Documents

“Minutes of the 6-1-11 Board Meeting 1. Approval of the proposed agenda The agenda was approved on a unanimous vote. 2. Approval of the last meeting minutes Minutes of the 2-17-11 meeting were approved by a unanimous vote. 3. Director’s Report Kevin’s report was accepted by the Board. 4. Litigation Committee Report Grace reported on pending litigation. 5. Legislative Report Kevin reported on the status of the over 25 bills that CCWRO is working on and the three bills that they have sponsored. 6. Fiscal Report Kevin presented the fiscal report and explained the report. Kevin pointed out that CCWRO is able to meet its needs and is not in the red. New issues 7. Discussion of potential new Board of Directors member Chris Douglas (resume attached). ACTION ITEM: On a motion that was duly seconded Chris Douglas was seated on the Board by a unanimous vote. 8. Discussion of CCWRO staff travel On a duly made motion, which was seconded and approved on a unanimous vote the staff per diem was agreed to be $15 for breakfast, $20 for lunch and $25 for Dinner. Mileage would be at the federal rate which is 51\u00a2 at this time 9. Discussion of accounting costs and CCWRO doing shadow quarterly reports to determine feasibility of doing quarterly reports in house. The board authorized staff to access if staff can do the quarterly reports in-house. This motion was duly seconded and was approved on a unanimous vote. 10. Discussion of 2011 performance review committee. Vote on members of 2011 performance review committee. On a duly made motion which was duly seconded the Board approved on a unanimous vote adoption of a motion to establish a 2011 performance review committee with a progress report back to the Board at the next regularly scheduled meeting. The committee will be composed of volunteers from the Board of Directors. There shall be at least three members. 11. Discussion of Board training for 2011 – Kevin will check with the State Bar to determine if this is still necessary. 12. Discussion of priorities survey On a duly made motion which was duly seconded and was approved on a unanimous vote commanding staff to draft new priorities survey as soon as possible but in no less than one month, with said survey to be submitted to the Board for approval. 13. Discussion supervision of CCWRO legal staff and of CCWRO Litigation Committee On a motion that was duly seconded the board unanimously adopted the following: Whereas: The CCWRO Litigation Committee was created as a subcommittee of the CCWRO Board of Directors by Board Resolution approved the Board on ***. Whereas: The CCWRO Litigation Committee has been reviewing and supervising legal work performed by CCWRO staff. The CCWRO Board of Directors hereby amends the duties of the Litigation Committee as follows: 1.The CCWRO Litigation Committee shall continue to supervise the legal work performed by CCWRO staff. 2.Members of the CCWRO Litigation Committee shall only be lawyers. The CCWRO Litigation Committee shall ensure that only lawyers do supervision of legal work. 3.The Board of Directors acknowledges that the members of the Litigation Committee shall follow the duty of confidentiality under Business and Professions Code Section 6068 and shall not disclose information covered by the attorney work product privilege in Evidence Code Section 950. 4. The CCWRO Litigation Committee shall not be required to report to the full Board of Directors and its supervisory authority exists independent of the Board of Directors. Adjournment ”

“v Minutes of the 8-18-11 Board Meeting Attendees Steve Goldberg, Marta Chavez by proxy, Chris Douglas, Steve Weiss, Kevin Aslanian and Claire Smurr Approval of the proposed agenda Agenda was approved without objections. Approval of the last meeting minutes Minutes of the last meeting was approved without objections by changing to the date of the meeting from 5-25-11 to 6-1-11. Director’s Report See attached. Litigation Committee Report Meetings were held on 6-8-11; 7-6-11 7-29 and 8-31-11. The informal minutes will be on the web page. The committee is trying to get a legal opinion about ethics of sharing information outside of the sources. Grace reported on the litigation being pursued. Fiscal Report Kevin went over the budget v, actuals report for July 2010 June 2011. The bugdte reveals that we have spent $222,000 while our income from IOLTA and EAF was $203,000. Steve suggested that the Board needs to make cuts. Kevin suggested that what we really need to do is raise revenues, thus the grant writing efforts are underway and we are now getting some more attorney fees. Old issues None. Presentation from Seth Blackmon about grant opportunities and purchasing a