After several years of intensive advocacy on behalf of Californians desperately in need of legal support and resources, the Council of California County Law Librarians (CCCLL) is thrilled to report that the California Legislature included a supplemental funding allocation of $16.5 million for California County Law Libraries in the 2018/19 state budget. The Governor signed off on the budget, including the supplemental allocation for County Law Libraries, on June 27.

The need in California is tremendous, if not overwhelming. The additional $16.5 million in funds will ensure that Californians retain access to legal information -- and therefore access to justice. County Law Libraries that were on the brink of closure will now be able to remain open and all California County Law Libraries will continue to serve the general public, particularly those who cannot afford counsel but find themselves facing legal challenges. These new funds will allow the libraries to serve vulnerable populations and rural communities, address disaster preparedness and response and provide service for non-English speakers, especially in areas of immigration, workforce-reentry and housing. In these and many other areas, Californians desperately need help.

Every day, people feel frustrated, helpless, ignored and unable to assert their rights because of their lack of financial resources and legal representation. Every day, California County Law Libraries serve single parents trying to provide for their children, widows struggling to maintain their homes, disadvantaged but determined individuals trying to start their own businesses, distressed parents fighting for custody of their children, modest means individuals trying desperately to care for elderly parents and grandparents, those barred from gainful employment because they don't know how to get criminal records cleared, tenants living in deplorable conditions, victims of notario fraud, DACA children terrified that their families are going to be torn apart and victims of domestic violence and workplace harassment seeking restraining orders.

CCCLL submitted the request for ongoing, stabilized funding of County Law Libraries to preserve access to information and access to justice for these individuals. Funding from the State was critically needed because the civil filing fee revenue that County Law Libraries depend on had dropped by nearly 40% (or $16.5 million) since 2009. Until this allocation, County Law Libraries had not received any general fund or special fund appropriations from the State. Over 90% of County Law Library funding came from a small portion of civil filing fees (ranging from $2 to $50 per case, depending on the county and type of case) which fluctuated unpredictably. In the past 9 years, a decrease in the number of case filings combined with an increase in the number of fee waivers granted, changes to jurisdictional limits and new exemptions adopted into law, caused law library revenue to drop precipitously. California County Law Libraries asked each year for supplemental funding in the state's budget to salvage this critical component of access to justice in California but, until now, did not receive any allocation whatsoever.

This year, the Legislature, recognizing that without County Law Libraries, most people have no access to legal information and therefore no access to justice, took decisive action to protect this critical public resource and the Governor ratified the action by signing the budget.

CCCLL is profoundly grateful to the Senate and Assembly Budget Committees, the Latino Caucus, the 30+ individual legislators who wrote on behalf of County Law Libraries and access to justice, each of the California chapters of AALL (SCALL, NOCALL and SANDALL) who wrote to voice support, and the many other individuals and elected officials who helped make this happen.

As the access to justice gap continues to widen, the need for County Law Library resources and services will only increase. An estimated 70-80% of library users are not legal professionals, but rather individuals trying to understand their rights, navigate the complex judicial system, start a new business or transfer property. The assistance they receive at their county law library is more than can be found in a book or legal database; it is personal assistance, legal research classes for non-lawyers, hands-on workshops, free consultations with lawyers and a safe, friendly, helpful place to ask questions and find help. They may enter the library feeling alienated, stressed or even hostile towards their government, but the support they find at their County Law Library helps them feel that they too can obtain justice. CCCLL will continue to advocate for ongoing funding so that Californians can continue to receive legal assistance and support.

A message from Sandra Levin, Executive Director, LA Law Library

California Senate Budget Subcommittee Hears Testimony on Funding Crisis for County Law Libraries

On April 19, 2018, I was honored to testify before Senate Budget Subcommittee #5 in support of a budget appropriation for California county public law libraries. After my testimony, twelve other county law librarians and other impassioned speakers also presented their comments in support of adequate funding for County Law Libraries.

Upon completion of the public testimony, the two subcommittee members present both expressed support for county law libraries and a desire to further investigate both one-time and ongoing funding.

[Click on image for Video] Skip to 3:22:00 for the portion of the hearing discussing California county law libraries.

