Attorney General Racine Thanks Council for FY 2018 Budget Expanding Support for Public Safety, Workers, Environment

Budget Supports Victim-Offender Mediation Program, Consumer Fund, Other Initiatives

WASHINGTON, D. C. – Attorney General Karl A. Racine thanked the Council of the District of Columbia for unanimously passing a Fiscal Year 2018 (FY18) Budget for the District that expands the ability of the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) to protect public safety, the environment, consumers, and workers in the District.

“I want to express my thanks to the Executive and the Council for working collaboratively with us to create an OAG budget that helps us keep our neighborhoods safe and promote the public interest,” Attorney General Racine said. “This budget is good news for consumers, workers, and all of our residents.”

OAG’s FY18 approved budget includes 20 critical new positions, including:

  • Three new victim-offender mediators as part of a pilot program to interrupt and reduce violence pursuant to the Comprehensive Youth Justice Amendment Act of 2016 (D.C. Law 21-0238);
  • Two attorneys to pursue cases against employers who commit wage theft and other civil rights abuses;
  • A dedicated environmental law attorney to advocate for District residents on issues that affect the environment;
  • And a new attorney and two staff to perform labor-intensive reviews of footage from Metropolitan Police Department body-worn cameras (BWC).

Other Budget Provisions Establish Consumer Restitution Fund, Enhance OAG Litigation Support
The FY18 Budget establishes a new Consumer Restitution Fund for the collection and distribution of restitution awards made to private parties as a result of OAG’s consumer protection enforcement actions. This fund will help protect consumers who have been wronged by a company, but are unable to recover funds because the company’s assets are exhausted.

In addition, the FY18 budget increases the cap on OAG’s Litigation Support Fund from $3 million to $5 million. This fund retains a small fraction of the millions of dollars per year that OAG recovers in settlements and judgments for the District; the funds can be spent on resources that bolster OAG’s ability to do good legal work, including better trial presentation materials, expert witnesses, and a host of other needs related to litigation. The additional funds help OAG’s attorneys and professional staff assemble and litigate strong cases against large corporations and other opponents represented by well-funded lawyers.

Attorney General expressed specific thanks to several Councilmembers for their efforts to include particular additions to OAG’s budget. “In particular, I’d like to express my gratitude to Chairman Mendelson for his generous support for OAG in this budget, to Judiciary Committee Chairman Allen for supporting OAG's innovative public safety and reduction of violence work, to Councilmember Silverman for sponsoring the wage theft and civil rights lawyers, and to Councilmember Cheh for granting the office an environmental advocate,” he said. “Thanks to our partners on the Council, OAG has the resources to faithfully serve the people of the District.”