grant search service for $7,000. Seth Blackmon was introduced to the board to talk about grant opportunities. This is a great grant writing tool that should help CCWRO to find foundation funding. It looks like EAF & IOLTA is going down, thus we need to find ways to generate money from alternative sources. Douglas wanted to make sure that our proposals would be consistent with what CCWRO is doing today and not to deviate from our mission. Kevin assured that Board that proposals will be for projects that are consistent with CCWRO Mission. Board authorized the executive director to purchase the Foundation search directly or in conjunction with SAC. Steve suggested that if we share costs with SAC that CCWRO have a MOU with SAC that is approved by the Board. Discussion budget issues and possible cost cutting options. This will be an open discussion. Possible proposals include changing the EAF proposal to no longer do trainings and investigating the possibility of changing to a virtual office to save money. Authorize the ED to do a EAF proposal for two projects if it is OK with the State Bar. Approved without objections. Family leave policy. CCWRO does not currently have a family leave policy. Proposal is to allow two months unpaid family leave. 2 months leave for pregnancy, paternity & medical leave. Without objections it is approved. Update from performance review committee The Committee Chris, Steve, Smurr will report back at the next meeting. Update on priorities survey Kevin will ask Julie Wilson for some suggestions Update on planning for board training Kevin will contact Lorna about some suggestions for training for Board Priorities and report back to the Board. ”

“MINUTES OF THE 12-2-10 BOARD MEETING Board Members Present Stephen Goldberg, Marta Chavez, Kevin Aslanian, Roman Romaso, Claire Smurr and Steve Weiss Board Members Absent Cynthia Anderson Meeting Start Time The meeting was called to Order at 6:00 p.m. Agenda Item Board Action Approval of the proposed agenda The agenda was approved without objections Approval of the last meeting minutes The minutes of the last meeting were approved without objections. Director’s Report Kevin reported that CCWRO is in the process of having two (2) regular volunteers cover the phone. Kevin reported that Seth Blackmon has been hired as an attorney and that he will be submitting budget revision as soon as we get the EAF agreement from the State Bar. Seth will be assisting Grace and Kevin with litigation and legislation. He will also be working on the meeting and training projects with Grace and Kevin. Litigation Committee Report Rossiter v. Wagner, with LSNC regarding WtW; Heatcock v. Wagner, Food Stamp notice; Child Support case; Pitch v. Wagner; Legislative Report This year CCWRO is co-sponsoring several bills with Western Center on Law and Poverty in 2011. Improvements access to public benefits for victims of domestic violence; Simplifying the reapplication process for food stamp recipients whose five (5) month transitional food stamps have expired; Legislation that would disallow charging Food Stamp and CalWORKs clients for EBT card usage; Prohibiting collection of overpayments when the costs associated with the recoupment of the overpayment exceeds the overpayment. CCWRO is also sponsoring a bill that would require childcare providers to provide the same level of due process hearings to stage 2 and 3 recipients that are accorded to welfare recipients. Fiscal Report Kevin reported that the IOLTA money been received. Additionally CCWRO has received a $20,000 from the Loaves v. Wagstaff case. Kevin stated that the fiscal reports are on the secured Board web page and presented an overview of the fiscal status of CCWRO Old issues None. New Issues On a duly made motion, which was seconded and the Board approved the hiring of the new attorney without objections Adjournment. Meeting adjourned at 7:10 p.m. New Issues Next Meeting February 16, 2011 at 6 p.m. ”

“Minutes of the 2-17-11 Board Meeting Members Present Kevin Aslanian, Steve Goldberg, Steve Weiss, Roman Romaso, Marta Chavez by proxy. Approval of the proposed agenda On a duly made motion, which was seconded, the agenda was approved. Approval of the last meeting minutes On a duly made motion, which was seconded, the minutes of the last meeting were read and approved Director’s Report EAF contract was signed and executed on 1-27-11. CCWRO has not received a copy thereof. To date CCWRO has done four EAF (4) trainings. There are two (2) more training scheduled for March, 2011. CCWO is sponsoring the following bills: SB 320 Wright State Hearings AB 596 Child Care Hearings AB 808- Skinner Transition Food Stamps Simplified Restoration CCWRO is