JUSTICE WATCH : Last Resort

The effect of California’s lingering recession will be felt at every level of government again this year. Even worthy state and local programs face cutbacks as tight budgets get even tighter amid continuing decline in tax revenues. That means elected officials will be making some tough choices, like between spending on police or on libraries.

One unhappy trade-off is pending in Sacramento: The Legislature is being asked to raid a lawyers’ trust fund account that since 1981 has helped finance legal services for the poor. In the current fiscal year, that fund provided $22.7 million to 125 legal services agencies throughout the state, with L.A.-area funding going to respected agencies such as Public Counsel and the Los Angeles Legal Aid Foundation.

Assembly Bill 1095 would reallocate money from the legal services trust fund to pay for programs to help crime victims and to keep county probation camps open. Both are worthwhile goals. But there is no indication that the state victim’s compensation fund would go broke without more help from Sacramento. Last year the fund paid out $82 million; officials estimate it will pay out about $75 million this year. And other efforts are already under way in the Legislature to find the money needed to keep county probation camps open.

Legal services lawyers provide invaluable assistance to the poor, helping them in efforts like filing civil cases against slum landlords and fighting consumer fraud. A crucial safety net, these programs should be cut only as a last resort. AB 1095 should be defeated.