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Deputy attorney general details budget request, retention problems and settlement spending
Summary
Deputy Attorney General Doug Miracle told the subcommittee the AG's FY2027 request totals $45,480,833 (about $35.3 million in general funds), flagged salary‑line constraints that hamper retention, summarized opioid settlement balances and said the office expects outside‑counsel deficit requests for major litigation.
Deputy Attorney General Doug Miracle briefed the subcommittee on the Attorney General's FY2027 budget and several program priorities, citing both personnel challenges and litigation obligations.
Miracle said the office is requesting $45,480,833 for FY2027, including $35,312,935 in general funds, a total that he said is about $915,359 less than the prior fiscal year. “We are requesting $45,480,833, which includes $35,312,935 in general funds,” he told the committee.
A central theme of the presentation was retention. Miracle said statutory pay caps and compression within the AG salary line make it difficult to keep experienced lawyers when other state agencies can pay more under different designations. He told the committee that changes in prior legislation (identified in testimony as HB 1509) have left some district attorney salaries higher than the AG office can pay, and he asked for flexibility to reallocate funds within the AG budget to address merit‑based progressions ($1,584,641 was cited for the salary line increase).
Miracle also summarized settlement and litigation matters. He reported the opioid‑settlement fund for this cycle was described in testimony as roughly $345 million in abatement plus about $14.8 million in other state funds and said the council completed its recommendations; he noted the legislature must appropriate awards. He said the office expects to request approximately $400,000–$500,000 in deficit appropriations next year for outside counsel as the state prepares for trials in complex cases tied to pharmaceutical litigation (the testimony named AstraZeneca, AbbVie and industry trade groups as plaintiffs in suits tied to pharmacy legislation). Miracle said the AG's office has generally managed litigation in‑house but will retain external expertise for large trials.
On child‑welfare work, Miracle described a family‑defense/TPR pilot in five counties with strong year‑end results: testimony cited decreases in time from filing to final judgment ranging from 71% in Jackson County to 41% in Forest County and similar drops in other pilot counties. Miracle also discussed the victims‑of‑human‑trafficking fund: the FY27 budget requests $2.5 million going forward and includes a $1.5 million deficit request to cover a tranche vetoed in a prior special session; the fund had roughly $1 million cash on hand from assessments.
Committee members asked for follow‑up on the salary‑line constraints and the structure of the LBR and asked the AG's office to provide more detailed charts on lost attorneys and classification changes. Miracle said he would provide the requested materials.
