Senate considers SB 251, an urgency measure to pay roughly $1.22 million in legal claims; lawmakers debate who should bear cost

SB 251, an urgency measure to appropriate funds from the General Fund to pay attorneys' fees and costs in several court-ordered matters, was taken up on the Senate floor.

Senator Anna Caballero, the bill's floor author, told colleagues SB 251 is a routine appropriations vehicle used by the Appropriations Committee to provide payment authority for legal claims approved by the Attorney General's Office and the Department of Finance. "This urgency measure appropriates $1,220,000 from the General Fund to pay for prevailing parties' attorneys fees and costs in 3 specified cases as identified in approved settlement agreements," Caballero said on the floor.

Why it matters: The measure would cover state financial obligations tied to litigation outcomes. Sponsors said failing to appropriate the funds would expose the state to additional litigation and costs; critics said routine errors and poor drafting should not be subsidized by the General Fund.

Senator Brian Dahle Sayarto (identified in the transcript as Senator Sayarto) pressed that the payouts impose a taxpayer burden for errors or for agency litigation choices. "It does pain me and give me heartburn to know that we continue to do pay the taxpayers pay out of our general fund for what amount to mistakes that we know are mistakes when we made them," he said. Sayarto recited the amounts he said make up the bill's obligations: about $617,000 for a drafting loophole, a $244,400 stipulated judgment in Linton v. Bonta, and $359,814 for another judgment the senator said arose after the Department of Justice defended a law later found unconstitutional.

Caballero responded that the Attorney General "rightly defended the state. He won some parts of the litigation and, we lost other parts. And so that's the reason we have these claims that we are legally obligated to pay." She asked for members' aye votes.

Clarifying details recorded on the floor: the sponsor described the measure as an urgency appropriation; Caballero gave the $1,220,000 total figure in her floor statement; Senator Sayarto listed the three case-level figures (approx. $617,000; $244,400; $359,814). The transcript does not contain an explicit final tally or formal announcement of the bill's final disposition in the provided excerpt.

Discussion versus decision: The transcript records substantive debate about fiscal responsibility and litigation choices (discussion). The sponsor framed the measure as a legally required appropriation; the transcript does not include a definitive, explicit roll-call result for SB 251 in the provided excerpt (decision not specified in text).

Ending: On the floor, sponsors stressed legal obligation and urgency; at least one senator urged greater care to avoid similar costs in future drafting and enforcement. The final vote tally and formal adoption or failure of SB 251 are not specified in the provided transcript excerpts.