Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Attorney General Budget topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Attorney General’s office asks Senate finance committee for $600,000 to replenish front-office expenses
Summary
Chief of staff Jeff Wabright told the Senate Finance Committee the Attorney General’s office seeks a $600,000 increase to its front-office current expenses to cover outside counsel and ongoing obligations tied to special revenue shortfalls.
The West Virginia Attorney General’s Office asked the Senate Finance Committee on Feb. 13, 2025, for a $600,000 increase to its front-office current expenses to help cover outside counsel and other operating needs.
The request, made by Jeff Wabright, chief of staff for Attorney General JB McCuskey, came during the committee’s budget presentations. Wabright said McCuskey was out of town and sent his “apologies” but that the office faces pressure on special revenue funds and needs staffing and outside counsel capacity to “defend the state in many different ways.”
Wabright said the office met with the governor’s staff and that the governor’s proposed budget included roughly a 14% increase in some areas but did not fully close the gap the office described. “One of the things that we wanted was a $600,000 increase to replenish, our front office current expenses,” Wabright said, adding that outside counsel had been a “big drain” on that account.
Wabright said the attorney general’s office must maintain lawyers and staff able to respond to lawsuits against the state, including suits naming the governor, the legislature, constitutional officers and challenges to recently passed statutes. He brought Darren Green, identified in the hearing as the office chief financial officer, to answer technical questions if senators had them.
Committee members did not take immediate action on the request during the hearing; Wabright concluded his presentation after taking no follow-up questions from the panel.
The presentation occurred as part of a broader round of agency budget hearings the committee scheduled for the remainder of the session; committee staff had presented members with side-by-side budget materials prepared by analyst Chris Dewitt, the committee chair noted before the presentations began.
Looking ahead, the Attorney General’s Office will be part of the committee’s budget review process and its formal appropriation needs will be considered as the committee and the Legislature weigh recommended changes to the governor’s proposal.
