As used in this article:

(a) “Qualified legal services project” means either of the following:

(1) A nonprofit project incorporated and operated exclusively in California that provides as its primary purpose and function civil legal services without charge to indigent persons and that has quality control procedures approved by the State Bar of California.

(2) A program operated exclusively in California by a nonprofit law school accredited by the State Bar of California that meets the requirements of subparagraphs (A) and (B).

(A) The program shall have operated for at least two years at a cost of at least twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) per year as an identifiable law school unit with a primary purpose and function of providing civil legal services without charge to indigent persons.

(B) The program shall have quality control procedures approved by the State Bar of California.

(b) “Qualified support center” means an incorporated nonprofit legal services center that has as its primary purpose and function the provision of legal training, legal technical assistance, or advocacy support for civil legal services without charge and which actually provides through an office in California a significant level of legal training, legal technical assistance, or advocacy support without charge to qualified legal services projects on a statewide basis in California.

(c) “Recipient” means a qualified legal services project or support center receiving financial assistance under this article.

(d) “Indigent person” means a person whose income is (1) 200 percent or less of the current poverty threshold established by the United States Office of Management and Budget or (2) who is eligible for Supplemental Security Income or free services under the Older Americans Act or Developmentally Disabled Assistance Act. With regard to a project that provides free services of attorneys in private practice without compensation, “indigent person” also means a person whose income is 75 percent or less of the maximum levels of income for lower income households as defined in § 50079.5 of the Health and Safety Code. For the purpose of this subdivision, the income of a person who is disabled shall be determined (1) after deducting the costs of medical and other disability-related special expenses and (2) after deducting disability compensation from the United States Veterans Administration paid to a veteran with a service-related disability.

(e) “Fee generating case” means a case or matter that, if undertaken on behalf of an indigent person by an attorney in private practice, reasonably may be expected to result in payment of a fee for legal services from an award to a client, from public funds, or from the opposing party. A case shall not be considered fee generating if adequate representation is unavailable and any of the following circumstances exist:

(1) The recipient has determined that free referral is not possible because of any of the following reasons:

(A) The case has been rejected by the local lawyer referral service, or if there is no such service, by two attorneys in private practice who have experience in the subject matter of the case.

(B) Neither the referral service nor any attorney will consider the case without payment of a consultation fee.

(C) The case is of the type that attorneys in private practice in the area ordinarily do not accept, or do not accept without prepayment of a fee.

(D) Emergency circumstances compel immediate action before referral can be made, but the client is advised that, if appropriate and consistent with professional responsibility, referral will be attempted at a later time.

(2) Recovery of damages is not the principal object of the case and a request for damages is merely ancillary to an action for equitable or other nonpecuniary relief, or inclusion of a counterclaim requesting damages is necessary for effective defense or because of applicable rules governing joinder of counterclaims.

(3) A court has appointed a recipient or an employee of a recipient pursuant to a statute or a court rule or practice of equal applicability to all attorneys in the jurisdiction.

(4) The case involves the rights of a claimant under a publicly supported benefit program for which entitlement to benefit is based on need.

(f) “Legal Services Corporation” means the Legal Services Corporation established under the federal Legal Services Corporation Act of 1974 (P.L. 93-355; 42 U.S.C. § 2996 et seq.).

(g) “Older Americans Act” means the federal Older Americans Act of 1965, as amended (P.L. 89-73; 42 U.S.C. § 3001 et seq.).

(h) “Developmentally Disabled Assistance Act” means the federal Developmentally Disabled Assistance and Bill of Rights Act, as amended (P.L. 94-103; 42 U.S.C. § 6001 et seq.).

(i) “Supplemental security income recipient” means an individual receiving or eligible to receive payments under Title XVI of the federal Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. § 1381 et seq.) or payments under Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 12000) of Part 3 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.

(j) “IOLTA account” means an account or investment product established and maintained pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 6211 that is any of the following:

(1) An interest-bearing checking account.

(2) An investment sweep product that is a daily (overnight) financial institution repurchase agreement or an open-end money market fund.

(3) An investment product authorized by California Supreme Court rule or order.

A daily financial institution repurchase agreement shall be fully collateralized by United States Government Securities or other comparably conservative debt securities, and may be established only with any eligible institution that is “well-capitalized” or “adequately capitalized” as those terms are defined by applicable federal statutes and regulations. An open-end money market fund shall be invested solely in United States Government Securities or repurchase agreements fully collateralized by United States Government Securities or other comparably conservative debt securities, shall hold itself out as a “money market fund” as that term is defined by federal statutes and regulations under the federal Investment Company Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. § 80a-1 et seq.), and, at the time of the investment, shall have total assets of at least two hundred fifty million dollars ($250,000,000).

(k) “Eligible institution” means either of the following:

(1) A bank, savings and loan, or other financial institution regulated by a federal or state agency that pays interest or dividends on the IOLTA account and carries deposit insurance from an agency of the federal government.

(2) Any other type of financial institution authorized by the California Supreme Court.

(l) “Civil legal services” includes, in addition to matters traditionally considered civil, legal services related to expungements, record sealing or clearance proceedings not requiring a finding of factual innocence, and infractions.

(Amended by Stats. 2021, Ch. 723, Sec. 12.5. (SB 211) Effective January 1, 2022.)