State Basic Access Act (CA)
The California Model Statute Task Force was
established by the California Access to Justice Commission in 2004. The
Task Force was charged with considering the questions that would arise in
legislatively granting a right to counsel in civil cases. The Task Force
has now drafted two versions of such a model statute. The "State Equal Justice
Act," distributed in November 2006, is a model statute implementing an across
the board right to counsel in civil cases with only narrow exceptions.
The "State Basic Access Act," distributed in March 2008, is a model for a
narrower right to counsel which attaches only to certain high priority basic
needs, defined in the Act as shelter, sustenance, safety, health, and child
custody. In each case, the Task Force's mission was to think through the
numerous questions involved in implementing a right to counsel, including scope
of the right, eligibility criteria and issues, service delivery system, and
administration of the new right. This draft represents the group's
resolution of these and other issues and is intended as a starting point for
use in any state considering implementation or expansion of a statutory right
to counsel. The composition and work of the Task Force is described in
some detail in "The California Model Statute Task Force," 40 Clearinghouse
Review 176 (July-August 2006).
Please contact Clare Pastore, Task Force
Co-Chair, at cpastore@law.usc.edu
with any questions or comments.
