Greenberg Statement on Newly Elected Southern Negro Legislators; Suggested Areas for Legislative Reform to Protect the Indigent - Welfare Laws

    President 
Hon. Francis E. Rivers 

PRESS RELEASE Tisessar-Comnea 

egal efense und Jack Greenberg 
Director, Public Relations 

NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND, INC. "Tea DeVore Je 

10 Columbus Circle, New York, N.Y. 10019 * JUdson 6-8397 NIGHT NUMBER 212-749-8487 

Remarks of Jack Greenberg, Director-Counsel, 
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. 
Biarritz Room, Americana Hotel, May 17, 11 a.m. 

On the 13th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's historic 

school integration ruling, we are announcing a new legal service which 

is a direct outgrowth of a series of social and political forces set 

loose in this country by that ruling. 

Our attorneys will be conferring during the next two days with 17 

newly elected southern Negro legislators who are here to attend the 

fourth annual Convocation of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational 

Fund, Inc. (LDF). The Convocation celebrates the Supreme Court's 

school integration decision, 

We are establishing a legislative drafting service--something that 

has never been done before for local Negro legislators in the South, 

This conference between civil rights and poverty lawyers and 

southern Negro legislators is also the first of its kind. 

We will produce model proposals and legal research on which legis- 

lators with civil rights and poverty law concerns can rely. 

The LDF and its affiliate, the National Office for the Rights of 

the Indigent, are uniquely equipped to perform this service because of 

our specialization in civil rights and poverty law in which we have a 

close working association with some of the nation's most distinguished 

legal scholars. 

The legislators who are here today do not have the time, research 

resources, or legal background to produce all of the legislation sorely 

needed by their constituents, white and Negro, in the areas of civil 

rights and poverty. 

We have undertaken this service because there are more Negro legis~ 

lators in office in the hard-core South than at any time since the 

Reconstruction period, and because legislators generally have growing 

concern with the problems that the service will deal with, 

We attach a copy of our agenda for this meeting to indicate the 

areas of our discussion, 

a 



xRING IN 

18, 1967 
NEWLY ELECTED SOUTHERN NEGRO LEGISLATORS CO: 
NEW YORK CITY WITH LDF ATTORNEYS, MAY 17 AN 

State Legislature of Alabama 

Reverend Fred D. Gray*, Montgomery (Montgomery County) 

General Assembly of Georgia 

Hon. William Alexander, Atlanta (Fulton County) 

Hon. Benjamin Brown, Atlanta (Fulton County) 

Hon, J. C. Daugherty, Atlanta (Fulton County) 

Hon. ‘Richard Dent, Augusta (Richmond County) 

Reverend J. D. Grier, Atlanta (Fulton County) 

Hon. Grace T. Hamilton, Atlanta (Fulton County) 

Hon. John Hood, Atlanta (Fulton) 

Hon. Albert Thompson, Columbus (Chattahoochee County) 

Senator Horace T. Ward, Atlanta (Fulton County), Ga. 

General Assembly of Tennessee 

Hon, Robert J. Booker, Nashville (Davidson County) 

Hon. John O. Patterson, Memphis (Shelby County) 

Hon. Russell Sugarmon, Memphis (Shelby County) 

Hon. A. W, Willis, Memphis (Shelby County) 

State Legislature of Texas 

Hon. Curtis Graves, Austin (Travis County) 

Sheriff Lucius B. Amerson, Macon County, Alabama 

Mr. Vernon Jordan, Voter Education Project, Southern Regional Council, 
= Atlanta, Ga. 



SUGGESTED AREAS FOR LEGISLATIVE REFORM TO PROTECT THE INDIGENT 

WELFARE LAWS 

1, Eligibility 

Model legislation would make it clear that the 

prime criterion recipients must have is continuing financial 

need, Under such a statute, all the following practices 

which now exist in many states would be’ prohibited: 

a. Aid would not be cut off to a woman with children 
who has a social relationship with a man, without 
a showing that the man was actually providing the 
necessary support for the family. 

Persons would not be dropped from welfare rolls 
when they secure part-time employment, but the 
state would simply cut the aid proportionately. 

There would be no provisions for a "maximum 
grant." Grants would increase as the size of 
the family increased. 

2. Residence Requirements 

The provisions in state laws requiring residence 

within the state or county for periods up to a year, work a 

hardship on persons with actual financial needs who have not 

satisfied these requirements, Residence requirements were 

originally designed to discourage an excessive number of indigents 

from coming into the state, Studies have shown, however, that 

persons rarely travel from one state to another simply to get 

on welfare, The requirements that one be resident of a given 

county works a particular hardship on migrant workers who 

move from one county to another in order to earn a living, 

3. Rehabilitation 

Provisions could be made for job training of persons 

who were employable. One could also set up day-care centers 

for mothers on welfare so that they could avail themselves of 

these training programs. You would staff the day-care centers 

with other mothers who are on welfare 



PUBLIC HOUSING 

Persons who are to be evicted from public housing 

should be given a notice of the charges against them and some 

form of administrative review for them to object. Legislation 

could also state that those matters which are unrelated to the 

financial need of the tenant for low-rent public housing, and 

which would not be the basis to evict a tenant from private 

housing, should not be used by a public housing authority to 

decide who is a suitable tenant. This would, for example, 

prohibit a public housing authority from refusing admission 

to a woman because she has an illegitimate child, Legisla- 

tion could also require the housing authority to establish 

orderly procecures for handling applications and require 

that applicants be apprised periodicallly of the status of 

their applications. 

SLUM HOUSING 

At present, only large cities in the South have 

housing code ordinances, Model legislation could be drafted 

to provide for state-wide minimum housing standards, Indigent 

tenants could also be afforded private remedies against land- 

lords who refuse to comply with minimum housing standards 

such as, permitting rent abatement or rent withholding under 

court supervision, 

THE INDIGENT AS CONSUMER 

1. Garnishment 

Many states permit a creditor to gazrish an employee's 

wages before proving that the employee actually has a debt 

owed to the creditor, Legislation could Prohibit this practice, 

Also a portion of the employee's wages could be made exempt from 

garnishment so that he is lef: with enough income to meet the 

bare necessities, Emplovers cculd also be prohibited from 



SUGGESTED AREAS FOR LEGISLATIVE REFORM 
OF THE CRIMINAL PROCESS 

following subjects in the criminal law are especially suit- 

legislative reform: 

Antiquated state bail practices which continue the incar= 

ceration of persons solely because of their poverty are in need of 

change. The Federal Bail Act may provide a useful model, 

2. 

Vague prohibitions of vagrancy, delinquency, etc., provide 

standardless discretion to the police to harass the poor and minority 

group members. These statutes are mainly a holdover from an eariler 

day. Repeal or modification seems called for. 

3. Juvenile Delinquency 

To what extent do juvenile court acts provide for procedurzi 

rights to an accused juvenile? These laws can be amended to specifi-~ 

cally provide safeguards. 

4. Right To Counsel 

In many areas appointed counsel is the only representation 

the poor have available. To what extent are standards for compensa- 

tion for these attorneys outmoded? Are advisory services such as 

investigators, etc., provided for. 

5. Compentency To Stand Trial 

Practice in many states permits a judge to send an accused 

to jail for many years without trial simply because he is found 

incompetent to stand trial even though he and his attorney are 

willing to face criminal charges, legislative reform is urgently 

needed of the procedures involved here.