Agency: Attorney General

Line Item: Contract Attorneys

Function

The Contract Attorneys line item tracks costs of outside attorneys and expert witnesses hired by the A.G. in cases where a conflict of interest exists, where the Legislature has specifically requested outside legal representation, or when the requisite legal expertise on specific issues is not available in the A.G. office.

Statutory Authority

Statutory authority for the Contract Attorney line item is found in UCA 67-5-5. The code states, "Unless he hires such legal counsel from outside his office, the attorney general shall remain the sole legal counsel for that agency. If outside counsel is hired for an agency, then the costs of any services to be rendered by this counsel shall be approved by the attorney general before these costs are incurred."

Intent Language

Under Section 63J-1-603 of the Utah Code, the Legislature intends that appropriations provided for the Attorney General -- Contract Attorneys in Item 10 of Chapter 2 Laws of Utah 2011 not lapse at the close of fiscal year 2012.

Performance

In FY 2012, the Attorney General expended $6,513,605 from this line item. The largest portion of this amount has resulted from settlements in cases the state has been a party to, versus payments to outside counsel.

A $5 million payment, the second installment of the $33 million "Pelt" settlement decision in FY 2010, was made in FY 2012. The state began payments for this settlement in FY 2011 with an initial payment of $1 million. For FY 2013 and FY 2014, the state is slated to complete payments for the settlement in the amount of $13.5 million for each fiscal year.

Two other cases account for close to half of the remaining FY 2012 expenditures for this line item. A $388,000 payment was made in the settlement of the Utah Highway Patrol Crosses case Atheists vs. Davenport. The Attorney General also paid $275,200 for the state's FLDS trust (UEP) case, which was paid to the trust administrator acting on behalf of the state. This $275, 200 was partially payed for with nonlapsing balances in the amount of $51,400. The remaining $223,800 went unfunded during the 2012 General Session resulting in expenditures for the Contract Attorneys line item closing out greater than revenues and leaving the line item with a negative balance for FY 2012.

Funding Detail

The Contract Attorney line item has only one program. Any General Fund in this line item represents estimates of outside counsel costs for cases of a general statewide nature. Dedicated credits funding represents reimbursements from state agencies that benefit from litigation for which outside counsel is used.