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Attorney General asks appropriation committee to create two positions for restorative justice and expanded appellate work
Summary
Attorney General Charity Clark asked the Senate Appropriations Committee to create one position to implement the precharge restorative‑justice program in Act 180 and a second permanent appellate attorney position to handle an uptick in novel litigation and multi‑state suits.
Attorney General Charity Clark told the Senate Appropriations Committee on Feb. 6 that the Office of the Attorney General is requesting creation of two positions through a budget adjustment request so the office can implement a recently enacted restorative‑justice statute and expand its appellate capacity.
Clark said the first request is to create a position needed to “stand up” the Act 180 precharge program, which will make pretrial restorative options available statewide. “At this point in time, we have the funding. We just need the position created,” Clark said, adding the program will extend precharge restorative services to counties that previously lacked them.
The nut graf: Clark said the office already has or will have the money allocated for the precharge program but needs the classified/exempt position created through the BAA before it can advertise and hire the staff necessary to implement the statute statewide.
Clark described a second BAA request for an additional appellate attorney in the office’s small appellate unit (currently two lawyers and one paralegal). She said the unit’s workload has grown because the office is defending new and legally novel challenges to legislation in areas including environment, reproductive rights and firearms law, and because the office has joined multi‑state litigation against recent federal executive actions. “We’ve already sued twice and won twice,” Clark said, describing an intense workload that has required staff to work nights and weekends and to coordinate declarations and factual support with other state agencies and nonprofit partners.
Committee members asked for cost details. Clark said the BAA includes a three‑month funding request of about $50,000 to begin recruitment and fit‑up, and she provided an FY26 full‑year estimate for the position’s cost (salary and benefits) to be considered in the next fiscal‑year budget cycle. The committee emphasized that a short BAA appropriation can create a continuing base cost in future budgets.
Clark also noted that Act 180 will expand access geographically: “The precharge program was not available in all counties. With Act 180, it now will be available to all counties,” she said.
The committee did not vote on the requests during the hearing; senators asked technical questions about line items and BAA timing and signaled they would review the BAA materials on the committee webpage.
