Title: Recognizing the right to counsel in civil proceedings.
Policy area: Law

Summary:
This resolution recognizes the right to counsel in civil proceedings involving basic human needs and expresses support for efforts to provide counsel to low-income individuals in these proceedings.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 960 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 960

         Recognizing the right to counsel in civil proceedings.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 8, 2020

   Mr. Kennedy (for himself, Mrs. Brooks of Indiana, Mr. Cohen, Mrs. 
Dingell, Ms. Jayapal, Ms. Lee of California, Ms. Omar, Mr. Raskin, Ms. 
 Schakowsky, Mr. Scott of Virginia, Mr. Serrano, Mr. Upton, Ms. Tlaib, 
 Ms. Kuster of New Hampshire, and Mr. Nadler) submitted the following 
    resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
         Recognizing the right to counsel in civil proceedings.

Whereas the justice system in the United States depends on fair and equal access 
        to the courts as a fundamental right in a democratic society;
Whereas the first line of the United States Constitution identifies ``establish 
        Justice'' as a purpose of the Constitution;
Whereas, in criminal proceedings involving imprisonment, the United States 
        Constitution guarantees a lawyer for anyone unable to afford one in 
        order to ensure fairness and equal treatment;
Whereas engraved in stone above the entrance to the United States Supreme Court 
        reads ``Equal Justice Under Law'';
Whereas Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas and president of the 
        Conference of Chief Justices Nathan Hecht has said ``justice for only 
        those who can afford it is neither justice for all nor justice at all'';
Whereas civil proceedings often determine issues involving basic human needs, 
        including shelter, custody of children, safety from abuse, health, and 
        sustenance;
Whereas the American Bar Association, which is the largest voluntary association 
        of legal professionals in the world, has long urged the Federal 
        Government and State and territorial governments to provide legal 
        counsel as a matter of right at public expense to low-income individuals 
        in adversarial proceedings involving basic human needs, including 
        shelter, sustenance, safety, health, and child custody, as determined by 
        each jurisdiction;
Whereas individuals without lawyers face difficult and often insurmountable 
        barriers to obtaining justice in the courts;
Whereas courts attempting to provide justice to individuals without lawyers 
        often cannot obtain vital information necessary for making fully 
        informed decisions on the merits;
Whereas the 2017 Justice Gap Report published by the federally funded Legal 
        Services Corporation found that at least 71 percent of low-income 
        households experience a civil legal problem, including problems 
        regarding domestic violence, veterans' benefits, disability access, 
        evictions, housing conditions, and health care;
Whereas the 2017 Justice Gap Report found that low-income individuals in the 
        United States received inadequate or no legal help for 86 percent of 
        their civil legal problems;
Whereas millions of individuals in the United States cannot afford to hire a 
        lawyer, including approximately 94,000,000 individuals with family 
        incomes below 200 percent of the Federal poverty guidelines (as defined 
        by the Department of Health and Human Services);
Whereas assistance programs support less than 1 civil legal aid attorney per 
        10,000 individuals with an income under 200 percent of the Federal 
        poverty guidelines;
Whereas countless studies have shown that programs that provide attorneys to 
        low-income individuals produce fairer outcomes, promote public 
        confidence in the justice system, facilitate greater judicial 
        efficiency, and save taxpayer dollars;
Whereas a 2015 report titled ``The Landscape of Civil Litigation in State 
        Courts'' published by the National Center for State Courts found that 
        only 26 percent of defendants have an attorney;
Whereas the Conference of Chief Justices and the Conference of State Court 
        Administrators resolved in 2015 to ``support the aspirational goal of 
        100 percent access to effective assistance for essential civil legal 
        needs'';
Whereas self-represented litigants face significantly worse outcomes in court, 
        including that--

    (1) in Montgomery County, Maryland, domestic violence victims without 
lawyers are almost three times more likely than those with lawyers to drop 
their cases before obtaining final protection;

    (2) in Maricopa County, Arizona, judges take, on average, less than a 
minute to hear eviction proceedings involving unrepresented tenants, with 
judgments overwhelmingly favoring landlords;

    (3) in Wisconsin, Social Security Disability claimants with 
representation succeed up to 70 percent of the time while unrepresented 
claimants succeed only 30 to 55 percent of the time; and

    (4) nationwide, only 14 percent of defendants in debt collection 
proceedings have attorneys (compared with 99 percent of plaintiffs) and 
defendants with an attorney are significantly more likely to prevail 
(including 10 times more likely to prevail in Virginia);

Whereas investing in civil legal aid provides enormous cost savings to States, 
        including that--

    (1) in 2016, Florida saved $60,400,000 by providing civil legal 
services, including $2,900,000 in avoided costs of emergency shelter, 
$50,600,000 in avoided foreclosure costs, and $6,900,000 in avoided costs 
associated with domestic violence;

    (2) for every $1 spent on civil legal aid for housing cases in 
Massachusetts in 2014 the Commonwealth saved $2.69 on other services, 
including emergency shelter, health care, foster care, and law enforcement, 
and by providing legal services to survivors of domestic violence, 
Massachusetts saved $2 for each $1 spent that year;

    (3) in 2011, a $53,600,000 investment in civil legal services in 
Pennsylvania created 2,643 jobs and yielded $594,000,000 in income and cost 
savings for residents, including a $25,000,000 savings in emergency shelter 
costs and an influx of $118,000,000 in Social Security benefits for low-
income residents; and

    (4) in 2008, civil legal aid in Missouri helped 130 low-income families 
avoid homelessness, saving the State $1,500,000 in emergency shelter costs, 
and that aid provided representation in domestic violence proceedings that 
saved the State $2,200,000 in avoided costs, including costs relating to 
medical care for injuries, police resources, and counseling for affected 
children;

