SF 1314

as introduced - 90th Legislature (2017 - 2018) Posted on 02/23/2017 09:47am

A bill for an act
relating to legal aid; removing the income limit and conforming farmer financial
eligibility to the general poverty-based standard; amending Minnesota Statutes
2016, section 480.242, subdivision 2.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

Section 1.

Minnesota Statutes 2016, section 480.242, subdivision 2, is amended to read:

Subd. 2.

Review of applications; selection of recipients.

At times and in accordance
with any procedures as the Supreme Court adopts in the form of court rules, applications
for the expenditure of civil legal services funds shall be accepted from qualified legal services
programs or from local government agencies and nonprofit organizations seeking to establish
qualified alternative dispute resolution programs. The applications shall be reviewed by the
advisory committee, and the advisory committee, subject to review by the Supreme Court,
shall distribute the funds available for this expenditure to qualified legal services programs
or to qualified alternative dispute resolution programs submitting applications. The funds
shall be distributed in accordance with the following formula:

(a) Eighty-five percent of the funds distributed shall be distributed to qualified legal
services programs that have demonstrated an ability as of July 1, 1982, to provide legal
services to persons unable to afford private counsel with funds provided by the federal Legal
Services Corporation. The allocation of funds among the programs selected shall be based
upon the number of persons with incomes below the poverty level established by the United
States Census Bureau who reside in the geographical area served by each program, as
determined by the Supreme Court on the basis of the most recent national census. All funds
distributed pursuant to this clause shall be used for the provision of legal services in civil
and farm legal assistance matters as prioritized by program boards of directors to eligible
clients.

(b) Fifteen percent of the funds distributed may be distributed (1) to other qualified legal
services programs for the provision of legal services in civil matters to eligible clients,
including programs which organize members of the private bar to perform services and
programs for qualified alternative dispute resolution, (2) to programs for training mediators
operated by nonprofit alternative dispute resolution corporations, or (3) to qualified legal
services programs to provide family farm legal assistance for financially distressed state
farmers. The family farm legal assistance must be directed at farm financial problems
including, but not limited to, liquidation of farm property including bankruptcy, farm
foreclosure, repossession of farm assets, restructuring or discharge of farm debt, farm credit
and general debtor-creditor relations, and tax considerations. If all the funds to be distributed
pursuant to this clause cannot be distributed because of insufficient acceptable applications,
the remaining funds shall be distributed pursuant to clause (a).

A person is eligible for legal assistance under this section if the person is an eligible
client as defined in section 480.24, subdivision 2, or:

(1) is a state resident;

(2) is or has been a farmer or a family shareholder of a family farm corporation within
the preceding 24 months;

(3) has a debt-to-asset ratio greater than 50 percent; new text begin and
new text end

deleted text begin (4) has a reportable federal adjusted gross income of $15,000 or less in the previous
year; and
deleted text end

deleted text begin (5) is financially unable to retain legal representation deleted text end new text begin (4) satisfies the eligibility guidelines
established under section 480.243, subdivision 1 new text end .

Qualifying farmers and small business operators whose bank loans are held by the Federal
Deposit Insurance Corporation are eligible for legal assistance under this section.