Empire Justice IDs key issues for 2012

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One of Empire Justice Center‘s top issues of 2012 received Gov. Andrew Cuomo‘s support when, in his state of the state address earlier this month, the governor announced he wanted to stop the practice of fingerprinting those who apply for food stamps.

“I understand fraud detection. I understand fingerprinting. But don’t make a child go to bed hungry because your government wants to come up with a fraud program that requires fingerprinting,” Cuomo said.

“He said he’s intending to stop the practice, but we don’t know if that will be done by executive order or what,” said Empire Justice Center’s Director of Policy Advocacy Kristin Brown Lilley in Albany.

The fate of other issues Empire Justice Center is committed to tackling in 2012 is even less certain. Foreclosure prevention assistance, and ensuring transparency in the foreclosure process, is at the top of the center’s list here in Rochester.

As Lilley and Empire Justice Center senior attorney Rebecca Case-Grammatico explained, it will take a significant funding level to keep foreclosure assistance programs running. They are working to obtain passage of a bill by Assembly member Helene E. Weinstein and Sen. Jeffrey Klein to resolve the problem of a wrongful party bringing a foreclosure action against a homeowner.

“The lack of clarity and certainty not only presents an injustice for the homeowner, but it is problematic for courts,” wrote Empire Justice attorney Kirsten E. Keefe in support of the bill that would require validation of the plaintiff’s ownership interest with a foreclosure filing.

“We came close last year (the bill passed in the Assembly) and the sponsors are committed to it,” said Lilley, who does some of Empire’s lobbying work.

Empire Justice attorneys Case-Grammatico, Ruhi Maker, Trilby DeJung and Mike Hanley help Lilley with the job of identifying key issues the nonprofit wants to address in the coming year.

“I will tell you that it was very difficult to choose these … issues,” Lilley said of the 2012 agenda plan that began in the summer. “We try to identify things that are achievable and have a positive impact on our clients.

“For Rochester, lead paint poisoning prevention is near and dear to people’s hearts,” Lilley said. “We’re hoping to work with the governor on legislation to have testing done on lead in homes to make sure people aren’t living in homes with lead. You have to assume there is lead in the paint in homes built before 1978.”

Hanley said Empire Justice wants the state to adopt a policy that ensures assisted housing tenants receive inspection. There needs to be some mechanism in place to see that taxpayer money isn’t used to provide housing assistance in apartment buildings with lead poison, he explained.

Although there is no proposed legislation yet (a bill was vetoed by former Gov. David Paterson) Hanley said he is hopeful it can be done administratively by agencies such as the Department of Health or the Office of Children and Family Services, or a combination of agencies.

Rochester is second in the Department of Health’s identification of 15 areas of the state with high levels of lead poisoning, Hanley said.

Another key issue Lilley identified for Rochester is continued state support of the Disability Advocacy Program.

“This is a state program that has been in existence for many years and makes money for the state,” Lilley said. “It’s a critical piece for people who have been denied federal disability benefits to stabilize their income.”

Through the DAP program, Empire Justice advocates provide low-income disabled persons with legal assistance when their federal Supplemental Security Income or Social Security Disability applications have been denied or their benefits terminated.

For a complete list of Empire Justice Center’s 2012 agenda, go to www.empirejustice.org.