Please support

You can add your support to the county law libraries' request for funding by writing Governor Brown and the State Senators and Assemblymembers on the respective budget committees and asking for supplemental funding for County Law Libraries. (On the lists below, Los Angeles County legislators appear in bold type.)

Senate Budget Committee:
Holly J. Mitchell (Chair), Jim Nielsen (Vice Chair), Joel Anderson, Jim Beall, Steven M. Glazer, Hannah-Beth Jackson, Mike McGuire, Bill Monning, John M. W. Moorlach, Richard Pan, Anthony J. Portantino, Richard D. Roth, Nancy Skinner, Henry I. Stern, Jeff Stone, Bob Wieckowski, Scott Wilk

Assembly Budget Committee:
Philip Y. Ting (Chair), Jay Obernolte (Vice Chair), Dr. Joaquin Arambula, Richard Bloom, William P. Brough, Anna M. Caballero, Rocky J. Chávez, David Chiu, Steven S. Choi, PhD., Jim Cooper, Vince Fong, Cristina Garcia, Matthew Harper, Reginald Byron Jones-Sawyer, Sr., Tom Lackey, Monique Limón, Devon J. Mathis, Kevin McCarty, Jose Medina, Melissa A. Melendez, Kevin Mullin, Al Muratsuchi, Patrick O'Donnell, Jim Patterson, Blanca E. Rubio, Mark Stone, Randy Voepel, Shirley N. Weber, Jim Wood

A video of Thursday's hearing is available at the California Senate Media Archive

• http://senate.ca.gov/media-archive
• Select / look for 04/19/2018
• Select "Senate Budget Subcommittee #5"
• Skip to 3:22:00 for the portion of the hearing discussing California county law libraries.

The following is a transcript of Ms. Levin's testimony.

Madam Chair and Senators, thank you for this opportunity to talk to you about access to justice in California!

I'm Sandi Levin, Executive Director of the LACLL

127 years ago California showed foresight and leadership by being the first state in the country to prioritize free public access to the law by establishing County Law libraries. Most of the country followed suit.

Unfortunately, though, California's commitment to that ideal has waned in the last decade.

For 127 years, we have been funded by civil filing fee revenue. But, with the adoption of the Uniform Civil Filing Fee Act the state eliminated any local control over those revenues as of 2008. However, the Legislature also established a task force on civil filing fees, which found:

"Without immediate consideration of a filing fee increase or identification of alternative revenue sources, law libraries will not be able to fund their increased operating costs in 2008."

A decade has gone by and we have not received any filing fee increase or any alternative revenue source.

In fact, our funding has DECREASED by 40% since then - with more people going to ADR, more people getting fee waivers and the expansion of small claims court jurisdiction, filing fees for CLLs have plummeted.

This is a problem. This is a problem in the lives of your constituents. Probably the best way to make this point would be to tell you some of our patrons' stories, but I want to respect the time limits.

So let me just say that a half a million times each year someone walks into a county law library in California with their own unique, often desperate, story. Half a million times.

• People fighting for the safety of their children or grandchildren;
• People panicking because the order evicting them was the first time they even heard about a lawsuit;
• People fending for themselves without counsel in deportation proceedings against experienced government attorneys;
• People trying to start a business or transfer real property or collect on their insurance;
• People grieving over the death of a loved one who they can't lay to rest because there are legal technicalities they don't understand;
• People appearing time after time after time in court only to be sent away because they don't understand the process;
• People who just need a little bit of help and support to find their way

We do our best to help them. Those of us who are still managing to keep our doors open do our best --
despite having lost almost 40% of our funding;
despite shortened hours and closed branches
despite working with out of date materials
despite short staffing and roof leaks and old equipment and every other challenge you can think of.

We do our best.

We're asking you to do your best to make sure County Law Libraries stay open for all Californians.

It doesn't cost a lot. You don't have to hire attorneys for everyone. You don't have to build a whole new infrastructure. You don't have to invent new programs.

We're already here and we're ready to do the work.

We're asking for $16.5 million dollars to be shared among all the County Law Libraries across the state -- to ensure that Californians have access to information and access to justice.

Thank you for your time and attention.

We look forward to seeing you in the law library.

Sandi