Summary of ABA 2021 Annual Meeting

Molly Aspan, Tulsa County Bar Association Delegate to the ABA House of Delegates

I was honored to serve as the Tulsa County Bar Association Delegate at the 2021 ABA Annual Meeting held this August. This was the first Hybrid Annual Meeting, as it was held in person in Chicago and virtually. I participated virtually in the one and a half days of meetings.

ABA President Patricia Lee Refo presented remarks to the delegates, thanking delegates and ABA staff for their nimbleness during the pandemic. She also thanked legal services attorneys across the country and noted the importance of Legal Services Corporation in addressingtheunmetneedforcivillegalassistance. She then highlighted some of the significant undertakings by the ABA in service of the profession and in service of its clients.

ABAExecutiveDirectorJackL.RivasofIllinois also presented a written report and discussed the new membership model launched at the beginning of Fiscal Year 2020, which provides meaningful improvements including a lower dues structure, revitalized CLE Marketplace, improved paywall and content strategies, and other benefits.

President Refo also introduced and passed the gavel to President-Elect Reginald M. Turner, Jr. of Michigan. President-Elect Turner then addressed the House and spoke about the importance of the ABA and bar associations across the country on the rule of law. The Nominating Committee then introduced Deborah Enix-Ross of NewYork as President-Elect for the 202122 term. Incoming President-Elect Ross then addressed the delegates and shared her vision for the ABA under her leadership, reiterating her commitment to shining a light on three specific issues: civics, civility, and collaboration. JohnG.Levi,ChairmanoftheBoardofDirectors of Legal Services Corporation then addressed the House and shared some stories of the impact the COVID-19 crisis has had on communities in need of legal help. He noted that there was a “full-blown crisis in legal aid” even before the pandemic and spoke with respect to funding legal aid services. He then spoke about some of the work done to address specific issues in the delivery of legal services to low-income individuals, including addressing the opioid crisis, the eviction crisis, the legal needs of veterans, and technology in the legal aid sector. The Committee on Issues of Concern to the Legal Professions then hosted a panel discussion entitled, “What should be done to ensure that the public has confidence in the electoral process and accepts the outcome of the vote?”

Inadditiontothesepresentationsandothers,new policies were adopted by the ABA House of Delegates on an array of topics. The following is a summary of the major resolutions approved by the House of Delegates. If anyone would like further information on any of these resolutions or reports, please do not hesitate to reach out to me.

● Adopts the revisedABAStandards for the ProvisionofCivilLegalAid,datedAugust2021;

● Urges members of the legal profession to devote atleast20hourseachyeartoeffortsthatadvance and promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in the legal profession;

● Urges law schools to offer courses on the law of United States territories and to teach the

Insular Cases as part of existing courses on constitutional law;

● Urges Congress to amend 28 U.S.C. §§ 331-32 or otherwise enact legislation to permit for the federal district judges appointed to serve on the

UnitedStatesDistrictCourtsoftheVirginIslands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands to serve as voting members of the Judicial Conference of the United States and the judicial councils of their respective circuits;

● Urges federal agencies to adopt policies, practices, and procedures eliminating barriers to participation in professional associations;

● Amends §§ 6.4 and 6.6 of theABA’s Constitution topostponeuntiltheconclusionofthe2023Annual

Meeting a determination whether representation of sections and State and Local Bar Associations shouldbereducedbasedonmembershipnumbers, in order to permit an appropriate and thoughtful review of these entities’ representation in the

House of Delegates;

● Urges the federal government to eliminate the Medicaid bias favoring institutional settings by amending policies in order to mandate that states and territories implement home and communitybased services under their Medicaid State Plans;

● Urges bar associations and legal employers, in connection with a safe return to the workplace, to develop and implement policies and practices that address the COVID-19 pandemic’s disproportionate impact within the legal professiononpeopleofcolor,women,individuals with disabilities, individuals who identify as

LGBTQ+, caregivers, and seniors;

● Encourages bar associations and legal employers to develop, disseminate, and provide guidance and resources to assist with the implementation of policies and best practices for the safe and effectivereturntotheworkplaceasaconsequence of the COVID-19 pandemic;

