Committee advances bill to create legal services retainer and public policy defense fund for attorney general

The House Revenue and Taxation Committee on Feb. 18 unanimously adopted an amendment and gave HB513 a favorable recommendation. The bill, as described by its sponsor, would set up a legal services retainer fund to hold agency monies used to pay ongoing legal fees and would establish a public policy defense program to cover civil litigation that meets specified criteria.

Sponsor (unnamed in the hearing record) told the committee the proposal aims to “create funding stability for the attorney general's office and the legislature by recognizing ongoing legal fees upfront,” and to prevent legal fees from being commingled with other departmental dollars. Representative Kristofferson noted the amendment renames the fund to the expendable Special Revenue Fund; the sponsor said that change was a technical request from the Department of Finance and that funds would remain restricted to legal services.

No members of the public spoke on HB513. Representative Nguyen moved to adopt Amendment 1 and then to favorably recommend the bill as amended. The committee adopted the amendment and passed HB513 as amended by voice vote; the chair noted the measures passed unanimously.

The bill’s stated purpose is administrative: to improve coordination between the attorney general and client agencies by requiring pre‑meetings to estimate legal costs, segregating those funds, and clarifying budgeting for legal services. The measure also creates a public policy defense program intended to cover certain state civil litigation costs, though the statutory criteria for that program were not debated in detail during the committee hearing.

The committee’s favorable recommendation sends HB513 to the next floor committee or the floor calendar for further consideration.