When the dust finally settled on the newly enacted state budget, it had ballooned to a whopping $220 billion and seemed to include something for everyone in a critical election year.

Yet, the plan shortchanged some of the poorest and most marginalized New York residents by failing to provide adequate funding for assigned counsel in criminal and family courts. As a result, these attorneys are financially unable to work on the behalf of at-risk women, children, and low-income clients—many from communities of color—who cannot afford legal counsel, thus barring people from accessing their constitutionally mandated right to representation.