Panel advances change to civil legal aid fund formula, would shift to grant process

A Judiciary committee meeting on an amended Senate Bill 222 moved forward on a 10-0 recommit vote after proponents from legal aid organizations and the Indiana Bar Foundation told the committee the bill would modernize how the state allocates civil legal aid dollars.

The bill, as amended, would remove a county-presence formula enacted in 1997 from the civil legal aid statute and allow funds to be distributed through a competitive grant process administered collaboratively with the Indiana Supreme Court, supporters said. Senator Crossbow, sponsor of the amendment, told the committee the intent is to preserve limited civil legal aid dollars for services "like staying in their homes, obtaining for our veterans their benefits, guardianships," and to prevent the funds being used "to initiate or participate in the invalidation of the state statute."

The change would not increase the total amount of funding;…