co-sponsoring the following bills with WCLP AB 6 Fuentes CS AB 828 Mitchell EBT surcharge bill AB 833 Yamada MFG bill SB 43 Liu FSET Bill SB XXX Vargas Domestic Violence Waivers Litigation Report Grace reported that the litigation committee will be meeting next week. The email scheduling the meeting includes her report. There were no questions from Board members. Fiscal Report Oral presentation. The fiscal reports are now on the CCWRO Board Web Page. The Board has been emailed copies of the IOLTA\/EAF quarterly reports which are also on the CCWRO Board Web Page. Old issues New Issues Stephen Goldberg as co-counsel in case Presentation by Seth Blackmon Board Priorities Authorization to pursue grant opportunities On a motion that was duly made and seconded that Steve Goldberg can co-counsel on the Rossiter matter as an individual attorney. This motion was adopted without objections. Table for next meeting. Steve Weiss agreed to share a draft priorities setting documents for 2011 CCWRO Priorities On a motion that was duly made and seconded the Board authorized staff to pursue grants, but staff must obtain Board approval prior to submitting a grant. This motion was adopted without objections. Adjournment On a duly made motion, which was seconded, the meeting was adjourned. ”

“CCWRO Board Meeting Minutes Name of Organization: CCWRO Date of Meeting: March 18, 2010 Attendees: Anderson, Cynthia (CA) Aslanian, Kevin (KA) Chavez, Marta (MC) Goldberg, Steve (SG) Menasche, Ann (AM) Romaso, Roman (RR) Smurr, Clair (CS) Board Actions at Meeting 1. Approval of the Agenda ACTION: On a motion by CM seconded by CA the agenda was approved. 6-0. 2. Minutes of the previous meeting ACTION: On a motion by RR seconded by CA the minutes of the meetings of November 12, 2009 and November 23, 2009 were approved. 6-0. 3. New Board Member Claire Smurr, who is a senior citizen was introduced to the Board. She is a teacher by training, but spent her entire professional life as a secretary to a solo practitioner for 35 years. She has volunteered for CCWRO and is aware of low-income issues effecting seniors. Cynthia asked if we are looking for other Board members. Kevin responded that he will be talking to some legal services lawyers to see if they would be willing to serve on the Board. He also said that he is looking for a certified accountant to be on the Board. Kevin asked if Board members have any suggestions for a certified accountant. ACTION: On a motion by RR seconded by MC Ms. Smurr was voted on to be a member of the CCWRO Board. 6-0 4. Director’s Report. Kevin reported that for 6 months CCWRO has not received any EAF funds, yet all of the EAF activities are in progress. CCWRO has already done 5 trainings and has developed one new curriculum. CCWRO has also been facilitating the meetings for child welfare services, WtW, State Hearing Division, Technology Bureau, CW-061 redesign group and CDSS Civil Rights bureau. CCWRO staff has been working on the numerous issues that legal services advocates have raised. This includes doing analysis of the issues and developing data to support the desired outcome of the Legal Services Community. Kevin said that the office is only open because we were able to get a $20,000 loan and received a $7,500 contribution. Finally Kevin talked about his legislative activity involving budget issues and bills. Grace reported that most of her activity has been responding to nonstop concerns raised by the IOLTA Trust Fund Commission. There has not been much time to work on litigation given the work generated by the State Bar. She reported that she is working on a 1085 with LSNC regarding CalWORKs supportive services. 5. Litigation Report. Directing attorney Grace Galligher discussed pending litigation which CCWRO is working on a new case about WTW supportive services. 6. Legislative Report Kevin reported that he is currently reviewing 25 bills and will be sending the list to legal services for their input and direction. Kevin is also working on the state budget and has so far issued two alerts about budget issues. There is a significant amount of information about the state budget on CCWRO’s web page. 7. Fiscal report — Kevin presented the CCWRO quarterly financial report. SG stated that the report presented is too general and the Board must be given a breakdown of expenses. CA stated the state bar should not require budget micromanagement. Kevin agreed to give the board a more detailed breakdown of expenses within 15 days. Kevin also presented the 2010 annual corporate budget. 8. CCWRO Governance Policy. Steve presented the governance policies for the Board’s consideration. Cynthia said that most of these policies are the same that are used on other Boards that she serves. ACTION: On a motion by RR and seconded by MC the Governance policies were adopted. 