Attorney General outlines 24 proposed legal and support positions, consolidation of investigators and other budget requests

Attorney General Aaron D. Ford and senior staff presented the office’s budget request and staffing priorities to the Assembly Ways and Means and the Senate Finance committees, describing 24 proposed attorney and support positions, a plan to consolidate investigators into a single budget, an upgrade to the office's case management system and other operational requests.

What the office asked for: Ford’s presentation cited recent recoveries and enforcement work and then his senior staff walked lawmakers through detailed requests organized by position and functional need. Chief of staff Teresa Benitez Thompson said the office’s priority was more legal staff rather than new programs: “we did more of analysis of, what's gonna what is the biggest impact, positive impact that we can make for this office and what is that ask? And, we decided that that was really new positions, that we did not need new programs,” she said.

Major position requests and justifications included: six senior deputy attorney general roles aimed at Medicaid work, nuclear practice (Yucca Mountain licensing and litigation), criminal prosecutions tied to the Nevada Department of Corrections caseload, complex litigation, taxation and NDOC client representation; a number of deputy attorney general positions for public and behavioral health (forensic and civil commitments), post‑conviction and other client work; legal researchers and legal secretaries to reduce attorney workloads; two fiscal staff positions (accounting assistant and management analyst) to address accounting and budget management loads; IT staff and a business analyst to support system upgrades and a planned victim notification vendor; and two compliance investigators plus administrative support to operate a patterns‑and‑practice unit formed after 2021 legislation.

On a cost basis, Jessica Hoban, chief financial officer, told the committees the office’s approach includes shifting some previously contracted legal work — specifically nuclear litigation — into an in‑house senior deputy attorney general funded through the Attorney General Cost Allocation Plan. “By adding [a] senior deputy attorney general level position to our office, it does cost less than the current contractor that has communicated that they would no longer be performing these services,” Hoban said.

Investigations consolidation and operations: staff proposed consolidating investigators now spread across six budget accounts into a new investigations budget (proposed account 1034) to improve management, parity, and operational flexibility. The office said the move would be supported by time‑tracking so the AG cost allocation could allocate investigator time across client agencies.

Other notable items: - Extraditions coordinator (budget 1002): staff described a higher cost trend driven by pandemic‑era transport changes (more airline transports, fewer long multi‑leg vehicle moves) and said they will seek a supplemental appropriation for FY25 to cover invoices; Hoban gave a supplemental request figure of about $1.25 million to cover FY24 stale claims and FY25 projected invoices. - Grants unit (budget 1040): request to convert a contractor opioid coordinator to a permanent state position and to move certain grant management activities into the AG grants account. - Tort claims (budget 1348): staff described actuarial and claim‑mix issues and said the governor’s recommendation reduces the account’s reserves; Hoban explained the governor’s approach aims to smooth agency assessments and rely on the statutory contingency process if the fund is exhausted. - ProLaw and IT: staff requested funding to upgrade the ProLaw case management system and to add an IT technician and business analyst to support system implementation and desktop/network operations.

Legislative questions and staff responses: lawmakers asked for vacancy rates, ratios of legal researchers to attorneys, specifics about caseload spikes from the Nevada Department of Corrections (including recent NDOC homicides and large complex prosecutions), and more detail about the Department of Taxation work and whether agency general counsel would change the AG office’s role. Staff promised follow‑up data on vacancy trends, the number of guardianship filings and case counts, and more granular justification for some position requests.

Dignitary protection request: near the end of the hearing staff said the office will separately request consideration of a new dignitary protection unit for the attorney general — a supplemental proposal the office described as six positions (five investigators and one supervisor) plus two vehicles — and asked lawmakers to permit follow‑up briefings. The office said it was studying other state models and would provide detailed costs and operational plans to members.

Ending: staff said the position requests are designed to address workload growth across many divisions, to reduce reliance on outside counsel for niche practice areas and to modernize case and grant systems. Committee members asked for additional documentation and follow‑up on several items, including updated extradition projections, vacancy reports, caseload detail, and cost allocation timing.