Support For Proposed Funding For Civil Legal Services in FY26 Budget

SUMMARY

The Pro Bono and Legal Services Committee issued a letter urging the New York State Legislature to support proposed funding for civil legal services in the Fiscal Year 2026 Budget, including resources for domestic violence survivors, at-risk homeowners, and immigrant communities. The Committee also called upon the Legislature to include funding to support the expansion of the Higher Education Services Corporation (“HESC”) District Attorney and Indigent Legal Services Attorney Loan Forgiveness (“DALF”) program. The Committee advocates for $150 million for Judiciary Civil Legal Services, $80 million for the Interest on Lawyer Account, and $100 million for the Victims of Crime Act funding through 2028. The Committee also requested $40 million for the Homeowner Protection Program and $100 million for the Office for New Americans to strengthen immigration legal services. Additionally, the Committee supports $4 million for the expansion of the HESC District Attorney and Indigent Legal Services Attorney Loan Forgiveness (DALF) program to make public service legal careers more sustainable for attorneys.

2025 NYS Legislative Agenda Item

OUTCOME

The final FY 2026 NYS Budget included the requested funding for civil legal services, Victims of Crime Act contracts and HOPP

REPORT

Hon. Carl Heastie
Speaker
New York State Assembly
Legislative Office Building 932
Albany, NY 12248

Hon. Andrea Stewart-Cousins
Majority Leader
New York State Senate
Legislative Office Building 907
Albany, NY 12247

RE: New York State FY26 Budget – Civil Legal Services Funding

Dear Speaker Heastie and Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins:

On behalf of the New York City Bar Association (“City Bar”) and its Pro Bono and Legal Services Committee (“Committee”), we are writing to urge the Legislature to support proposed funding for civil legal services in the Fiscal Year (“FY”) 26 Budget, including funding to support domestic violence survivors, at-risk homeowners, and immigrant communities. We also call upon the Legislature to include funding to support the expansion of the Higher Education Services Corporation (“HESC”) District Attorney and Indigent Legal Services Attorney Loan Forgiveness (“DALF”) program.

I. CIVIL LEGAL SERVICES FUNDING

New York State’s investment in civil legal services organizations is vital for ensuring access to justice for low-income New Yorkers. Access to free legal services promotes the health and stability of low-income communities across the state. In the absence of legal representation, low-income communities are unable to assert their rights, which can have devastating consequences, including homelessness, hunger, loss of desperately needed educational and/or employment opportunities, an increased risk of abuse and exploitation, and, for some, the inability to escape abuse and/or exploitation they are already experiencing. These problems are grave in their own right – and, in addition, risk placing even more burden on state and local governments if problems that civil legal aid organizations can help to address, end up being diverted elsewhere because such organizations are underfunded.

Currently, low-income New Yorkers are struggling with the lack of affordable housing, high food prices, and wages that have not kept up with inflation. The dramatic rise in inflation over the past few years is making it even harder for low-income New Yorkers to afford legal representation. At the same time, legal services organizations, which are already stretched thin in the face of continued, unprecedented demand for their services, are experiencing increasing costs. Without the State’s continued investment, legal services organizations will be unable to sustain current service levels–they certainly will not be able to increase service levels to meet the increased need—and low-income New Yorkers will be denied access to justice.

A. Judiciary Civil Legal Services and Interest on Lawyer Account

We support the proposed Office of Court Administration’s budget request for $150 million appropriation for Judiciary Civil Legal Services, critical funding that supports civil legal services providers across New York. We also call upon the New York State legislature to support the Interest on Lawyer Account’s (“IOLA’s”) $80 million spending authority for civil legal services. Currently, the Executive Budget recognizes $77.5 million for IOLA and we urge the Legislature to support the full spending authority of $80 million. Notably, the IOLA Fund is a fiduciary fund, as provided in IOLA’s enabling statute and recognized in the Executive Budget. The IOLA Board of Trustees, as the fiduciaries of the fund, have enacted a 5-year grant plan to fund civil legal services, starting with an $80 million appropriation in FY26, which would provide stability and security to New York’s civil legal service non-profits. Such security is particularly crucial now when federal funding is uncertain. Moreover, IOLA’s $80 million spending request does not affect the State budget or the General Fund because the IOLA Fund relies entirely on interest revenue generated from private lawyer escrow accounts, not taxes. We also call upon the legislature to support the Office of Court Administration’s budget request for $150 million for judiciary civil legal services. The requested appropriations are vital for legal services organizations’ continued operations in service of low-income New Yorkers.

