Bill from Okla. House committee would put state agencies’ attorneys under AG’s office

Bill would put Okla. agencies’ lawyers under AG

OKLAHOMA CITY — An Oklahoma House budget panel on Wednesday approved a plan to save some money by transferring authority for state agencies’ lawyers to the attorney general’s office.

If implemented, the bill is expected to save the state an estimated $10 million annually by reducing the number of state attorneys and their salaries, and cutting in half the $9 million state agencies spend to hire outside attorneys, according to a House fiscal analysis of the bill.

Charlie Price, a spokesman for Attorney General Drew Edmondson, said the lawyers’ salaries would be subject to the salary structure of the AG’s office, likely resulting in a pay cut for about a quarter of the estimated 250 attorneys working for various state agencies.

“We’re in a budget crisis, and this is a way to save the state money,” Price said. “It will also standardize and streamline the legal services for the state.”

The nearly 250-page bill was first introduced Wednesday in the House General Conference Committee on Appropriations. It specifically exempts several agencies, including the governor, Legislature, judiciary, Ethics Commission, District Attorneys Council, Indigent Defense System and the state’s colleges and universities.

“We’ve had a proliferation of lawyers in the state of Oklahoma,” said the bill’s author, state Rep. Ken Miller, R-Edmond. “In these tight budgetary times, that is a luxury we cannot afford.”

The measure still must be approved by a similar Senate budget panel before it can be considered in the House and Senate. The Legislature adjourns on Friday.

State Rep. Doug Cox, R-Grove, opposed the bill because it applied to state entities that receive no state funding, including the Board of Medical Licensure and the Grand River Dam Authority.

“Take the Board of Medical Licensure, which I’m familiar with,” said Cox, a physician. “Why can the state come in and tell them who they can hire with my money?”

A spokeswoman with the Department of Human Services, which has dozens of attorneys on its staff, said agency officials were still analyzing the bill late Wednesday and declined to comment.

But state Rep. Randy Terrill said the bill is drawing fierce resistance from agency representatives.

“It’s stirred up a bit of a hornet’s nest with the agencies,” said Terrill, R-Moore. “The current incantation may not be what’s in the final bill … but some consolidation is probably needed in this area.”