Representative Brandenburg told the Appropriations - Government Operations Division that members of the Federal Environmental Law Impact Review Committee warned of rising litigation from environmental groups that could affect agriculture and energy projects. "I have a feeling we're gonna have some more litigation," Brandenburg said, urging the committee to review litigation funding levels.

Adam, the committee budget analyst, presented a staff tally of litigation-related funding across state budgets. "You have in the Industrial Commission Administrative Office, the $3,000,000 for the lignite litigation. And then you have the Department of Mineral Resources, dollars $3,000,000 for oil and gas litigation. And then in the Attorney General's budget there's $5,000,000 in the litigation funding pool," Adam said, and added that a requested $3,000,000 deficiency carryover would likely be available next biennium. Combined with other identified items, Adam said the total came to roughly $14.5 million across agencies.

Committee members said multi-state or class-action federal cases could substantially increase costs. Representative Kempnick and others noted that participation in federal lawsuits can be expensive and unpredictable and suggested pooling resources or seeking interagency coordination. "Just to bring something or just to even participate in a federal type lawsuit or something is probably you're looking at a million dollar buy in," Kempnick said.

No formal action was taken; members directed staff to continue monitoring litigation exposure and to provide additional detail as leadership considers priorities in the coming budget cycle.

Ending

Members agreed to keep the issue under review and to ask budget staff for more granular accounting of litigation-related balances and carryover authority for potential legal needs.