The 2023 legislative session resulted in Texas lawmakers approving $3.7 million in additional funding for civil legal services targeted to youth dealing with pandemic-related mental health issues.
But on another recommendation that grew out of the pandemic, the Legislature declined to provide funding for a proposal to use remote technology to deliver legal services through kiosk-based centers, which aim to help low-income Texans who may not have access to the internet at home. The youth and kiosk projects were requested by the Supreme Court of Texas as a response to the disruptions caused by Covid-19. The court sought $10 million — $4.6 million for the kiosks and $5.4 million for youth services — to support the programs over the 2024-2025 biennium.
The $10 million sought accounted for line items known during legislative sessions as “exceptional items,” which, when granted, provide extra padding to the Texas Supreme Court’s overall budget for civil legal services to address priorities stemming from the current legal needs of low-income Texans. A projected $80.27 million is included in the General Appropriations Act for the upcoming biennium’s full budget for basic civil legal services, up from about $76.57 million allocated for the current biennium and $74 million for the 2020-2021 biennium.
The funding that the Texas Supreme Court secures each session for civil legal services goes to the Texas Access to Justice Foundation, the funding arm of the Texas Access to Justice Commission. TAJF and TAJC are separate organizations created by the Texas Supreme Court that work in tandem to improve access to civil legal services for low-income Texans.
State funding for Access to Justice arrives through an allocation in the Texas Supreme Court’s budget, and once awarded, the court administers the funds to Access to Justice through orders that specify exactly how they should be used.
Although SCOTX was not able to secure the full $10 million in additional funding, the steady growth of the full civil legal services budget that SCOTX is now able to secure each legislative session is remarkably different from what it previously got from the state, which indicates that bipartisan support for pro bono civil legal services has become a mainstay in Texas.
“Once upon a time, Access to Justice money was one-time funding,” said TAJF executive director Betty Balli Torres. “Over the past decade we have been fortunate to have basic civil legal services now included in the Supreme Court’s budget and now the Legislature’s baseline budget, which has provided for some stability in funding.”
TAJF was created in 1984 by the Texas Supreme Court to administer the state’s then-new Interest on Lawyer Trust Accounts program. It now grants millions of dollars per year to approximately 40 organizations statewide that provide civil legal services to low-income Texans, including legal aid organizations and law school clinics. Retired Texas Supreme Court Justice Deborah Hankinson is the current chair of the TAJF board. Until 2009, TAJF’s exclusive source of funding came through the IOLTA program.
TAJC, which was created by the Texas Supreme Court in 2001 and is currently chaired by Locke Lord partner Harriet Miers, develops and implements initiatives designed to expand the access — and improve the quality — of civil legal services in Texas.
“The Texas Access to Justice Commission works to address barriers to the court system that impact low-income Texans, and lack of adequate funding for legal aid is one of those barriers,” Miers said. “We thank the Legislature for their bipartisan support of the general revenue appropriation and funding bill and the Supreme Court of Texas for its commitment to civil legal services.”
Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan Hecht, who has been heavily involved in Access to Justice funding efforts for more than a decade, said that before 2008 IOLTA alone generated tens-of-millions in funding for TAJF. But after the financial crisis of 2008 hit and interest rates “went to zero,” he said, IOLTA went from generating roughly $40 million a year to $2 million — and the only reason it didn’t hit zero was because some banks volunteered to pay higher interest rates.
This led Hecht and then-Chief Justice Wallace B. Jefferson to request supplemental funding from the Texas Legislature for the first time during the 2009 session. Lawmakers agreed to provide $20 million.
“Then they said, like they always do, ‘But just this one time only. Next time you have to be on your own two feet,’” Hecht recalled.
By 2013, the Legislature had worked $20 million into the permanent state budget to go to the Texas Supreme Court each biennium for civil legal services.
Asked how SCOTX pulled this off, Hecht said the crux of the matter was that the court “just proved the worth” of funding for civil legal services.
“For years, the Texas Legislature, state leaders and policymakers have recognized how important funding legal aid is for a strong and healthy society,” he said. “That continued through … the most recent session.”
The full approved SCOTX budget for civil legal services for the 2024-2025 biennium includes a projected $34.29 million generated from various fees (filing fees, attorneys’ fees, pro hac vice fees, etc.); $20 million in general revenue, $7 million to serve low-income veterans in Texas, $10 million for sexual assault victims, $5 million for crime victims and the $3.7 million extraordinary item to support Texas youth.
Results of the 88th Legislative Session
The $3.7 million that the House and Senate agreed to allocate as an exceptional item is expected to help young people struggling with mental health issues that may have been exacerbated by isolation during school closures and difficulties readjusting to in-person classes. In its legislative appropriations request, the Supreme Court said such legal services interventions produce successful and healthy outcomes.
The court cited the use of remote proceedings during Covid-19 as the basis to bring court access to locations such as public libraries where technology would be available. In its budget request, the Supreme Court said opening the kiosks would help working Texans save time and travel while promoting court efficiency. The proposal apparently ran into reluctance among some legislators at continuing remote proceedings.
Hankinson, the TAJF chair, said Access to Justice will continue to look for funding elsewhere and examine how best to demonstrate the value of the kiosk project.
“As always, there are many important and competing priorities for funding for our state,” Hankinson said. “While we weren’t successful in obtaining additional funding for the kiosk project, we were able to explain how helping struggling Texans with civil legal needs not only improves their lives and their families’ lives — it makes fiscal sense and is a good investment.”
The Legislature also passed two bills that will provide an additional source of funding for pro bono civil legal services and will benefit low-income individuals who face language barriers in the courtroom.
Access to Justice and SCOTX worked with state Sen. Charles Perry and state Reps. Jeff Leach and Lulu Flores to secure what is expected in the future to be a steady stream of additional funding through its work on Senate Bill 658, which Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law Sunday. The bill allows the Texas Comptroller’s office to award unclaimed IOLTA funds to TAJF for civil legal services. But any clients who later claim their IOLTA funds would still get paid, Torres said.
Access to Justice also put efforts behind SB 380. Drafted by state Sen. Judith Zaffirini and signed into law last month by the governor, the bill requires Texas courts to provide interpreters free of charge to parties who need one but cannot afford one.
TAJC and TAJF’s differing roles in civil legal aid is reflective of how they typically divide up the work that goes into advocating for their needs during legislative sessions.
Through its legislative committee, the TAJC coordinates efforts in the legislature, which includes identifying policy issues that need addressing. TAJF typically focuses on funding-specific bills.
For this most recent legislative session, the foundation’s board of directors met with the comptroller to discuss the IOLTA issues that became SB 658, Hankinson said, and it also went through strategic planning to identify whether to request any exceptional items for this session (this time, the $10 million funding request to support the virtual kiosk project and the youth-targeted civil legal aid).
“Funding for basic civil legal services from the Texas Legislature is vital to our delivery of legal aid as these services are often a lifeline for disadvantaged Texans,” Hankinson said. “We thank the legislature for their bipartisan support of the general revenue appropriation and funding bill and the Supreme Court of Texas for its commitment to civil legal services.”
Now that funding efforts during the legislative session have concluded, Torres and Hankinson said the next steps for developing the civil legal support program for Texas children will involve seeking input from the legal aid programs in Texas and recommendations from TAJF staff on distributing the grant funding. Then, the TAJF board will vote on recommendations, likely at its fall meeting.
Editor’s Note: Janet Elliott contributed to this report.