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Appropriations panel funds AG hearing‑protection program, expands Inspector General and approves AI procurement to detect fraud
Summary
The Appropriations Committee approved attorney general budget changes for FY2027 that include $3 million for hearing protection programs for law enforcement, $1.1 million and nine FTEs to expand the Office of Inspector General, and roughly $830,000 to procure process‑intelligence (AI) software to audit public assistance spending and identify fraud and waste.
The committee reviewed the Office of the Attorney General’s budgets for 2026 and 2027 and approved several program expansions and provisos.
For 2027 the House Committee added about $3,000,000 in SGF for a hearing protection program for law enforcement: roughly $960,000 for custom active hearing protection for investigative officers and $2,100,000 for standard active hearing protection for local law enforcement, to be procured and distributed by the attorney general’s office on a first‑come, first‑served basis.
Committee members and staff also discussed several additions to implement legislation passed in 2025: $1,100,000 and nine FTEs to expand the Office of Inspector General to statewide oversight of health care and welfare programs (moving beyond Medicaid), funding for investigators to support consumer protection enforcement, positions to implement a regulatory sandbox, and staff to support enforcement under the Scrap Metal Theft Reduction Act.
Representative Jared Sutton moved a proviso and appropriation of approximately $830,000 to develop and issue an RFP and select a process‑intelligence software provider to support the Office of the Inspector General. Sutton framed the proposal as a tool to detect multiple payments, ineligible recipients and other errors across whole populations of public assistance payments. "We need an AI platform that will go through the expenditures by our agencies," Sutton said, and proponents noted state precedents where similar work found large recoveries. Supporters urged the committee to treat the purchase as a one‑year pilot with required deliverables and reporting; Representative Sutton asked the contractor to provide measurable cost‑savings estimates and recommendations as part of the RFP.
The committee approved the motion; members requested a report back after the first year to assess performance and whether the software reduced the need for additional FTEs.
What happens next: the attorney general’s budget will be included in the broader Appropriations recommendations and conference work; the Office of Inspector General will issue an RFP for process‑intelligence software and report results after implementation.
