LB1265 LB1265
2024 2024
LEGISLATURE OF NEBRASKA
ONE HUNDRED EIGHTH LEGISLATURE
SECOND SESSION
LEGISLATIVE BILL 1265
Introduced by Conrad, 46.
Read first time January 16, 2024
Committee: Judiciary
1 A BILL FOR AN ACT relating to civil legal services for low-income
2 persons; to amend sections 25-3003 and 25-3004, Reissue Revised
3 Statutes of Nebraska; to change provisions relating to certain
4 grants for providers of free civil legal services; to harmonize
5 provisions; and to repeal the original sections.
6 Be it enacted by the people of the State of Nebraska,
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LB1265 LB1265
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1 Section 1. Section 25-3003, Reissue Revised Statutes of Nebraska, is
2 amended to read:
3 25-3003 (1) The Commission on Public Advocacy shall establish
4 eligibility criteria and guidelines to determine on an annual basis (a)
5 the service areas, (b) the legal services to be provided and the
6 priorities for providing the services, which shall be determined in
7 accordance with subsection (1) of section 25-3004, and (c) the service
8 provider or providers for each service area. The commission shall
9 annually certify one or more service providers for each service area. A
10 single service provider may be certified for more than one service area.
11 Such certification entitles the service provider to a distribution of
12 funds as defined and determined by section 25-3004.
13 (2) The commission shall accept applications for certification on an
14 annual basis from entities interested in providing free civil legal
15 services to eligible low-income persons. In the application, each
16 applicant shall certify to the commission that the applicant intends to
17 provide free civil legal services to eligible low-income persons as
18 determined by the commission.
19 Sec. 2. Section 25-3004, Reissue Revised Statutes of Nebraska, is
20 amended to read:
21 25-3004 (1) Each service provider certified by the Commission on
22 Public Advocacy shall be eligible to receive funds from the Legal Aid and
23 Services Fund to provide free civil legal services to eligible low-income
24 persons in the service area for which it is certified. The funds granted
25 to each service provider from the Legal Aid and Services Fund shall be
26 determined by the commission as follows: .
27 (a) The first one million five hundred thousand dollars of grants
28 shall be awarded to statewide legal service providers that provide direct
29 free civil legal services relating to housing; and
30 (b) Any remaining grant funds shall be awarded to service providers
31 that provide any other type of free civil legal services.
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1 (2) Each service provider is authorized to use funds received from
2 the Legal Aid and Services Fund to provide legal services in civil
3 matters to any eligible low-income person.
4 (3) A service provider which has received funds from the Legal Aid
5 and Services Fund shall be audited annually.
6 Sec. 3. Original sections 25-3003 and 25-3004, Reissue Revised
7 Statutes of Nebraska, are repealed.
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Statutes affected: Introduced: 25-3003, 25-3004