2025 Joint Legislative Budget Hearing On Public Protection
The New York Legal Services Coalition
Thank you, Chair Krueger, Chair Pretlow and honorable members of the legislature, for the opportunity to submit this testimony to the Joint Legislative Budget Hearing on Public Protection. I am Sal Curran, the Executive Director of Volunteer Lawyers Project of Central New York and the Co-Chair of the Policy & Advocacy Committee of the New York Legal Services Coalition (NYLSC), which represents civil legal services providers and their clients. Collectively, NYLSC members provide representation to low-income New Yorkers in each region of the state in the areas of family law, domestic violence, immigration, housing, public benefits, consumer issues, elder law, and LGBTQIA + rights.
Brooklyn Legal Services Corporation A
Thank you for the opportunity to submit this written testimony to the Joint Legislative Budget Hearing on Public Protection. My name is Jessica Rose, Esq., and I am the Executive Director of Brooklyn Legal Services Corporation A (Brooklyn A). Brooklyn A is a member of the New York Legal Services Coalition (NYLSC), which represents civil legal services providers and their clients— I serve as the Co-Vice President and the Legislative Steering Committee Co-Chair. Collectively, NYLSC members provide representation to low-income New Yorkers in each region of the state in the areas of family law, domestic violence, immigration, housing, public benefits, consumer issues, elder law, and LGBTQIA + rights. Brooklyn A serves low- and moderate-income clients throughout the five boroughs of New York City with services for tenants, homeowners, small business owners, community nonprofits, taxpayers, survivors of domestic violence, and more. In fiscal year 2024, we served more than 8,000 New Yorkers across our many programs.
Center for Elder Law & Justice
Thank you, Chair Krueger, and Chair Pretlow, for the opportunity to submit this testimony to the Joint Legislative Budget Hearing on Public Protection. The Center for Elder Law & Justice (“CELJ”) has been serving the Western New York region for over 40 years, providing free civil legal services to older adults, persons with disabilities, and low- income families. CELJ’s primary goal is to use the legal system to ensure that individuals may live independently and with dignity. CELJ also advocates for policy and systems change, particularly in the areas of health care access, housing, elder abuse prevention, nursing home reform, and consumer protection. Currently CELJ provides full legal representation in ten counties of Western New York. CELJ’s Free Senior Legal Advice Helpline is open to all New York State. CELJ operates a central office in downtown Buffalo, with three additional offices in Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, and Niagara counties.
Empire Justice Center
Thank you for the opportunity to testify on this year’s Executive Budget. My name is Kristin Brown and I am President and CEO of Empire Justice Center. I am also president of the New York Legal Services Coalition; the Coalition consists of nearly 50 member organizations providing essential civil legal services to low-income and disadvantaged individuals throughout New York State. I also serve as a member of the New York State Unified Court System’s Permanent Commission on Access to Justice.
Empire Justice Center is a statewide, multi-issue, multi-strategy not-for-profit civil legal aid provider focused on changing the complex systems impacting low income and marginalized New Yorkers. With a focus on poverty law, Empire Justice takes a 360-degree approach to the areas of law we practice in, providing individual legal representation, policy research and analysis, training and technical assistance as well as impact litigation.
New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, Inc.
Thank you Chair Krueger, Chair Pretlow, and members of the committees for the opportunity to submit testimony to the Joint Legislative Budget Hearing on Public Protection. Since New York Lawyers for the Public Interest (NYLPI) was established nearly 50 years ago, we have advocated on behalf of marginalized and disadvantaged communities across New York City and State including individuals with disabilities, immigrant New Yorkers with serious health conditions, and residents of environmental justice communities bearing the greatest burdens of pollution and the climate crisis. Our client communities are routinely harmed by current systems of policing, immigration enforcement, incarceration and by lack of access to legal representation, and health care including mental health services.
We offer the following recommendations on how the FY2025-2026 budget can best address issues of public protection: