WASHINGTON, D. C. – Attorney General Karl A. Racine today released his Fiscal Year 2018 budget proposal, which focuses on improving public safety, protecting at-risk residents, and ensuring that the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) continues to serve the District as a first-in-class public law firm. OAG is a net revenue-generating agency, contributing more than $597 million to the District in FY 2016—far more than it cost District taxpayers to run the agency.

OAG’s FY 2017 budget proposal includes a modest increase over FY 2017 levels, an investment that would equip OAG to better protect both taxpayer funds and the public interest.

“The Office of the Attorney General has made great strides in the last two fiscal years in becoming one of the nation’s premier public law firms, and this budget would help us build on our successes,” said Attorney General Racine. “Specifically, this budget would provide additional resources that will not only pay for themselves, but enable us to better protect public safety and advocate on behalf of the District’s most vulnerable residents in cases of housing justice, wage theft, consumer protection, and civil rights.”

The Attorney General’s proposed budget will:

• Improve public safety: Additional attorneys, paralegals, and staff will increase OAG’s capacity to litigate criminal and mental health cases on behalf of the District, file appeals to protect vulnerable children in neglect proceedings, and rehabilitate juvenile offenders. If provided with the necessary resources, OAG will build on existing programs that make neighborhoods safer by getting young offenders on the right path and preventing them from reoffending.
• Protect vulnerable residents: OAG recently established a new Public Advocacy Division to combine in one office all of the agency’s affirmative litigation on housing justice, wage theft, the environment and other issues. OAG also established a standalone Office of Consumer Protection in late 2015 to enhance the office’s efforts to protect consumers from scammers. The budget proposal would provide these divisions with additional attorneys, paralegals, and an investigator to aid the District’s most vulnerable residents by combatting wage theft, landlord abuses, and fraudulent business practices, as well safeguarding the civil rights of minority groups.
• Protect District taxpayers: OAG’s proposed budget increase pays for itself with the addition of a single Tax and Finance Section paralegal, who is projected to save the District $4.2 million in tax refund interest savings. Additional attorney and staff positions included in the proposal will enable OAG to better enforce the District’s laws, fight abuses of the public trust, and defend the District against lawsuits, all of which benefit taxpayers.
• Help OAG Be a First-in-Class Public Law Firm: OAG’s proposed budget also includes a request to increase the cap on the Council-created Litigation Support Fund from $3 million to $5 million to undergird the office’s litigation support needs. This will enable our attorneys to compete on a more level playing field when up against well-funded attorneys representing large multi-million-dollar corporations. The Litigation Support Fund retains a small percentage of the recoveries OAG brings to the District to defray expenses associated with trying cases, such as costs associated with discovery, trial presentation software, and expert witnesses.

Attorney General Racine testified on the proposal before the Council of the District of Columbia’s Committee on the Judiciary earlier today. His testimony as prepared for delivery is attached.