A RESOLUTION regarding a civil legal aid project with the King County Department of Public Defense and its scope of work for representation services.
Agenda Item nine Resolution 31802 regarding civil legal aid project with the King County Department of Public Defense and its scope of Work for Representation Services, the committee recommends the resolution be adopted as amended. Councilmember Herbold. Thank you. So in the 2016 budget process, this council supported funding for what we're calling the Collateral Consequences attorneys as part of a city funded legal aid pilot program. The pilot program has been created to prevent people from losing their housing and having other collateral consequences when they are in the midst of a legal defense for an unrelated offense. Prior to the pilot, the attorneys at the King County Public Department of Public Defense under contract with the city to provide statutorily required defense services, were actually prohibited from working to address these collateral consequences. The creation of this pilot has allowed specialized staff with the King County Department of Public Defender to advocate for the accused , keep their housing during the legal review and plea bargaining processes. Stage two of this pilot anticipates the inclusion of direct representation of King County Department of Public Defense's criminal justice clients in civil proceedings with a primary focus on eviction. The there are other areas that the pilot focuses on in addition to eviction, as we heard during public comment, some of them ranging from intervening on behalf of a defendant's rights to maintain their their their employment licensing requirements, financial support services such as disability, as well as other types of civil civil issues that that come up during the during the course of a of a defense. Last month, I convened a group of civil legal aid stakeholders, as well as tenant services providers in order to talk about the progress of the pilot program. The between July and December of 2017. There were 293 cases where Collateral Consequences attorneys were used, and the folks meeting with us last month helped to influence and shape the resolution that you have with you in front of you today. One of the amendments that we raised during the committee process to specifically incorporate feedback would be outlining an intention to regularly convene a civil legal aid coordination group in order to bring together the attorneys providing legal aid with the actual service providers that these cases touch in some ways. As you heard today in public comment, the services provided by this pilot have real life implications for decreasing unreasonable consequences for people who have been charged and not convicted with a crime. It is modeled on the Bronx Defender approach towards public defense, which recognizes that these services must be provided in a way that's holistic in order to avoid future negative impacts arising from from the the collateral consequences of some of these cases. So look forward to having councilmembers support on this resolution, which will help set out the steps for the next stages of this pilot, which move from the consultation of the public defenders with the collateral consequences attorneys to the direct representation in some cases. Excellent. Any further comments? I just like to think I'm sorry, Herbold, for bringing this forward as I'm very, extremely supportive. And I think the public testimony we receive from many of the attorneys involved in this to do a deeper dove on what's happening out there, these kinds of problems. And I think this is a great both policy strategy as well as well should be an investment strategy. Thank you for bringing that forward. Any further comments? But those in favor of adopting the resolution please vote i. I. Those opposed vote no. The motion carries and the resolutions adopted. The chair will sign it. Please read items ten and 11 together.