OPLC Update Oct/Nov 2010

CONSUMER LAW

Linda Cook, Joe Maskovyak, Harold Williams (Cleveland Legal Aid) and Miriam Sheline (Pro Seniors) were consumer advocates invited to a roundtable table discussion with Elizabeth Warren when she made a surprise visit to Columbus on Oct. 14.  Professor Warren, Assistant to the President and Special Advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, was kicking off her “listening campaign,” soliciting input from consumer advocates about the problems facing consumers and asking for input on priority issues for the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

EDUCATION LAW

On Oct. 14, Sarah Biehl did a presentation at the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law Juvenile Law Symposium entitled Addressing School Pushout: A Model Code on Dignity and Every Child's Human Right to Education. The presentation focused on the work Sarah has done over the past year as a contributor to and primary editor of the Dignity in Schools Campaign and ABA Children's Rights Litigation Committee model school code project.  For more info on this or to find out how you can get involved, contact Sarah at sbiehl AT ohiopovertylaw.org

Biehl and OPLC summer intern Elbert Aull collected data from several Ohio counties on the rates at which students are referred to juvenile court for misbehaving in school. This phenomenon is a major contributor to the “school to prison pipeline,” but Ohio juvenile courts and school districts are doing a very spotty job of keeping track of when and under what circumstances it happens. We have very good data from Hamilton and Lucas counties, and great data from a couple of school districts, including Youngstown , but very incomplete or useless data from most other counties.  If you know that one or more of the counties you serve is keeping track of this and can help Sarah continue to collect this data, please contact her.

ELDER LAW

Chris Barley is working with the law firm of Chester , Wilcox and Saxbe and with attorney Richard Taps to provide an elder law training for legal services attorneys. The training is scheduled for Feb. 25 at the Fawcett Center in Columbus.

FAMILY LAW

Mike Smalz worked on the Supreme Court’s Advisory Committee on Children, Families and the Courts to guide and encourage the ODJSF to implement a new alternative/differential response model for handling child abuse, neglect and dependency cases in 15 new counties. As of Oct. 31, 25 counties had trained their staff, adopted new screening protocols, and taken other steps to implement alternative/differential response.

House Bill 167, which would provide protections for domestic violence victims in housing and employment (and is one of OPLC’s policy priorities) was on the legislative calendar for the Nov. lame duck session of the Ohio legislature. At a Nov. 10 hearing scheduled by Sen. Bill Seitz, Sarah Biehl gave testimony before the Senate Judiciary-Civil Justice Committee in support of the bill. Sarah, Mike and Joe continued to work with the bill’s sponsor to mitigate any amendments. The senate is unlikely to move on HB 167 during this lame duck session.

HEALTH/MEDICAID

Chris Barley and Gene King continued to monitor the status of hearing delays experienced by ODJFS’ Bureau of State Hearing. Barley and King met with the bureau’s new chief, Joel Lodge. As of this update, the situation is stagnant. No real improvement has been made despite the addition of staff members at the bureau.

Food and Nutrition Services (FNS) is requiring JFS to make a number of changes to its FA interim report form.  Chris and Bob Bonthius commented on the proposed changes in an attempt to make the form easier to understand and more complete.

Throughout July and August, Linda Cook worked with OHFA and the local legal aid programs to produce a series of trainings around the state for housing counselors. The trainings emphasized the need for counselors and attorneys to work together, and provided much needed information for housing counselors on the unauthorized practice of law. The Aug. 20 training was video-taped in two parts, here and here.

On Aug. 24, Linda was a presenter and the panel moderator at the Ohio Attorney General’s annual Save Our Homes Summit for the panel entitled “The Role of Save Our Homes in Mediation Advocacy.” The presentation was part of OPLC’s continuing efforts to advocate for the availability of foreclosure mediation in all 88 counties. To also further our efforts, Linda and Joe Maskovyak have been working with the Attorney General’s office and the Ohio Supreme Court, sharing survey information and targeting problem counties for intense attention from the Court and coordinated strategic efforts by OPLC and the local programs.

Joe Maskovyak gave a joint presentation on Oct. 20 at the Central Ohio Bed Bug Task Force (COBBTF) Annual Summit on the application of Ohio landlord law to the bed bug problem. He also became a member of the COBBTF this summer, as this problem is becoming increasingly significant.

Joe has been working with a group of advocates drawn from the Housing Justice Network (HJN) and the National Association of HUG Tenants (NAHT) to put together a series of recommendations on Civil Monetary Penalties to levy when a project based HUD landlord violates certain rights of their HUD tenants. The goal is to take the recommendations to HUD and to encourage HUD to implement them nationwide.

UTILITIES

Joe Maskovyak and Mike Smalz teamed with the OCC, Ellis Jacobs (ABLE), and Mike Waters (Pro Seniors) to negotiate and clarify various improvements to TracFone’s Safelink Wireless Lifeline program including an expansion of free minutes from 68 to 250 per month, the reduction of the cost of subsequent calls from 20 cents to 10 cents per minute and not counting service calls or 911 calls in the 250-minute cap on free calls. Smalz was quoted in two Columbus Dispatch articles that put added pressure on TracFone to expand and improve its Lifeline services.

Joe, Mike, OCC, Ohio Partners for Affordable Energy and other consumer parties filed a motion to expand income eligibility in the existing Columbia Gas fuel fund assistance program from 175%-200% of the federal poverty lever to 0-200% of the federal poverty level.

Joe attended multiple meetings of the Columbus Sewer and Water Advisory Board (SWAB), which ultimately, in  a unanimous vote, recommended increases for 2011. SWAB asked the public utilities department to see if there was any way to reduce the forecasted rate increases prior to the its last meeting, when a vote was scheduled. The department responded by making decreases in the rate forecasts, which were approved.

Joe worked with Ohio Consumer & Environmental Advocates drafting a set of due process principles to present to the PUCO and its staff to help level the playing field when working on electric utility rate cases, which were significantly changed in 2009, when SB 221 (electric “reregulation”) was passed into law.

PRISONER REENTRY

In October, Melissa Lindsay appeared on All Sides with Ann Fisher on WOSU (820 AM).  Melissa promoted the Employer Awareness Workshop Series, the Franklin County Reentry Clinics, and a Ban the Box initiative getting started in Columbus.  Ban the Box is a nationwide local movement urging government employers to remove the "have you ever been convicted of a felony?" question from the application and to only consider criminal background information once an individual is seriously being considered for employment. Also in October, Melissa was named Chair of the Employment and Education Subcommitee of the Franklin County Reentry Task Force.

In October, Melissa and an outstanding planning committee held an Employer Awareness Workshop in Columbus. The Workshop covered Title VII liability, negligent hiring suits, background checks, and other reentry information.  The workshop was well attended by a variety of employers and human resources personnel.  Melissa is currently working with organizations in Wayne County and Cleveland to put on similar Workshops. If you are interested in hosting an Employer Awareness Workshop, please email Melissa at mlindsay@ohiopovertylaw.org or by phone at 614-221-7201.