Whereas every State has enacted legislation to guarantee counsel for some types 
        of civil proceedings, most commonly child welfare and mental health 
        proceedings, but the reach of these laws is very limited;
Whereas a few States, counties, and cities throughout the United States have 
        sought to address unmet civil legal needs by guaranteeing attorneys for 
        individuals who cannot afford them in proceedings affecting basic human 
        needs, including that--

    (1) since 1975, the State of New York has provided a right to appointed 
counsel for individuals living below 250 percent of the Federal poverty 
guidelines in critical family law proceedings, including proceedings 
related to adoption, child custody, and domestic violence;

    (2) since 2009, California has funded the provision of attorneys in 
several counties for individuals living below 200 percent of the Federal 
poverty guidelines in proceedings involving basic human needs, including 
housing and family law proceedings;

    (3) since 2008, Wyoming has provided a right to appointed counsel for 
unrepresented individuals subject to civil commitment proceedings for 
mental illness;

    (4) in 2017, New York City enacted legislation to provide a right to 
counsel by 2022 for all tenants subject to eviction who are living at or 
below 200 percent of the Federal poverty guidelines and appropriated funds 
to guarantee, in some areas of the city, the provision of full legal 
assistance to income-eligible tenants and brief consultation services to 
all other tenants;

    (5) in 2017 and 2018, the District of Columbia and Newark, New Jersey, 
respectively, began appropriating funding to provide legal counsel in 
eviction proceedings for individuals who live below 200 percent of the 
Federal poverty guidelines, with Newark, New Jersey providing legal counsel 
as a matter of right;

    (6) in 2018, the San Francisco Mayor's Office of Housing and Community 
Development began providing $5,800,000 to 10 nonprofit law firms to 
implement the voter-approved ballot measure to guarantee representation for 
all tenants facing eviction in the city;

    (7) in 2019, Los Angeles County, California, provided funding for pilot 
projects to provide legal assistance in eviction proceedings for 
individuals living below 80 percent of the median income in rent-burdened 
ZIP Codes;

    (8) in 2019, the Cleveland City Council established a right to legal 
services provided through city-funded legal aid programs for all tenants in 
eviction proceedings who have children and live at or below 100 percent of 
the Federal poverty guidelines; and

    (9) in 2019, the Philadelphia City Council established a right to legal 
services provided through city-funded legal aid programs for all tenants in 
eviction proceedings who live at or below 200 percent of the Federal 
poverty guidelines;

Whereas access to free legal representation has successfully helped low-income 
        individuals in the United States preserve the necessities of life, 
        including that--

    (1) in New York City, during the first year of a city-funded program to 
provide counsel in eviction proceedings, 84 percent of the tenants who 
received a lawyer remained in their homes (21,955 individuals in 7,847 
households); and

    (2) during the first 5 years of California's Sargent Shriver Civil 
Counsel Act, adopted in 2009, 10 pilot projects served nearly 27,000 
individuals in proceedings involving the loss of their homes, child custody 
disputes, or the urgent need for a family guardianship or conservatorship, 
with housing services alone affecting over 73,000 household members; and

Whereas the unprecedented health and economic crises caused by the COVID-19 
        pandemic are compounding and intensifying the legal needs of low-income 
        individuals, including that--

    (1) millions more individuals and families will become eligible for 
legal assistance through legal aid programs due to lost jobs, furloughed 
employees, and medical debt;

    (2) more than 30,000,000 individuals filed for unemployment benefits 
during the period beginning on March 15, 2020, and ending on April 25, 
2020;

    (3) millions of individuals are unable to make rent or mortgage 
payments and are at risk of, or are facing, eviction or foreclosure 
proceedings;

    (4) according to an analysis of over 13,000,000 housing units 
nationwide conducted by the National Multifamily Housing Council, 31 
percent of tenants failed to pay rent during the first 5 days of April 
2020, compared with 18 percent of tenants who failed to pay rent during the 
same period in 2019;

    (5) according to a survey completed in St. Louis, Missouri, 45 percent 
of renters do not have enough money in savings to pay rent for even a 
single month;

    (6) police departments across the United States are seeing dramatic 
increases in reports of domestic violence while, as of April 10, 2020, over 
90 percent of individuals are subject to stay-at-home orders; and

    (7) a survey of the requests for legal assistance received by Legal 
Services Corporation grantees during the last two weeks of March 2020, 
compared with the requests received during the same time period in 2019, 
showed that--

    G    (A) Legal Services of Vermont had a 50-percent increase in 
requests for legal assistance;

    G    (B) Legal Aid of Arkansas had a 13.2-percent increase in overall 
requests for legal assistance and a 50-percent increase in requests for 
housing-related cases; and

    G    (C) Montana Legal Services had a 30-percent increase in demand for 
legal aid, with most cases involving evictions, domestic violence, consumer 
debt, and unemployment benefits: Now, therefore, be it

    Resolved, That the House of Representatives finds that--
            (1) the lack of counsel for low-income individuals in civil 
        proceedings diminishes the justice system in the United States;
            (2) to effectively and efficiently address the national 
        crisis described in paragraph (1), there must be a right to 
        counsel in the civil justice system for cases involving basic 
        human needs, including health, safety, family, shelter, or 
        sustenance; and
            (3) the Federal Government shares the burden with, and 
        should support, State and local efforts to guarantee the right 
        to counsel in the civil justice system and reduce the justice 
        gap by providing counsel in appropriate civil proceedings 
        without cost for low-income individuals.
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