Department of Law
The enacted budget makes the following changes to the Executive Budget (analysis as of 4/2/2007):
- Increases the department’s all funds budget by $4 million, all of which is in a maintenance undistributed appropriation in the Counsel for the State program related to representing the State in civil commitment proceedings. This appropriation includes $2.6 million in personal services.
The Senate recommends (analysis as of March 16, 2007):
- Cuts $2.906 million in the Department’s State Operations budget which includes a $2.001 million cut in the Administration program and a $905,000 cut in the Counsel for the State program.
- Cuts $407,000 from the personal service appropriation and $1,574,000 from the contractual services appropriation in the Administration program. The Senate claims this cuts the funding for the Project Sunlight program and the 5 new FTEs associated with the program. It also cuts the funding for increased lease costs at regional offices. The Executive Budget did propose a $1.6 million increase over last year’s contractual services appropriation, $1.3 million of which was related to increased lease costs.
- Cuts $641,000 from the personal service appropriation and $264,000 from the contractual services appropriation in the Counsel for the State program. The Senate claims this cut reflects their rejection of the proposed additional 12 FTEs to handle the increased workload due to the 12 new Court of Claims judges
The Executive Budget recommends (analysis as of February 5, 2007):
A SFY 2007-08 workforce of 1,881. This is an increase of 40 FTEs from the adjusted FTE level for SFY 2006-07. During SFY2006-07 129 FTEs were added to the Department’s workforce that was not originally estimated to be added in the SFY 2006-07 Executive Budget. Most of that increase is likely due to the $4.7 million the Legislature added to the department’s budget in the enacted SFY 2006-07 budget most of which was for Medicaid fraud control. The following chart identifies adjustments in current fiscal years FTEs along with the recommended differences in FY 2007-08 FTEs by program (if the FTE’s are the same the program is not listed):
Program
FY 2006-07 Adjustment
FY 2007-08 Difference
Administration
+11
+5
Counsel for the State
+36
+12
Criminal Prosecution
+14
0
Medicaid Fraud Control
+39
+23
Public Advocacy
+20
0
Regional Offices
+6
0
Appeals & Opinions
+3
0
- The total appropriation for Personal Service is $6.3, an increase of 4.7%.
- An All Funds increase of $6.7 million, (+2.9%) from SFY 2006-07.
- A decrease in the personal services appropriation in the Administration Program of $2.5 million (-17.3%) even though they are supposed to be adding five FTEs. A portion of this decrease, $1.4 million, may be associated with the prior year appropriation for the maintenance of a web-based prescription drug list. This law was never enacted so the Department does not maintain such a list. According to the Senate and Assembly a $701,000 increase is included in the Administration program for 5 FTEs and non-personal service support for the implementation of Project Sunlight. This is a new initiative proposed by the Attorney General which seeks to promote government-wide disclosure by collecting, standardizing and publishing data from the myriad statewide databases into a single database. The adequacy of the proposed personal services appropriation to support the additional 5 FTEs should be clarified at statewide labor management.
- An increase of $1.6 million (+10.4%) in the nonpersonal services appropriation in the Administration Program for contractual services. This may be associated with increased lease costs. This issue should be clarified at statewide labor management
- An increase of $3.5 million (+14.2%) in the personal services appropriation for the Counsel for State program which appears to support funding for the additional 12 FTEs. This is associated with an anticipated increased workload due to the recent appointment of 12 new Court of Claims judges.
- An increase of $8.4 million (+515.1%) in the nonpersonal services appropriation in the Counsel for State program. This appears to be a shift from a SFY 2006-07 maintenance undistributed appropriation of $8.1 million into a SFY2007-08 General Fund nonpersonal services appropriation.
- An increase of $2.6 million in the personal services appropriation in the Medicaid Fraud Control program. This appears sufficient to support the additional 23 FTEs for this program. According to the assembly and senate $1.9 million of this increase is in federal funds, $1.5 million of which will be used to support 17 FTEs. The remaining personal service increase is in the Recoveries and Revenue Special Revenue Other account $598,000 of which will provide the matching funds to support an additional 6 FTEs. According to the Senate and Assembly some of the $2.9 million increase in the non-personal service appropriation in this program is for the purchase of surveillance vehicles.
- The Executive Budget shows that the Department of Law employed an estimated 151 employees under consultant contracts in SFY 2006-07 at an estimated cost of $13.3 million or an average cost of $88,331 per consultant contract employee. It is estimated that the number of employees employed under consultant contracts will remain the same in SFY 2007-08. Consultant contract employees will be paid $13.4 million in SFY 2007-08 or an average cost of $88,464 per consultant contract employee, a .2% increase over the average cost in SFY 2006-07. The purpose and use of these contract employees and whether they can be replaced by state employees should be clarified at statewide labor management.
Department of Law Program Details-State Operations Enacted Proposed Enacted Change in Percent Program 2006-07 Budget 2007-08 Budget 2007-08 Budget Appropriation Change All Funds $229,250,000 $235,992,000 $239,992,000 $10,742,000 4.7% General Fund $126,078,000 $130,360,000 $134,360,000 $8,282,000 6.6% Special Revenue-Federal $35,616,000 $37,480,000 $37,480,000 $1,864,000 5.2% Special Revenue-Other $67,556,000 $68,152,000 $68,152,000 $596,000 0.9% Personal Services $133,007,000 $139,286,000 $141,886,000 $8,879,000 6.7% Contractual Services $48,076,000 $48,076,000 $48,076,000 100.0% Administration $29,594,000 $28,675,000 $28,675,000 ($919,000) -3.1% Personal Service $14,426,000 $11,933,000 $11,933,000 ($2,493,000) -17.3% Regular $10,400,000 $10,400,000 Temporary service $1,476,000 $1,476,000 Holiday/overtime compensation $57,000 $57,000 Nonpersonal Service $15,168,000 $16,742,000 $16,742,000 $1,574,000 10.4% Supplies and materials $5,100,000 $5,100,000 Travel $257,000 $257,000 Contractual Services $11,385,000 $11,385,000 Appeals and Opinions $5,435,000 $5,956,000 $5,956,000 $521,000 9.6% Personal Service $4,608,000 $5,129,000 $5,129,000 $521,000 11.3% Regular $5,079,000 $5,079,000 Temporary service $31,000 $31,000 Holiday/overtime compensation $19,000 $19,000 Nonpersonal Service $827,000 $827,000 $827,000 $0 0.0% Contractual Services $827,000 $827,000 Counsel for State $83,920,000 $87,401,000 $91,401,000 $7,481,000 8.9% Personal Service $24,619,000 $28,121,000 $28,121,000 $3,502,000 14.2% Regular $27,420,000 $27,420,000 Temporary service $562,000 $562,000 Holiday/overtime compensation $139,000 $139,000 Nonpersonal Service $1,635,000 $10,057,000 $10,057,000 $8,422,000 515.1% Travel $399,000 $399,000 Contractual Services $9,658,000 $9,658,000 Maintenance Undistributed $8,158,000 $0 $4,000,000 ($4,158,000) -51.0% Personal Service $0 $2,600,000 Regular $0 $2,600,000 Nonpersonal Service $0 $1,400,000 Supplies and materials $0 $50,000 Travel $0