State-funded legal aid groups are outraged over a Senate proposal to prevent them from filing class actions, representing illegal aliens and challenging welfare reforms.

Those are among several restrictions in a bill proposed by Sen. J. Randy Forbes, R-Chesapeake. His legislation also would bar legal services organizations from giving legal assistance to prisoners, representing drug dealers in drug-related evictions, handling abortion-related litigation and engaging in political lobbying.

Forbes' proposal aims to make Virginia's state restrictions equal to those at the federal level. Federal grants to legal aid programs carry various restrictions on the types of cases the attorneys may handle as well as the clients they can represent.

"This will confirm federal law and clear up a lot of things that were going wrong," said Delegate Riley E. Ingram, R-Hopewell, who has offered a similar bill in the House.

Forbes said he has heard accounts of rigged trials and unnecessary lawsuits by legal aid programs funded by state dollars.

"We have letters stating how people have gone out of the country to get claimants for migrant farmer trials against farm owners," Forbes said. "These types of trials, along with class action lawsuits, take away resources to provide legal services to the disadvantaged who have real issues with their landlords or domestic violence."

Officials with the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia said the bill's real target is the Virginia Justice Center for Farm and Immigrant Workers, which sues farmworkers' employers for underpayment, exposure to pesticides and other violations.

The ACLU claims that Forbes' bill was filed on behalf of large farm corporations that would want to put the center out of business. That would leave farmworkers without legal representation, said Kent Willis, director of the Virginia ACLU.

"These people would face many if not more injustices that people with higher incomes would not," he said. "We believe that equal access to courts is an important right guaranteed by the Constitution, and unless there are funds available to help low-income people, they will be denied that right."

Local residents could be affected by the restrictions as well.

Southside Virginia Legal Services provides legal aid to residents of the Tri-Cities and Dinwiddie, Charles City, Prince George and Surry Counties. Southside director Stephen Dickinson said restrictions imposed by the General Assembly could decrease the effectiveness of his staff.

"I do not think the General Assembly really understands the restrictions they want to impose on us," he said. "They are targeting only a small percentage of cases, but any restriction in money is going to reduce the effectiveness of the legal aid."

The bill would not restrict the majority of cases handled by legal services--landlord/tenant disputes, consumer issues, family law and matters involving food stamps and disability programs.

But Dickinson said, "It's somewhat of the principal of the thing. It's my job and my ethical duty as an attorney in the Commonwealth to provide services to my clients.

"We handle cases that private attorneys won't touch."

The four legal aid attorneys in Petersburg handle 1,200 cases a year involving more than 3,500 clients. To be eligible for representation, clients can have incomes no more than 25 percent above the federal poverty guidelines.

"Close to 80 percent of are clients are African-American, and all of them are poor," Dickinson said. "We are providing a lawyer for poor people in civil cases.

"This bill is saying you can represent poor people, but because they are poor, you can't do certain things, which only leaves the poor with half a lawyer."

Federal monies account for 22 percent and state funds provide 30 percent of the annual budget for Dickinson's agency. Local governments, the United Way and private donations make up the rest.

Because of restrictions placed on federal dollars, Dickinson said he is trying to move away from accepting federal money.

"We would like to get rid of our federal money because there are a lot of restrictions. However, we can't live without our state money."

Forbes' measure would prevent legal aid organizations from suing for attorney's fees. "The attorney's fee restriction is really what bothers me," Dickinson said, "because they can make or break a negotiation."

For instance, if a client sued a bank for wrongful loan practices in the amount of $500, the legal aid could ask for only $500-and not legal fees as private lawyers do. The bank would have no incentive to settle and likely would take the case to trial, Dickinson said.

While restricting attorney's fees, Forbes would like to raise the pay of lawyers who represent the disadvantaged. "I plan to support an increase in legal aid salaries," he said.

Forbes' bill has floated through various Senate panels and landed in the Courts of Justice Committee, where both sides of the issue will testify.