13.34 - LEGAL SERVICES FOR PERSONS IN POVERTY GRANT PROGRAM.
13.34 LEGAL SERVICES FOR PERSONS IN POVERTY GRANT
PROGRAM.
1. For the purposes of this section, "eligible individual"
means an individual or household with an annual income which is less
than one hundred twenty-five percent of the poverty guidelines
established by the United States office of management and budget.
The attorney general shall contract with an eligible nonprofit
organization to provide legal assistance to eligible individuals in
poverty. The contract shall be awarded within thirty days after May
30, 1996. The contract may be terminated by the attorney general
after a hearing upon written notice and for good cause.
2. A nonprofit organization must comply with all of the following
to be eligible for a contract under this section:
a. Be a nonprofit organization incorporated in this state.
b. Has lost or will lose funding due to a reduction in
federal funding for the legal services corporation for federal fiscal
year 1995-1996.
c. Employ attorneys admitted to practice before the Iowa
supreme court and the United States district courts.
d. Employ attorneys and staff qualified to address legal
problems experienced by eligible individuals.
3. The contracting nonprofit organization shall do all of the
following:
a. Offer direct representation of eligible individuals in
litigation and administrative cases, in accordance with priorities
established by the organization's board.
b. Offer technical support to eligible individuals.
c. Involve private attorneys through volunteer lawyer
projects to represent eligible individuals.
d. Utilize, to the fullest extent feasible, existing
resources of accredited law schools within this state to provide
consulting assistance to attorneys in the practice of law in their
representation of persons in poverty.
e. Assist, to the fullest extent feasible, accredited law
schools within this state in enhancing the schools' expertise in the
practice of law representing persons in poverty so that all attorneys
within the state will have a resource available to provide training
and experience in the practice of law representing persons in
poverty.
f. Cooperate, to the fullest extent feasible, with existing
informational and referral networks among persons in poverty,
providers of assistance to persons in poverty, and others concerned
with assistance to persons in poverty.
4. The contracting nonprofit organization is not a state agency
for the purposes of chapter 8A, subchapter IV, and chapters 20 and
669.
5. An individual is eligible to obtain legal representation and
legal assistance from the contracting nonprofit organization if the
eligible individual meets all of the following criteria:
a. The eligible individual is a resident of this state.
b. The eligible individual is financially unable to acquire
legal assistance, in accordance with criteria established by the
organization's board. Section History: Recent Form
96 Acts, ch 1216, §27; 2003 Acts, ch 145, §135