Conferees completed their work on the FY2010 Commerce-Justice-Science ("CJS") appropriations bill. It will be included in an omnibus spending measure, along with the rest of the unfinished appropriations bills except Defense. The CJS measure appropriates funds for the Legal Services Corporation (LSC).

LSC funded organizations are prohibited from engaging in activities such as class-action lawsuits and legislative and executive branch advocacy, even when the work is funded by state, local or private funds. OMB Watch has been consistently calling for the removal of these advocacy-related restrictions on grantees' non-federal funds. The House and Senate both passed their versions of the FY2010 CJS bill, but only the Senate language repealed the LSC restrictions on non-federal funds.

The House-Senate Conference Committee released its report on the omnibus, adopting the House language which only removes the restriction on LSC grantees receiving court-ordered attorney's fees (with both their LSC and non-LSC funds). According to the Joint Explanatory Statement; "The conferees believe that this action will level the playing field between legal aid attorneys and their counterparts in the private sector and provide a potentially crucial source of additional revenue to legal aid providers."

Unfortunately, the conference should have adopted the Senate's language repealing most of the prohibitions on LSC grantees' use of non-federal funds. The Civil Access to Justice Act, now pending in both the House and Senate would end the restrictions on the use of non-federal funds, except those related to abortion litigation. Perhaps with some support in the Senate and the administration (the president's budget request included the removal of the restrictions on non-LSC funds and class actions), this bill may prove favorable.

The report includes 420 million in funding for LSC, a 30 million increase over last year. Undoubtedly, the increased funding level is helpful, considering the increased need for legal support. The conferees seemed to split the House and Senate bill's funding levels. The House bill included 440 million and the Senate included 400 million.