United States District Judge David N. Hurd of the Northern District of New York issued a decision on August 5, 2010 vindicating the due process and equal protection rights of a tenant user of municipal water service. The City of Auburn had terminated and denied water service due to her landlord's overdue bills for past service, and then condemned the premises as unsafe and unsanitary due to the lack of water: See City of Auburn Violated Tenant's Constitutional Rights in Denial and Termination of Water Service. The tenant was represented by PULP
Bad News
As we repeatedly reported over the past months, PULP funding and survival again was put in jeopardy this year -- as in every year since the Mario Cuomo administration -- when none of Governor Paterson's proposed budget bills contained core funding for PULP.
As usual, PULP sought a legislative addition to the budget, and continued its operations without interruption even as the April 1 budget deadline passed, exhausting its reserves and credit and running up bills in expectation that as in the past 28 years, eventually the final budget passed by the legislature would contain the necessary funding.
The budget, however, was passed this year in sections attached by the Governor to short term funding extension bills, none of which contained PULP's core appropriation, and there was no opportunity for the legislature to modify them or other bills to include PULP. See PULP Closure Imminent as Legislature Adjourns Without Appropriating Funds for PULP, PULP Network, July 2, 2010.
When the New York State Senate returned to consider a budget revenue measure on August 3, 2010 needed to complete the unfinished budget, the legislature quickly adjourned without taking action on funding needed by PULP to survive.
As a result, for the first time in 30 years PULP has no significant core funding source. See Larry Rulison, PULP's Funding Plug Pulled, Times Union, Aug. 5, 2010. "The Public Utility Law Project of New York, an Albany nonprofit group that has fought for decades for the state's utility customers -- especially the poor -- appears to be on the verge of closing."
For further information on this situation, listen to Susan Arbetter's interviews of Assemblyman Kevin Cahill and PULP Executive Director Gerald Norlander on the August 6, 2010 WCNY Capitol Pressroom radio program. The discussion of PULP's financial crisis situation begins after minute 22 of the recording.
PULP is urging the Governor to alleviate the funding crisis by allocating some of the discretionary agency funds under his control, and by adding a PULP appropriation to the budget.
If you would like to help, contact information for the Governor is here.
Updates
Mark Harrington, Group Fighting for Utility Customers Faces Shutdown, Newsday.com, September 15, 2010. "A watchdog group that has gone to bat for low-income utility customers around the state to prevent service shutdowns and push for lower rates is itself in danger of being shut down because of budget cuts. The Public Utility Law Project, a 29-year-old group based in Albany, saw its state funding vanish in April, and fail to be renewed in the recently passed 2010-11 budget."
Cathy Woodruff, In tough times, fight for consumers must go on, Albany Times Union, October 3, 2010. "Consider this: the Public Utility Law Project, a non-profit agency that represented low-income utility customers, closed its doors this year after state leaders failed to continue the funding that makes up the bulk of its $500,000 annual budget."
David Robinson, Residential phone book going way of dinosaur, Verizon’s White Pages reach the end of an era, Buffalo News, Oct. 15, 2010. "The Public Utility Law Project, an Albany-based advocacy group for low-income consumers that has since shut down because of the loss of state funding, opposed the elimination of the residential listings."
Nick Hirshon, Utility Fighter May Fade Out, Likely Doomed by Budget Cut, N.Y. Daily News, Dec. 7, 2010. "For three decades, the advocacy group - known as PULP - has provided free legal advice and representation to utility consumers who, in some cases, faced being tossed from their homes.But now PULP is facing its own battle for survival after the group, which relies almost entirely on state aid, was excluded from the governor's latest budget."
James Odato, Money Flows to Friends, Times Union, Dec. 20, 2010. "The governor still has $9 million in unused funds from that appropriation from a total of $30 million."
Sara Foss, State Cuts to Hit Hard, Schenectady Gazette, March 6, 2011. "Many nonprofit organizations and local agencies that depend on state funding are facing severe cuts. Some, like PULP, have seen once-reliable funding lines all but eliminated. In the most extreme cases, groups and agencies are contemplating the possibility of closure, drastic restructuring or the elimination of programs. And while they acknowledge that the state's fiscal crisis makes cuts necessary, they say they never expected to see a zero replace a budget line formerly at thousands, even millions, of dollars."
