The state attorney general’s office is asking for $1 million to support its litigation budget — largely to prepare for increased federal legal actions.
So far, the Hawaiʻi attorney general has been a party to 39 lawsuits — three of which the office took a lead on.
The department has been able to claw back close to a billion dollars in funds from the federal government and has only spent about $12,000 on those cases.
Attorney General Anne Lopez told state Sen. Karl Rhodes during a Ways and Means Committee budget briefing that she expects the costs to increase due to federal retribution or retaliation against states like Hawaiʻi that have statutes or constitutions protecting certain classes of people.
"We're seeing some of that retaliation already. It hasn't happened in Hawai'i, but we're beginning to see that. And I imagine that that may be where we go next," she said.
Her office, on average, spends about $3 million a year on litigation, not including the federal lawsuits it’s been a part of over the last year.
