Colorado drivers can choose from a wide array of causes to support when registering for their license plates, and legal aid may soon be one of them.
Colorado Legal Services, the Colorado Access to Justice Commission, Colorado Lawyers Committee, Community Economic Defense Project and Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network are all supporting an effort to create an equal justice license plate.
The groups have put together a campaign, with the goal of 3,000 signatures from Colorado residents. If successful, a portion of the fee for an equal justice license plate would go to civil legal aid organizations, including CLS.
Matt Baca, executive director of CLS, told Law Week via email that Colorado faces a substantial shortfall in legal aid funding, and that he’s always looking for new avenues to raise funds.
“I noticed the ‘Adopt a Greyhound’ license plate recently, which prompted me to do some research on license plates as a funding mechanism,” Baca said. “I shared the idea with a handful of other legal aid leaders, and we got to work.”
The amount of money the plate would raise would depend on how many people choose the license plate. One example that Baca pointed to was Colorado’s “Born to be Wild” license plate, which raised more than $300,000 in its first six months.
“I think it is unlikely our license plate would raise as much, but we know that every dollar counts when fighting for justice for victims of domestic violence, older adults facing housing insecurity, and many others,” Baca said.
In 2023, CLS closed more than 8,000 cases, but that only covered a fraction of the need, according to a press release in support of the license plate. The Legal Services Corporation reports that only 8% of low-income Colorado residents facing civil legal problems receive any legal help.
Colorado did recently expand legal aid funding in 2024 with the passage of the Equal Justice Authority, but significant funding gaps remain.
“We’re seeing civil legal aid organizations have to turn people away because they don’t have enough resources,” Emo Overall, executive director of the Colorado Access to Justice Commission, said in a press release. “Each story of someone who cannot secure justice because of the high cost of attorneys is heartbreaking, and we are asking Coloradans to continue supporting their neighbors who can’t afford representation.”