Poverty & Public Benefits
DENVER LEGAL NIGHT
Since 2006, the Colorado Lawyers Committee has sponsored two monthly Legal Night clinics to provide legal information and referrals for individuals and families who can’t afford legal services. In pre-COVID days, clinics were held at Centro San Juan Diego, and clients were served on a first-come, first-served basis. Issues generally include immigration, criminal, family, consumer, and housing matters; volunteer interpreters are available to assist when needed. The Lawyers Committee co-sponsored a training on the ethics of pro bono service, designed to allow volunteers to become better equipped to help individuals at Legal Night. In 2020, in response to the pandemic, Denver Legal Night switched from in-person to a virtual clinic. Instead of meeting at Centro San Juan Diego, volunteer lawyers consult with clients over the phone to help determine significant legal issues, refer individuals to legal services, and answer other questions about the legal process. In July 2022, Legal Night returned to an in-person clinic at Centro San Juan Diego. Since Denver Legal Night began, more than 30,880 individuals have been served! In 2021, 438 volunteers assisted almost 1,000 clients.
JOINT ID TASK FORCE
There are major barriers in Colorado to obtaining a state-issued identification card (ID), particularly for those with limited resources. Since 2006, the Colorado Lawyers Committee has worked to address the barriers facing homeless and other individuals in obtaining Colorado IDs, without which they are unable to secure housing, employment, and other critical services. In early 2013, at the request of the Lawyers Committee, Governor Hickenlooper’s office created a Joint ID Task Force. Participants include representatives from the ID Collaboration Project (housed at Colorado Legal Services), at least six staff from the Department of Revenue (DOR) (including the Executive Directors and Deputy Directors of DOR and the Division of Motor Vehicles), and the Executive Director of the Lawyers Committee. Individuals from the Department of Corrections, the American Immigration Lawyers Association, One Colorado, the ACLU, and other organizations are invited, as appropriate, to attend quarterly meetings where individual issues and systemic barriers to obtaining IDs are discussed. Over the years, the Task Force has successfully addressed and resolved barriers to obtaining IDs. Most recently, the Task Force supported efforts by the DOR to modify its regulations to permit the issuance of IDs and licenses with a gender-neutral designation (e.g., Male, Female, and X) and to create a mobile ID unit (aka DMV2Go) which allows individuals who are not mobile (e.g., in nursing homes, rehab centers, etc.) to obtain their ID or license.
VIRTUAL PRO SE CLINIC
CLC is partnering with the Virtual Pro Se Clinic (VPC), a Colorado pro bono program that delivers free monthly virtual legal clinics at public libraries for Coloradans who do not have an attorney. Volunteer attorneys spend 15-20 minutes meeting virtually with clinic patrons to answer questions and explain court procedures and processes in all areas of Colorado civil law. Now in its eleventh year, the VPC program supports monthly free legal clinics at 87 local libraries in 46 Colorado counties (37 rural & 9 urban). Speaking one-on-one with a knowledgeable volunteer attorney can make an enormous difference to pro se litigants by expanding access to legal support for underserved communities.
PROJECT HOMELESS CONNECT
This annual one-day event, sponsored by the City of Denver, connects homeless individuals to services, including public benefits, medical care, housing and employment opportunities and legal assistance. Volunteers provide legal information and referrals to homeless participants, and represent individuals with outstanding municipal warrants before a Denver County Court judge in Homeless Court.
FEDERAL PRO SE CLINIC
In early 2018, the Judges in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado approved a two-year pilot program to create a clinic for pro se litigants in the federal courthouse. The Lawyers Committee was involved in the planning of the clinic for over a year. The Clinic is operated by the Colorado Bar Association and opened its doors in 2018. The Executive Director of the Colorado Lawyers Committee serves on the Clinic’s Advisory Board. Because of the program’s success, the Court in 2019 agreed to permanently continue providing the clinic for federal pro se litigants. In its second year, the clinic saw 50% more litigants and held more than double the number of appointments than in the first year. The program was recently expanded to include a bankruptcy clinic which provides experienced attorneys to help pro se litigants filing for Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Colorado.
