Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass bill that establishes additional regulations on contracts between the Attorney General or other state officers and private attorneys.

Highlights:

- Requires the Attorney General, upon entering into contingent fee contracts for legal services in which the anticipated fee is in excess of $1 million or in which compensation for services is calculated on an hourly basis, to file these contracts with the Secretary of State. If a contingent fee contract is not filed with the Secretary of State, the fee is capped at $1 million (Sec. 2). - Requires additional counsel, including special council, contracted by the Attorney General and receiving a contingent fee to maintain current and complete time and expense records (Sec. 2). - Requires special counsel contracted by the Attorney General to allow inspection and copying of time and expense records upon request of the Attorney General or the employing state officer, and mandates that the time and expense records be filed with the Secretary of State after the legal matter for which the special counsel was contracted is concluded (Sec. 2). - Requires state agencies or officers to obtain prior written approval from the Attorney General before contracting with any private attorney or other outside council for legal services, unless they are otherwise authorized by law to do so (Sec. 1). - Requires the Attorney General to provide seven working days' written notice to the executive director of a state agency before filing any legal action on behalf of that agency, unless that seven-day waiting period would cause "irreparable injury" to the state (Sec. 1). - This is a substitute bill sponsored by the Senate Judiciary Committee, of which the original text was replaced by an amendment introduced by the House Judiciary Committee.

Full Bill Text

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that would put controls on contracts between the Attorney General and private attorneys working on behalf of the Attorney General.

Highlights:

- Requires that the Attorney General, before taking any legal action on behalf of a state agency, give seven working days written notice of the proposed legal action to the director of that agency. If during the seven days the director does not consent, the agency may retain separate counsel. After the expiration of the notice period, the Attorney General may initiate suit with or without the consent of the director of the agency. [sec. 1(2)]. - Requires that attorneys or law firms contracting with the state keep current and complete written time and expense records that describe in detail the time and money spent each day in performance of the contract [sec. 2 (2)(b)(i)]. - Requires that contracts for legal services with a fee expected to exceed $500,000 be reviewed by the Personal Service Contract Review Board. [sec. 2 (2)(b)(ii)]. - Caps contingent fees at $1,000,000 in contracts for legal services [sec. 2 (2)(iii)]. - Requires the Attorney General to issue requests for proposals to three separate law firms or individual lawyers and submit copies of the proposals for review to the Personal Service Contract Review Board before entering into a contract in which fees are expected to exceed $500,000 [sec. 2 (2)(iv)(v)]. - Substitute offered on 01/25/2008 by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Full Bill Text