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Attorney General seeks recurring litigation funds and asks authority to award opioid settlement grants
Summary
The Attorney General’s office requested restoration of a recurring $10 million extraordinary litigation appropriation, additional funds for organized retail crime and multi‑county grand juries, and authority to distribute opioid‑abatement grants from accumulated settlement funds.
The Attorney General’s office asked the Appropriations and Budget Committee to restore a recurring $10 million appropriation for extraordinary litigation and to continue authority to issue opioid‑abatement grants from accumulated settlement funds.
Carolyn Thompson (director of government affairs) and Justin Wolf (Deputy Attorney General, policy) told the committee the $10 million item has been part of the office’s budget historically and funds a range of litigation priorities, including multi‑state suits challenging federal actions, pharmaceutical litigation such as actions tied to insulin pricing, and response to major events including winter‑storm cases. The office said recent carryover funding was exhausted.
The AG’s office described other requests: additional funding to stand up an organized‑retail‑crime unit (the task force created in prior legislation), grants and program support for domestic‑violence and victim‑service programs, a human‑trafficking grant program, and resources to pursue multi‑county grand juries and cold‑case investigations.
On opioid funds, the office described roughly $33 million in the abatement account above corpus and proposed making a portion available for grants; the request presented for the committee would allocate about $21.25 million from those settlement proceeds for grants and related programs. Thompson said last year’s grant round and new settlements produced funds that can be distributed to local governments and service providers.
Committee members asked whether extraordinary‑litigation funds would be used to defend state laws; staff confirmed the attorney general’s appellate unit (the solicitor general unit) defends state statutes in addition to handling multi‑state or federal litigation when appropriate. Questions also focused on organized‑retail‑crime staffing, where the office said it has assigned investigators and attorneys and expects to add staff to prosecute and coordinate cases with local law enforcement.
Ending: The Attorney General framed the $10 million litigation appropriation as a recurring tool for multi‑state and federal litigation and for major high‑cost cases; the office also requested recurring and one‑time funds to expand victim services, organized‑crime prosecution, and opioid‑abatement grant distribution.