● Urges the adoption of theABAPrinciples on Law

Enforcement Body-Worn Camera Policies

● Urges federal, state, local, territorial and tribal jurisdictions to improve diversity in the profession and particularly in the judiciary by urging jurisdictions to systematically collect demographic data on judges and government attorneys; ● Supports the enactment of the Civics Secures

Democracy Act (CSDA) (HR 1814 and SB 879) to provide support for expanded and improved civic education in the United States, and urges state, local, territorial, and tribal officials, and private sector entities to implement the Educating for American Democracy (EAD) Roadmap to expand and improve civic education in their jurisdictions;

● AdoptstheupdatedprinciplesforHomelessCourt

Programs;

● Urges the enactment of legislation to provide to all employees a living wage;

● Opposes any federal, state, local, territorial and tribal legislation, regulation, or policy that prohibits transgender students from participating in athletics in accordance with their gender identity;

● Recommends that the ABA renew its recommendation that Congress ratify and accede to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS);

● Urges the United States to examine ways to more vigorously utilize existing laws and to modify its laws to promote effective justice and accountability for atrocity crimes and gross violations of human rights law committed abroad;

● Urges the United States Congress to create and appropriate funds for a subcommittee of the

Commission established by HR 40 to study and make findings relating to the present day social, political, and economic consequences of the criminal legal system and mass incarceration for

African American persons living in the United

States;

● Urges all prosecution offices across the country to update their case management systems so that unidentifiable data can be regularly pulled and analyzed on an online dashboard that is available to the public;

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● Urges all jurisdictions in the United States to enact laws which raise the minimum age for prosecution of children as alleged juvenile delinquents to age 14;

● Urges legislatures and policymakers to end the use of chemical agents on children and youth in juvenile and correctional facilities, and encourages court systems, law enforcement officers, medical personnel and educators to make others aware of the harm that use of chemical agents has – including revictimization and trauma – on children and youth in detention and correctional facilities;

● Opposes the continued use of private prisons for detention or corrections purposes and urges all governmental units to terminate their contracts with private prisons;

● Urges the bar admission authority of each jurisdiction to adopt rules that would allow attorneys in their jurisdiction to earn continuing education credit for service as a poll or election worker;

● Urges Congress to enact the Pregnant Workers

Fairness Act or similar legislation that: (1) explicitly and affirmatively guarantees pregnant workers the right to reasonable accommodations so they can continue working without jeopardizing their pregnancy; (2) prohibits employers from denying pregnant workers employment opportunities based on the employer’s need to make reasonable accommodations; and (3) provides pregnant workers the same rights and remedies as those established under Title VII of the Civil Rights

Act of 1964;

● Urges Congress to enact legislation to amend the

U.S. Bankruptcy Code to permit student loans to be discharged in bankruptcy without needing to prove undue hardship;

● Urges law firms, corporate and nonprofit legal departments, lawyers, law schools, and state local, territorial, tribal and specialty bar associations to prioritize environmental justice and ensure communities of color, indigenous communities, low-income communities, and other vulnerable populations are included in decision-making and implementation processes as stakeholders;

● Urges adoption of federal and local hate crime legislation, including such crimes against the

AAPI community, and specifies civil remedies and first amendment protections to be built into the legislation;

● Urges state and local legislatures, education officials, and school boards to include information about the historical and social contributions of LGBTQ individuals in curricula of publicly funded schools and include LGBTQinclusive sexual health education in the curricula of publicly funded schools to promote public health best practices and improve 14 youth mental health outcomes;

● Urges Congress and the Department of Health and Human Services to institute a review of the advisability and feasibility of phasing in size and design standards for nursing homes that would require small, household model facilities with singlerooms andprivatebaths,giventheirsafety and infection control advantages in public health emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic;

● Urges all persons, organizations, and governmental entities to support and assist the

Department of the Interior’s Federal Indian

Boarding School Initiative and the Truth and

Healing Commission; and

● Seeks to create safer campus communities by clarifying and affirming the broad meaning of

TitleIXandaddressinggapsinTitleIXcoverage created by DeVos’Title IX Rules.

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