House preparing to set aside $26M for attorney payments
Image | Courtesy of Sam Doran/State House News Service
As Sunshine Week got underway, Progressive Massachusetts pointed out that the Massachusetts House has taken fewer than half as many recorded votes so far this session than it had in any of the previous six legislative sessions.
The Massachusetts House is preparing a $26.16 appropriations bill to cover payments to attorneys who represented indigent clients last fiscal year.
The supplemental budget bill is being voted upon by the House Ways and Means Committee ahead of Tuesday's House session.
The line item for the Committee on Public Counsel Services is among a handful of major spending accounts that legislative leaders underfund each year, necessitating supplemental appropriations. The News Service reported last week that the agency had run out of money and would not be able to continue paying attorneys for casework handled in fiscal 2017 until and unless the Legislature appropriated additional funds.
"CPCS has been working throughout this fiscal year with our Funders to secure sufficient funding for these constitutionally necessary services. The Legislature has regularly addressed funding deficiencies when needed and we fully expect that sufficient funding will be appropriated to allow us to meet our outstanding obligations," CPCS General Counsel Lisa Hewitt said in a statement to the News Service last Wednesday.
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments