To help people become more educated and not fall victim to scams, Texas Appleseed, a nonprofit organization promoting social and economic justice, has created a toolkit, My Debt Collection Rights in Texas, to inform consumers about debt collection and related scams.
Read moreThe City of Houston is Taking Steps to Bridge the Digital Divide
The “digital divide” refers to “the economic, educational, and social inequalities between those who have computers and online access and those who do not.” This divide can affect access to justice (for self-represented litigants in civil courts), education, employment opportunities, and more.
In May 2019, the Pew Research Center stated the following with regard to lower-income Americans: “Roughly three-in-ten adults with household incomes below $30,000 a year (29%) don’t own a smartphone. More than four-in-ten don’t have home broadband services (44%) or a traditional computer (46%). And a majority of lower-income Americans are not tablet owners.” As a result, “many lower-income Americans are relying more on smartphones” for internet access. Further, in August 2019, the Pew Research Center found that about “25% of Hispanics and 23% of blacks are ‘smartphone only’ internet users – meaning they lack traditional home broadband service but do own a smartphone. By comparison, 12% of whites fall into this category.”
As of October 2019, the Texas Comptroller reported that “[m]ore than 2 million Texas households don’t have high-speed internet.” In addition, the nonprofit group Common Sense found in 2020 that “34% or 1.8 million K-12 public school students in Texas do not have adequate access to the internet at home, and that 25% of Texas’ kids do not have an adequate device at home like a laptop or a computer.”
Locally, Comcast has partnered with the City of Houston on two initiatives designed to help bridge this digital divide. First, the Houston City Council “approved a $624,960 program to provide internet vouchers to low-income Houstonians,” which provided “approximately 5,000 vouchers to qualifying applicants” in December 2020. The vouchers were to “ensure qualifying applicants can continue to stay connected to the internet for education, work, and personal health reasons for one calendar year.” The second initiative involves WiFi-connected “Lift Zones” in nine City of Houston Community Centers. These “Lift Zones” are intended to offer “robust WiFi hotspots in safe spaces designed to help students get online, participate in distance learning and do their homework.” This program provides free WiFi in the designated community centers for the next three years.
Finally, even if you are not covered by these initiatives, our blog post from October 6, 2020 discusses a map of free WiFi spots in Texas, which allows you to enter your address and search for free public WiFi within a specified distance.
StopTXEviction.org LiveChat Now Available
A few weeks ago, we featured on this blog a new service designed to help Texas renters stay in their homes during the pandemic. The service is a website called StopTXEviction.org.
Just yesterday, the Texas Legal Services Center informed the legal aid community that a LiveChat feature is now available on the website four days a week, Monday through Thursday, from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. Law students, volunteer lawyers, and paralegals are ready to answer your questions about renters’ rights in Texas, while providing options to those in need of legal assistance. To receive legal advice from an attorney, users must be at or below 250% of the federal poverty level.
When LiveChat is open, you will find the 'Chat now' icon displayed on the bottom right corner of the website. Here, before proceeding, you will be asked a few basic questions about household size, family income, and child support obligations, if any.
For additional information about services offered through this website, please read our blog post on the topic (in English and Spanish) or consult the StopTXEviction.org website directly.
Ticket Help Texas
Texas Appleseed, a nonprofit organization that seeks to change unjust laws and promote social and economic justice, has collaborated with Texas Fair Defense Project to create a toolkit, Ticket Help Texas, that is designed to assist people who owe fines and fees in criminal cases but who are unable to pay. The failure to pay these fines and costs can lead to some damaging results, such as an arrest warrant, time in jail, or the inability to renew a driver’s license. Ticket Help Texas provides resources and information for people who have a Class C misdemeanor or a fine-only misdemeanor. Some of the topics for which users will find information are plea options and their consequences, deferred adjudication eligibility, renewal of a vehicle registration, and resolution of OmniBase holds. The website also offers some practical information about what you can do if you received a ticket that you are unable to pay or ordered to pay an amount that you cannot afford, if you are unsure about your ability to complete community service, if you are receiving notices from a collection agency, if the court is requiring you to obtain car insurance, and if a warrant has been issued for your arrest. There is even a section addressing occupational driver’s licenses (ODLs). (Additional information about ODLs can be found on TexasLawHelp.org.) Users will also find sample documents and forms, general advice for appearing in court, a webinar about restoring a driver’s license and resolving tickets, a glossary, and a listing of Texas legal organizations that may be able to help.
Being thankful for access to legal information
Even though we can’t be together to celebrate this season of thanksgiving, we share a great appreciation for all that we have, especially our good health and each other. Not everyone has been so fortunate during this unprecedented time, when people across the globe are losing their jobs, their homes, and, in some cases, their loved ones. While we’re keeping all of those less fortunate in mind this holiday season, we are also wishing everyone — our colleagues, friends, library patrons and all their families — abundant happiness for a safe, healthy, socially-distanced holiday. From our family at the Harris County Law Library to yours, Happy Thanksgiving.
As we reflect on the last year and all the unexpected change that 2020 has visited upon us, we’re taking a moment to reflect on the many things for which we are grateful. As law librarians, we see the positive impact access to legal information can have on individuals' lives each day, so we are always grateful for the partnerships that allow us to make information available to our patrons. We are thankful for the partnership between the Harris County Attorney's Office and the Houston Bar Association, whose ongoing support we value tremendously. We are grateful for the Houston Volunteer Lawyers and Lone Star Legal Aid to whom we refer many self-represented litigants seeking to connect with a licensed Texas attorney for free and accurate legal information and services. We are also grateful to work with TexasLawHelp.org to be a point of access for Houstonians who are in need of the legal information posted there. And we are thankful for the great many community resources, from Houston Lawyer Referral Service to TexasLegalAnswers.org to AVDA, who play such a vital role in the community. When the best information we can provide our patrons is a specialized service that connects them with a licensed attorney, these organizations are indispensable.
Finally, we are grateful for the publishers, including Westlaw, Lexis, O'Connor's, the State Bar of Texas, HeinOnline, and many more, who work with us to make their wealth of legal information open and available to all within steps of the courthouse and, this year, by remote access. We are thankful, as well, to the State Law Library of Texas, whose partnership in providing access to even more terrific databases is invaluable.
Overall, we are fortunate to work with so many dedicated, accommodating partners who share our mission of ensuring that open and equal access to legal information isn’t just a privilege but a right.