Contracts awarded pursuant to Section 13300 shall fulfill all of the following:
(a) Be executed only with nonprofit legal services organizations that meet all of the following requirements:
(1) Have at least three years of experience handling asylum, T-Visa, U-Visa, or special immigrant juvenile status cases and have represented at least 25 individuals in these matters.
(2) Have experience in representing individuals in removal proceedings and asylum applications.
(3) Have conducted trainings on these issues for practitioners beyond their staff.
(4) Have experience guiding and supervising the work of attorneys whom themselves do not regularly participate in this area of the law but nevertheless work pro bono on the types of cases described in paragraph (1).
(5) Are accredited by the Board of Immigration Appeals under the United States Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review or meet the requirements to receive funding from the Trust Fund Program administered by the State Bar of California.
(b) Provide for legal services to unaccompanied undocumented minors on a fee-per-case basis, as determined by the department, which shall include all administrative and supervisory costs and court fees.
(c) Require reporting, monitoring, or audits of services provided, as determined by the department.
(d) Require contractors to coordinate efforts with the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement Legal Access Project in order to respond to and assist or represent unaccompanied undocumented minors who could benefit from the services provided under this chapter.
(e) Require contractors to maintain adequate legal malpractice insurance and to indemnify and hold the state harmless from any claims that arise from the legal services provided pursuant to this chapter.
(Added by Stats. 2014, Ch. 685, Sec. 13. (SB 873) Effective September 27, 2014.)
Last modified: October 25, 2018