Attorney General outlines 2026 budget, details 41 federal suits and consumer recoveries

The Attorney General presented the office's 2026 budget to the House Judiciary Committee on Feb. 11, outlining staffing levels, funding sources and major litigation that the office says has produced tens of millions of dollars returned to the state.

The Attorney General said the office's budget is roughly $19,000,000 and noted that most of the cost is personal services, meaning salaries for lawyers and staff. "We have a $19,000,000 budget," the Attorney General said, adding that many assistant attorneys general are "embedded" in other state agencies and show up on other agencies' payrolls even though the AG's office supervises their work.

The presentation walked lawmakers through funding sources shown on a pie chart: the general fund provides most support, interdepartmental transfers cover embedded civil defense work, federal grants support units such as the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force and a multi-state MROW program (about 75% grant-funded, 25% state-funded), and a recurring tobacco-settlement distribution continues to support enforcement work.

On litigation, the Attorney General said the office has been both plaintiff and defender in major cases. "We have so far, unfortunately, had to sue 41 times, and, that's a lot," the Attorney General said, and added the office is "winning in over 90% of the cases to date." She told the committee that those successful suits have restored rights and returned "tens of millions of dollars back to the state that was attempted to be illegally withheld." The AG said the most common federal-suit subjects have included immigration, climate/environmental measures, federal-benefits protections such as SNAP, and LGBTQ rights, and that the legal claims commonly involve alleged violations of the Administrative Procedure Act and constitutional spending and separation-of-powers provisions.

Committee members pressed for detail. A member identified in the record as Zach asked whether the tens of millions included long-running tobacco recoveries; the Attorney General said the Trump-era recoveries are separate from the tobacco settlement proceeds and that the 41 suits were filed jointly with other states. The AG pointed committee members to the office website for complaint and case listings.

The Attorney General named recent major cases in the office's portfolio, including consumer-protection suits against Exxon and other fossil-fuel companies, litigation involving PFAS and contaminated sites, opioid-marketer and distributor suits that the office says have returned substantial sums, lawsuits against Meta and TikTok alleging harms to youth, and recent actions against pharmacy benefit managers including CVS and Express Scripts.

On staffing and workload, the AG said the appellate unit ' which handles many constitutional challenges ' includes the solicitor general, the deputy, a paralegal and a short-term-funded writer added this year to help with appeals. The unit, she said, is handling the added federal-case workload rather than creating a separately funded, fully dedicated group: "So it's just more part time work than this? It's more work," the Attorney General said.

The AG also requested two personnel actions beyond the governor's recommended budget: (1) continued funding and a position number for a consumer-assistance home-improvement specialist created after a compromise on contractor regulation; and (2) converting an assistant director for diversion in the restorative-justice unit from short-term funding to a permanent position, for which money is available this year but a permanent position number is needed.

On consumer matters, the AG highlighted the consumer unit's recoveries: "$23,000,000 is how much we brought in in 2025," she said, and noted $817,000,000 recovered since the 1998 tobacco settlement when tobacco-related receipts are included. The AG said a limited-service home-improvement specialist position has generated meaningful recoveries for Vermonters and argued it should be continued.

Committee members asked about losses. The AG recalled one mixed or lost case that had an identifiable factual context and said she did not recall a material financial loss to the state associated with the small share of cases not decided in the office's favor.

The committee scheduled another budget presentation for the next day and adjourned. The Attorney General indicated additional materials and the full case record are available on the office website for members who want detailed breakdowns.

The hearing provided committee members with staffing and program requests tied to the AGO budget, an overview of the office's major active litigation and a summary of recent consumer-recovery results; no formal votes or motions were taken during the session.