B. Victims of Crime Act

We also urge the Legislature to support the Executive Budget’s allocation of $100 million in funding for the Victims of Crime Act contracts through 2028. These funds provide critical support for frontline organizations serving domestic violence survivors, sexual assault survivors, and underserved survivors of gun violence and other violent crime. Many of these organizations effectuate this support by providing access to shelter, housing, legal assistance, counseling, and more. According to the National Network to End Domestic Violence (“NNEDV”), New York domestic violence organizations serve the needs of more than 9,000 survivors on any given day. Tragically, the NNEDV reports that nearly 1,000 survivors per day in New York do not receive the help they need due to a lack of resources and staff. The need for domestic violence services in New York has far outpaced the funding provided to the organizations providing these services.[1] State funding is necessary if legal and social services organizations are to be able to continue providing critical services to domestic violence survivors and their children in New York.

C. Homeowner Protection Program

We also urge the Legislature to support the Executive’s allocation of $40 million for the Homeowner Protection Program (“HOPP”). HOPP has a proven track record of helping New York homeowners remain in their homes, and of assisting the courts, New York State Department of Financial Services and localities to implement programs that address rising foreclosures’ community impact over the past decade or longer. HOPP’s impact on homeowners is remarkable, but it also provides more value to New York than it costs. We understand, based on statistics compiled by organizations that administer HOPP services, that:

• HOPP service providers preserve homeownership just through securing loan modifications, by a conservative estimate, in 25 to 30 percent of cases. HOPP providers assist many more to save homes with other workouts, and ensure that the judicial foreclosure process is a more level playing field by providing a range of services including brief advice, friend of the court services and clinics at the courthouse and in virtual proceedings, assistance with pro se pleadings to unrepresented homeowners, representation of homeowners in mandatory settlement conferences, and full representation in foreclosure actions. And where homeownership cannot be retained, HOPP advocates provide critical assistance to help homeowners benefit from the built-up equity in their homes, find alternative housing, and prevent homelessness.
• HOPP also saves New York State over $1.2 billion a year in property value preservation, tax savings and additional cost savings to localities. Every $1 million invested in HOPP yields a return of over $5 million in tax and property cost savings to localities alone.

Because such statistics rely on pre-COVID data, it is likely that HOPP’s impact is even greater, given the fact that with significantly higher numbers of households in default in the years since the pandemic, HOPP services save New York State even more. Indeed, HOPP pays for itself even if just less than three percent of people served avoid homelessness (compared to the cost of housing those rendered homeless by avoidable foreclosures). HOPP also saves the State money by reducing costs associated with mandatory settlement conferences, preventing deed theft and other scams, and keeping families stable to avoid dependency on State assistance.

D. Office for New Americans

Additionally, we strongly encourage the Legislature to provide $100 million for the Office for New Americans (“ONA”) to support immigration legal services. Currently, the Executive Budget provides for $44.2 million for ONA and we request the Legislature to increase the funding by $55.8 million to reach $100 million. The ONA allocation should include $80 million to sustain and enhance existing grants, enabling providers to recruit and retain staff to meet increasing legal demand; $10 million to expand deportation defense representation; and $10 million to strengthen the capacity of existing legal service providers. With more than one in three New York children having an immigrant parent, more than a quarter of the State’s workforce being foreign-born, and more than 280,000 immigrant entrepreneurs driving the State’s local economies, immigrants are integral to New York’s success. The data demonstrates the critical importance of representation: detained immigrants with legal representation are up to 10.5 times more likely to win their case compared to those unrepresented.[2] For non-detained individuals, 60 percent of people with legal representation succeed in their cases, compared to only 17 percent of those without.[3] With immigrant communities under attack by the federal government, we call upon the Legislature to demonstrate its commitment to immigrant New Yorkers by supporting increased funding for ONA.

E. DALF Program Expansion

Finally, we call on the Legislature to include $4 million in additional funding to support the modest expansion of the HESC District Attorney and DALF program. In doing so, we urge you to adopt the legislative framework for the expansion found in legislative bill A.1602 (AM Simon) / S.161 (Sen. Ramos). Attorneys begin working at legal service organizations with a desire to assist New Yorkers in need, but many are unable to dedicate their careers to this work due to the low pay and substantial debt from law school loans. Bill A.1602/S.161 will right size the award program by both expanding the total eligible award up to $64,000 and the period of eligibility, allowing attorneys to apply in their second year of work up until their tenth year, when most eligible attorneys will presumably be eligible for federal loan cancellation. HESC DALF money is one of the few sources of student debt relief open to those with private student loans. Attorneys of color and first-generation borrowers are more likely to hold private student debt that cannot be discharged via Public Service Loan Forgiveness (“PSLF”) or other federal programs. For attorneys who grew up in the very communities they serve, making careers in public service sustainable is an important policy that should be honored.

Sincerely,

Hamra Ahmad, Co-Chair
Pro Bono and Legal Services Committee

Dara L. Sheinfeld, Co-Chair
Pro Bono and Legal Services Committee