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As the year draws to a
close, we want to take time to thank
you for all your help for legal aid during this past, very difficult
year.
Yesterday Connecticut’s legislature passed state
budget amendments that help close the state’s
budget gap. Your voice was heard: legal aid funding
did not suffer new cuts.
We will have to continue the fight to preserve legal
services funding from court filing fees and help the
Judicial branch find a way to release the $1.5 million
the legislature appropriated for legal services.
In the meantime: legal aid is still in business. Even
in this holiday season, we continue to take new cases for people needing help to avoid eviction, obtain emergency
food, financial or medical assistance, or find safety
from domestic violence.
And just last Friday,
the legal aid network succeeded in protecting health
care for thousands of people in
the state. As part of earlier state budget cuts, the
state had decided to eliminate medical coverage for
people legally in the U.S. but not yet citizens. Greater
Hartford Legal Aid, with the support of other legal
aid providers, sued on behalf of the class of people
losing health coverage, and after several weeks of
intense effort succeeded in obtaining a final judgment
ordering the state to restore the program.
The lawsuit, brought by East Haven resident Hong Pham
on behalf of herself and approximately 4,800 others
like her, alleged that Public Act 09-5 violated the
equal protection guarantees of the Connecticut and
the United States constitutions. Judge Grant Miller
agreed and permanently enjoined the Department of Social
Services from implementing the challenged provisions
of Public Act 09-5.
Thank you for the ongoing support that allow our network
to help many thousands of people each year, in cases
both big and small!
Sincerely,
Steve Eppler-Epstein
Connecticut Legal Services
Patricia Kaplan
New Haven Legal Assistance Association
Elam Lantz
Greater Hartford Legal Aid
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