9. Report from the performance review Board Subcommittee by Subcommittee Chair Marta Chavez. The subcommittee has completed its review. The subcommittee has meet with staff and is completing the report at this time. A final report will be mailed out to the Board for their review and consideration. 10. Board training and executive director (ED) training. ACTION: On a motion by CA and seconded by AM staff was directed to set up board training and ED training no later than May 31, 2010. 7-0 11. CCWRO Litigation Committee Kevin said that the Commission strongly felt that Grace needs some legal supervision. ACTION: On a motion by RR and seconded by CS the Board resolved that there shall be a CCWRO litigation Committee be composed of the attorneys on the Board and Kate Meiss of NLS and Antoniette Dozier of Western Center on Law and Poverty and that the committee meet at least monthly. Board approved 6-1 with SG dissenting because he believes the state bar wants more frequently meeting for supervision of CCWRO legal work. 12. Supervision of CCWRO paralegals and other non-attorney staff Steve told the Board that at the last meeting with IOLTA trust fund staff CCWRO was told that before Kevin or any other CCWRO non-attorney staff gave any advice it has to be approved by Grace Galligher. Some members of the Board were puzzled by this directive. On a motion by RR and seconded by MC the board adopted the following resolution: Kevin Aslanian and any other non-attorney CCWRO staff shall submit all legal advise to be given to a QLSP for review by Grace Galligher before such advise is given. Approved 5-2 with CA and AM voting no. 13. Record Keeping Procedures Steve told the Board that at the last meeting with the IOLTA trust fund staff stated the CCWRO needs better record keeping of contacts with and advise given to QLSPs. On motion by MC and second by RR the Board adopted the following resolution: Any contact with a QLSP shall be documented on a form designed for that purpose and placed in a box in the CCWRO office to be filed in a binder which contains contacts for that calendar year. Approved 7-0. 14. On a motion by KA and seconded by CA the meeting was adjourned. NEXT MEETING: 5-13-10 from 5:30 p.m. ”

“Minutes of the 5-13-10 CCWRO Board Meeting Board Members Present Stephen Goldberg, Cynthia Anderson, Kevin Aslanian Marta Chaves Roman Romaso, Ann Menache, Agenda Item Board Action Approval of the proposed agenda Meeting was called to order at 6:04 p.m. of May 13, 2010 The agenda was approved without objections. Approval of the last meeting minutes The minutes of the last meeting were approved without objections. Director’s Report Kevin reported that the EAF and IOLTA contracts have been duly executed. Kevin reported the CCWRO is meeting the number of trainings and meetings required by the EAF. The Directors showed that five (5) trainings have been done, five have been planned and the last two will be for child support hearing trainings for pro-bono programs. Litigation Committee Report A litigation committee meeting will be schedule in May, 2001. Legislative Report Kevin reported on an progress of AB 1914 and 2018 co-sponsored by CCWRO with Western Center on Law & Poverty Fiscal Report Kevin reported that the agency has received the first and second quarter of EAF funding, but not for the third quarter. Kevin is working on securing the third quarter funding from the Trust Fund. IOLTA money has come in. Kevin said that a check for $10,000 will be released to Slavic Assistance Center who were kind enough to loan us $20,000 to keep our doors open. Election of Corporate Officers Consideration of New Board Member On a motion by KA and seconded by CA the board officers were reelected. On a motion by RR and seconded by KA Steve Weiss of BALA was seated on the Board. Discussion of the elements of the most recent letter from the state bar and a plan for compliance or other response. Kevin discussed the four items mentioned in the 5-4-10 letter from IOLTA. Kevin will draft a first cut of the letter with Grace and then circulate that to Board members before a final draft is mailed out to the Trust fund no later than May 21, 2010. Old issues None New Issues Next Meeting August 12, 2010 at 6 p.m. Adjournment. Motion by KA seconded by CA the meeting adjourned. ”

