U.S. EPA's Office of Civil Rights would get a 20 percent boost under the White House budget released today, reflecting the agency's ongoing effort to improve an office criticized for misplaced priorities and poor responsiveness.

That funding is unlikely to ever surface, thanks to an election year and ever-shrinking agency budgets. But in a budget that would cut EPA's funding by $105 million, it is notable that the civil rights office is one of the few areas flagged for a funding increase.

Under President Obama's proposal, the office would get about $13.9 million in fiscal 2013, about $2.3 million more than this year's budget of $11.6 million. The increase would fund three additional employees, extra discrimination training and the development of a database to better track complaints.

All is part of EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson's effort to address the office's long-standing problems, including a backlog in Title VI complaints. The provision in the Civil Rights Act prohibits recipients of federal funding from using the money in any way that has a discriminatory impact based on race, color or national origin.

Outside firm Deloitte Consulting reported last year that the Title VI backlog stretched back to 2001. Last month, EPA released a draft report from an internal executive committee that found the office has made significant progress, but advocacy groups continue to criticize some settlements as secretive and too lenient (Greenwire, Jan. 20).

According to the White House budget, EPA plans to address that with mediation training to ensure consistency and that "the public and recipients are provided with a fair process."

Obama's budget also would provide funding to further reduce the Title VI backlog and more quickly process complaints. Additional employees would convene a review committee to analyze cases and "develop a strategic approach for prosecution of the cases at headquarters and regions."

For in-house discrimination complaints, EPA would use the extra funds to develop a "model civil rights program," offering more staff training and legal analysis of "complex cases." That is part of a broader effort to improve the office's reputation for what Deloitte called "poor investigative quality."