New Hampshire Legal Assistance Lobbying of State Legislature

GAO was requested to look into allegations that New Hampshire Legal Assistance was engaging in lobbying the state legislature, and that some of its employees were registered lobbyists. New Hampshire Legal Assistance is a federal fund recipient of the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) and provides legal assistance to eligible clients. The authorizing statute provides that providers of legal assistance may use federal funds for legislative representation before state legislatures where such representation is necessary with respect to a client's legal rights and responsibilities. The statute requires that providers of legal services must have an eligible client whose interests are directly affected by the pending legislation as a prerequisite to engaging in legislative representation before legislative bodies. Since there is statutory authority for legal services providers to engage in lobbying activities, there is nothing improper about having certain of its employees registered as lobbyists. However, lobbying by the legal services providers that is not on behalf of an eligible client nor on a matter directly affecting the LSC or the recipient is prohibited by the authorizing and appropriations statutes.