The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) is an independent corporation created by an Act of Congress.

As such it was required to adopt regulations to implement the directives of Congress included in the legislation that authorizes the Corporation. That legislation is referred to as the Legal Services Corporation Act of 1974.

The LSC Act has been amended several times and has been subject to changes adopted through continuing resolutions over many years which has resulted in the adoption of new or revised regulations.

The LSC website (www.lsc.gov), describes the relationship between the Act and Regulations as follows:

As an independent corporation created by Congress and charged with distributing government funds, LSC is governed by federal law. Federal law also applies to recipients of LSC grant funds. The LSC Act, LSC Appropriations Statutes and LSC Regulations provide guidance on the operation and responsibilities of LSC and its grantees.

The LSC regulations are found in the Code of Federal Regulations, which includes the regulations of all federal entities.

The LSC regulations are in Part 45 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 1600.

Here is a link to those regulations http://www.lsc.gov/laws/regulations.php

The regulations are divided into several parts with each addressing a specific area of regulatory policy.

For example, Part 1607 includes the regulations that apply to “governing bodies”, which is the phrase used to describe the Board of Directors of a program that receives LSC funding.

Each part includes definitions of terms used to describe a policy, followed by the description of the policy.

In general terms the LSC regulations address the following:

• Regulations that apply to the administration of programs receiving LSC funds.

• Regulations that apply to who is eligible to receive services from programs receiving LSC funds.

• Regulations that apply to the types of services that can be provided by a program receiving LSC funds.

• Regulations that describe the types of activities that the staff and Board of LSC funded programs can or cannot conduct on behalf of the program or its clients.

LSC funded program, including Iowa Legal Aid, are required to follow the LSC regulations as a condition of receiving LSC funding.

The Board and staff of Iowa Legal Aid agree to follow the regulations when the program applies and is awarded LSC funding.

Agreeing to follow the regulations is one of the grant conditions that Iowa Legal Aid agrees to follow.

There are potential penalties that Iowa Legal Aid could face by not following the regulations.

One of the most important roles of Iowa Legal Aid’s Board of Directors is to adopt policies, many of which are required to be adopted by the governing body to implement the provisions of LSC regulations.

The policies adopted by the Board are maintained in the Program Operations Manual (POM).

In addition, several of the program’s policies are included on the Board and Advisory Council Website in the Resource Center.