“CCWRO Board Meeting Minutes Date – July 2, 2009 Day- Thursday Time 5:30 p.m. The meeting was called to order. A quorum was present: Steve Goldberg; Roman Romaso; Kevin Aslanian Cynthia Anderson, by proxy; Marta Chaves; Ann Minache I. Approval of the minutes of the last meeting. Minutes of the previous board meeting were approved without objection. II. Approval of the proposed agenda. The proposed agenda was approved without objections. III. Director’s Report. Kevin reported that the 2009-2010 IOLTA contract has been approved. Kevin then reported on the progress of the DSS meetings that are facilitated by CCWRO. CCWRO is facilitating pre-meeting calls. All pre-meetings calls and the meetings can be found in the calendar on the CCWRO web page. IV. Adoption of 2009 CCWRO Priorities CCWRO program priorities survey of IOLTA recipients was considered by the Board. The Board having reviewed staff report adopted the following resolution: CCWRO BOARD RESOLUTION 1. WHEREAS, The Board of Directors for the Coalition of California Welfare Rights Organizations, Inc. has established CCWRO priorities for the IOLTA operating year 2009-2012; 2. WHEREAS, pursuant to the review of CCWRO priorities, staff mailed questionnaires to all legal service field offices to determine the priorities for CCWRO during February of 2009. 3.WHEREAS, CCWRO received 18 responses from legal services field programs; 4. WHEREAS, staff reviewed the responses of the survey and determined that the four most frequent request for services were: consultation for LSP, welfare information, litigation and welfare training; 5.WHEREAS, staff reviewed the responses of the survey and determined that the four welfare programs which generated most request for services were: CalWORKs Welfare to Work, CalWORKs Cash Aid Programs, Medi-Cal and Food Stamps; 6. WHEREAS, staff reported that, based on the result from the review of the telephone call from legal services programs and the result of the survey, staff recommended that the services and programs set forth in section 4 and 5 is responsive to the needs of the legal services community; 7. WHEREAS, the Board agrees with staff that the priorities hereafter until the next priorities survey shall be (1) providing he following types of services to legal services field offices: consultation for LSP, welfare information, litigation and welfare training; in the areas of (2) CalWORKs Welfare to Work (WtW), CalWORKs Cash Aid Program, Medi-Cal and Food Stamps; 8. WHEREAS, staff has consulted with representatives of qualified legal services programs to update these priorities and has determined that field program support the continuation of CCWRO’s existing priorities for services. IT IS HEREBY RESOLVED that these priorities adopted by the Board at its July 2, 2009 meeting shall be considered the priorities for CCWRO during IOLTA fiscal year 2009-20012. V. Fiscal Report Kevin reported that CCWRO has a rainy day fund of in a $15,000 Certificate of Deposit that is safe and secure in a bank that is insured by the federal government. Kevin estimates that in 2009-2010 CCWRO should also receive about $20,000 in attorney fees. VI. Litigation Report Grace Galligher on litigation being pursued by CCWRO in concert with other programs. Grace has been working very hard on the CalWIN case and also working with LAFLA and other LSP on IHSS notice litigation. She is also working with the National Senior Citizens Law Center on litigation regarding limited English language client notices in their primary language. She also reported on the status of current litigation that can be found at: http:\/\/www.ccwro.org\/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=56&Itemid=107 VII. Legislative Report Kevin reported that this year, CCWRO sponsored bill AB 643 has been moving through the legislature without any opposition. It has cleared the Assembly and the Senate Human Services Committee. It is now waiting for a hearing before he Senate Appropriations Committee. At this time there is no activity on legislation. All eyes are locked on the budget. VIII. Old Business No old business. IX. New Business The Board considered the issue of filing litigation against DSS for refusing to issue Public Records Act (PRA) request information to CCWRO electronically as mandated in Gov. Code Section 6253.9. Grace explained that DSS is refusing to provide electronic copies of documents to CCWRO. On 6-11-09 Kevin Aslanian had to issue a check of $59.40 to obtain PRA information that was available electronically. On a duly made motion, which was seconded, CCWRO was authorized to pursue litigation on this matter. Cynthia Anderson offered to help with the litigation. Cynthia suggested that the next meeting be an in-person meeting. She agreed that the details should be worked out after the state budget is enacted. X. Adjournment On a duly made motion, which was seconded and passed without objection, the meeting was adjourned. Next meeting: Thursday, November 12, 2009 at 6:30 pm. Respectfully Submitted, \/s\/ Marta Chaves Marta Chaves, Secretary ”

