number of hours
of qualified legal services in such area.
‘‘(e) FORM AND BILLING.—A State contract awarded
under subsection (d) shall be in such form as the State
requires. The contract shall provide for the rendering of
bills supported by time records at the close of each month
in which qualified legal services are provided. A State shall
make payment to a qualified legal service provider at the
contract rate only for hours of qualified legal services pro-
vided and supported by appropriate records. The contract
rate shall be the total dollar amount of the contract di-
vided by the total hours bid by the qualified legal service
provider. A State shall have 60 days to make full payment
of such bills.
‘‘SEC. 5. REQUIREMENTS FOR THE PROVISION OF QUALI-
FIED LEGAL SERVICES UNDER A CONTRACT.
‘‘(a) TERM.—The term of a contract entered into
under section 4 shall be not more than 1 year.
‘‘(b) MANNER
OF PROVISION
OF SERVICES.—A
qualified legal service provider shall service the legal needs
of qualified clients under a contract entered into under
section 4 in a professional manner consistent with applica-
ble law.
‘‘(c) CASE FILES.—A qualified legal service provider
shall maintain a qualified client’s case file, including any
pleadings and research, at least until the later of 3 years
after the resolution of client’s cause of action or 3 years
after the termination of the contract under which services
were provided to such client.
‘‘(d) TIME RECORDS.—A qualified legal service pro-
vider shall keep daily time records of the provision of serv-
ices to a qualified client in one tenth of an hour increments
identifying such client, the general nature of the work per-
formed in each increment, and the account which will be
charged for such work.
‘‘(e) QUESTIONNAIRE.—Each qualified client shall be
provided a self-mailing customer satisfaction questionnaire
in a form approved by the authority granting the contract
under section 4 which identifies the qualified legal service
provider and is preaddressed to such authority.
‘‘(f) ATTORNEY CLIENT PRIVILEGE.—Any qualified
client who receives legal services other than advice or legal
services provided by mail or telephone shall execute with
respect to such services a waiver of attorney client and
attorney work product privilege as a condition to receiving
such service. The waiver shall be limited to the extent nec-
essary to determine the quantity and quality of the service
rendered by the qualified legal service provider.
‘‘(g) RECORDS
OF QUALIFICATIONS.—A qualified
legal service provider shall make and maintain records de-
tailing the basis upon which the provider determined the
qualifications of qualified clients. Such records shall be
made and maintained for 3 years following the termi-
nation of a contract under section 4 for the provision of
legal services to such clients.
‘‘(h) AUDITS.—A qualified legal service provider shall
consent to audits by the General Accounting Office and
the authority which awarded a contract to such provider.
Any such audit may be conducted at the provider’s prin-
cipal place of business. Such an audit shall be limited to
a determination of whether such provider is meeting the
requirements of this Act and the provider’s contract under
section 4.
‘‘(i) RECOVERY OF FEES.—A contract shall provide
for the recovery of reasonable attorneys’ fees in any action
brought to compel payment to a qualified legal service pro-
vider under a contract under section 4. Such fees shall
not be payable out of funds provided under this Act.
‘‘(j) TERMINATION AND RECOVERY OF FUNDS.—The
authority which awarded a contract shall terminate a
qualified legal service provider who fails to abide by the
terms of this Act. A breach of contract by a qualified legal
service provider shall entitle the authority to terminate the
contract, to award a new contract, and to recover any
funds improperly expended by the provider, together with
reasonable attorneys’ fees and interest at the statutory
rate in the State for interest on judgments. If such a
breach was willful, the provider shall pay to the authority
which awarded the contract damages equal to the one half
of the amount improperly expended by the provider.’’.
Services Corporation the President of the Legal Services
Corporation shall take such action as may be necessary—
(1) to assist the Attorney General in the initial
undertaking of the Attorney General’s responsibil-
ities under the Legal Aid Grant Act; and
(2) to transfer to the Attorney General for use
under the Legal Aid Grant Act all unexpended bal-
ances of funds appropriated for the purpose of car-
rying out legal services programs and activities
under the Legal Services Corporation Act.
(e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by
section 1 shall take effect on the date of the enactment
of this Act.
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