Attorney General budget would fund office and opioid-response programs

The Legislature would provide money for the Attorney General’s Office. The funding would include $33,974,056 from the state General Fund and up to $44,248,184 from special funds available to the office. Special-fund money would come from funds collected by or otherwise available to the office. The money could be used only for the office’s authorized expenses and duties. The office would have to keep accounting and personnel records and report performance information in its budget request. The funding would cover the fiscal year from July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027.

The proposal would direct opioid-settlement money to the Attorney General’s Office, Lafayette County, and named treatment, recovery, prevention, and support programs. The funding would include $3.9 million in non-abatement money and $30,324,617 in abatement money for the specific recipients and projects listed in Sections 18 and 19. Recipients under Sections 18 and 19 would have to certify under oath that they had not made prohibited success-based compensation agreements tied to legislation or executive action. Money could not be paid to a recipient that failed to provide the certification or violated it. Some properties bought or improved with the money would return to the state if the related program ended. The allocations would be available during the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2026, if the proposal took effect.

The Attorney General’s Office would have to keep personal-service spending within the stated limits and authorized staffing levels. The limits would cover salaries, wages, benefits, vacancy funding, and other personal-service costs funded by this act. The proposal would authorize 91 permanent positions and 209 time-limited positions. Personal-service money could not be transferred to another spending category. Vacancy funding could be used to fill approved vacancies, but not for promotions, title changes, or current employees’ salary increases. Salary actions that could exceed the annual limit generally could not be processed, except for essential new hires. These controls would apply to fiscal year 2027 spending and to annualized actions affecting the fiscal year 2028 request.