Legal Aid Funding 'Crucial' After Hurricanes, Florida Chief Justice Says

"Without Legal Services Corp. funding, many Floridians would have been left in the lurch after Hurricane Irma, the state’s chief justice and a Miami legal aid leader said Tuesday during a congressional briefing.

The Washington meeting came weeks after President Donald Trump released a budget calling for the elimination of funding for the national legal aid grant organization. Congress decided instead to keep the annual appropriation at $385 million.

That money, which is awarded via grants to groups with 800 offices around the country, was key to helping low-income Floridians file for federal assistance, resolve landlord-tenant issues, sue fraudulent contractors and deal with other pressing problems after the September storm, panelists said..."

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