Sec. 7. Powers, duties, and limitations
605 words·~3 min read·
/bill/116/hr/3741/ih/section-7·A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
To the extent consistent with the provisions of this Act, the Center shall exercise the powers conferred upon a nonprofit corporation by the District of Columbia Nonprofit Corporation Act (except for section 1005(o) of title 29 of the District of Columbia Code). The Center is authorized— for the purpose of providing public defense services to indigent defendants, to provide financial assistance to and to make grants and contracts with individuals, partnerships, firms, corporations, nonprofit organizations, public defense systems, State governments, and local governments; and to make such other grants and contracts as are necessary to carry out the purposes and provisions of this Act.
The Center is authorized to accept, in the name of the Center, and employ or dispose of in furtherance of the purposes of this Act, any money or property, real, personal, or mixed, tangible or intangible, received by gift, devise, bequest, or otherwise. The Center is authorized to undertake directly, or by grant or contract, the following activities relating to the delivery of public defense services— research; training and technical assistance; and to serve as a clearinghouse for information.
The Center shall have authority to ensure the compliance of recipients and their employees with the provisions of this Act and the rules, regulations, and guidelines promulgated pursuant to this Act, and to terminate, after a hearing in accordance with section 11, financial support to a recipient which fails to comply. If a recipient finds that any of its employees has violated or caused the recipient to violate the provisions of this Act, or the rules, regulations, and guidelines promulgated pursuant to this Act, the recipient shall take appropriate remedial or disciplinary action in accordance with the types of procedures prescribed in the provisions of section 11.
The Center shall not, under any provision of this Act, interfere with any attorney in carrying out such attorney’s professional responsibilities to such attorney’s client as established in the American Bar Association Model Rules of Professional Conduct or abrogate as to attorneys in programs assisted under this Act the authority of a State of other jurisdiction to enforce the standards of professional responsibility generally applicable to attorneys in such jurisdiction. The Center shall ensure that activities under this Act are carried out in a manner consistent with attorneys’ professional responsibilities.
No attorney shall receive any compensation, either directly or indirectly, for the provision of public defense services under this Act unless such attorney is admitted or otherwise authorized by law, rule, or regulation to practice law or provide such assistance in the jurisdiction where such services are initiated. In areas where significant numbers of indigent defendants speak a language other than English as their principal language, the Center shall, to the extent feasible, provide that their principal language is used in the provision of public defense services to such defendants under this Act.
The Center shall have no power to issue any shares of stock, or to declare or pay any dividends. No part of the income or assets of the Center shall inure to the benefit of any director, officer, or employee, except as reasonable compensation for services or reimbursement for expenses. Employees of the Center or of recipients shall not at any time intentionally identify the Center or the recipient with any partisan or nonpartisan political activity associated with a political party or association, or the campaign of any candidate for public or party office.
Employees of the Center and staff attorneys shall be deemed to be State or local employees for purposes of chapter 15 of title 5, except that no staff attorney may be a candidate in a partisan political election.