“Minutes of the 8-12-10 CCWRO Board Meeting Board Members Present Stephen Goldberg, Cynthia Anderson, Kevin Aslanian, Roman Romaso, Claire Smurr and Steve Weiss Board Members Absent Marta Sanchez Meeting Start Time The meeting was called to Order at 6:05 p.m. Agenda Item Board Action Approval of the proposed agenda The agenda was approved without objections Approval of the last meeting minutes The minutes of the last meeting were approved with the instructions from the Board that future meetings shall reflect the start and finish time of the meeting and the attendees of the meeting. Director’s Report This has been a hectic three months. CCWRO has finally received its EAF funds for the first two quarters and the April-May-June quarter funds are on their way. Our IOLTA application has been approved with four conditions; 1. Board shall get training DONE 2. Executive Director should get training DONE (I am in Phoenix, Arizona right now doing the E.D. training); 3. Enhance the Board; We have one new members and I am working on adding a new attorney Board member; 4. Provide attorney supervision to the CCWRO Director of Litigation; There has been one committee meeting and the second committee report will be on May 13, 2010 right after the Board meeting; DONE The state Bar has informed us that there may be some concerns about the committee supervision of our Director of Litigation. Training Update CCWRO will have to do 12 trainings by September 2010. To date we have done 5 training events and 5 have been scheduled. Event Date of Training & Location\/Program Status 1. CalWORKs Budget Cuts Impact on CalWORKs clients 3-4-10; Los Angeles, LAFA Completed 2. Public Benefits Fair Hearings 1-14-10; Los Angeles, LAFA Completed 3. Overview of Food Stamps 3-2-10, Statewide, CRLA Completed 4. CAPI 11-09, CCLS, Fresno Completed 5. Emergency Services- Expediting Benefits 11-09, CCLS, Fresno Completed 6. Overview of Food Stamp Benefits 5-21-10, Yuba-Sutter Legal Services, Marysville 7. Overview of Public Benefits Hearings 5-21-10, Yuba-Sutter Legal Services, Marysville 8. Overview of IHSS 6-17-10, Statewide, CRLA 9. Overview of IHSS Fair Hearings 6-17-10, Statewide, CRLA 10. TBD 6-10-10, Los Angeles, LAFLA 11. TBD 12.TBD Grace is working on an outline for child support training this week that would unable us to schedule some child support administrative hearing trainings with local pro-bono programs. The meetings are going as planned. We have a new meeting with the Department of Education on Child Care issues, such as not making the case file available at their so-called administrative hearings and not affording child care clients hearings on overpayment issues and more. LEGISLATION. This year CCWRO is co-sponsoring two bills with Western Center on Law and Poverty and one bill with CWDA. AB 1914- David This bill provides that UIB benefits can only be anticipated if the county has a printout showing exactly what day and what amount of checks the applicants would get. No such evidence no anticipation of income; AB 2018- Food Stamp Intercounty Transfer Bill. This bill is being cosponsored by CWDA and WCLP and it is going to be law. This years bad bills have died. The two (2) big bad bills were one to required home visit in all cases and the other bill provided that when a welfare fraud convicted person pays a fine, the money goes to the county and the DA. Both are dead. Now it is budget time. Friday the Governor will release his May revise budget. Stay tune. Litigation Committee Report Rossiter v. Wagner, with LSNC regarding WtW; Heatcock v. Wagner, Food Stamp notice; Child Support case; Pitch v. Wagner; Legislative Report Kevin reported on the legislative work. He also reported that given the fact that we will have an EAF project next year, he will be working more on Legislation. Steve Weiss suggested that Kevin reach out to nonLSC IOLTA recipients to see if they want to be involved in Legislative work. Fiscal Report Kevin reported that the EAF money finally arrived in 2010. Cynthia asked whether CCWRO has retained the financial advisor that the Trust Fund had recommended. Kevin informed the Board that the consultant has been retained and he is working with staff to come up with a system that would generate adequate reports for the Board. Old issues None. New Issues On a motion made by CA and seconded by KA the Board adopted a new vacation policy. The new vacation policy is that the maximum vacation time that CCWRO staff can carry over from year to year is 40 hours. Adjournment. Meeting adjourned at 7:06 p.m. New Issues Next Meeting November 18, 2010 at 6 p.m. ”