HEALTH JUSTICE TASK FORCE
During 2021, the Lawyers Committee joined with the Colorado Center on Law and Policy, Mental Health Colorado and lawyers from Polsinelli PC (Ryan Thurber and Brag Hemme) to explore what appears to be a significant lack of parity in benefit coverage available for mental and physical health for Colorado Medicaid beneficiaries. Both federal and state law require mental health and substance use disorder treatment to be covered in “parity” with treatment for physical health conditions (as further defined by these laws). Failure to comply with parity requirements can have significant repercussions for Medicaid beneficiaries, including inadequate access to care, treatment delays, beneficiary and provider frustration, and negative health outcomes. The team is now preparing CORA requests to collect information to better understand how the State of Colorado is managing its parity obligations, and whether potential challenges may be appropriate.
Poverty and Public Benefits historical HIGHLIGHTS
Poverty
2003
CLC volunteers educate Center, Colorado residents on the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), to counter the chilling effect on the community of an IRS raid to seize 190 tax returns where the EITC is claimed.
2003
The State Finance Task Force studies TABOR and related fiscal restraints and recommends the CLC Committee endorse two 2006 state ballot issues to avert a fiscal crisis in Colorado (Referenda C and D) and assure continued funding of essential State programs.
1991
The Family Futures Task Force, in partnership with the Legal Aid Society of Metro Denver and 19 other community organizations, helps 100 single-parent families in Northeast Denver get off welfare and become self-sufficient.
Public Benefits
2015
CLC challenges the State’s failure to provide continuing benefits (Medicaid, Food Stamps, etc.), when a timely appeal is filed, as required by federal law. The task force’s efforts result in significant changes in State procedures, guaranteeing due process for benefit recipients.
2011
CLC challenges the State’s reduction of Medicaid benefits for more than 1,000 developmentally disabled individuals, with inadequate notice and limited appeal rights to the benefit recipients. The State agrees to clarify the criteria for determining benefit levels and creates a process for assuring community input into future decisions to safeguard benefit recipients’ rights.
2008
CLC challenges the delay in processing Food Stamp applications in certain Colorado counties. As a result, Denver County completely overhauls its procedures for processing food stamp applications, and improves its compliance rate with federally mandated timelines from 60% to over 90%.
2004
Hawthorne-Bey v. Reinertson challenges the failure of the State’s newly implemented Colorado Benefits Management System (CBMS) which improperly denies or delays essential public benefits to tens of thousands of individuals and families. The parties eventually settle the lawsuit and volunteers continue to monitor the State’s progress until the State fully complies in 2017.
2003
CLC successfully challenges improper reductions in Colorado Medicaid payments to pediatricians, with the result that children have access to a primary care physician and a “medical home.”
2000
Volunteer lawyers negotiate a $17.2 million settlement (Tatum v. Rizzuto) on behalf of 44,000 families inadvertently denied Medicaid benefits from 1997 to 2000. The lawsuit results from a computer-generated problem that left many children without medical care.
1998
Volunteers represent welfare recipients (Weston v. Hammons) whose benefits were terminated or reduced without proper notice; in a landmark decision, $2.1 million was restored to 1,600 families.
1997
The Welfare Reform Task Force conducts fact finding to assess the impact of the new federal legislation on existing welfare agencies and programs and monitors the enactment of the Colorado Works Program, including providing legislators with neutral principles to guide the implementation of welfare reform in Colorado.
Health Care
2001
CLC explores indigent health care and the decreasing availability of non-emergency medical services for the uninsured.
1996
CLC advocates to maximize the benefit to the public from the conversion of Colorado Blue Cross and Blue Shield from a nonprofit to a for-profit corporation. Subsequent proceedings establish that the Colorado Insurance Commissioner may award attorneys’ fees to pro bono counsel who create or increase a fund for the common good (Hawes v. Colorado Division of Insurance).
1979
Bowie v. Denver General Hospital challenges the billing and collection practices of Denver General Hospital; the settlement requires the elimination of abusive collection tactics and reprogramming of the hospital’s computer system to incorporate a sliding fee scale for indigent patients.
Access to IDs
2014
CLC supports two bills that expand DMV’s ability to help individuals who don’t have access to standard documents needed to get IDs.
2013
At CLC’s request, Governor Hickenlooper’s office establishes the Joint ID Task Force (with CLC, CO Dept. of Revenue, Colorado Legal Services, and others) which continues to meet frequently to address systemic barriers to obtaining IDs.
2010
CLC supports HB10-006 which permits felons to change their names to get IDs (so they can access jobs & housing).
2008
25 volunteers represent individuals who can’t get IDs and spend 40 hours per client.
2006
Volunteers sue the DMV (Hill v. Cooke) to require due process and clear standards for obtaining ID’s and licenses.