Senate committee approves $1.22 million claims bill after dissent on DOJ costs

The Senate Committee on Appropriations gave SB 251 a due-pass recommendation to the Senate floor after brief debate, approving approximately $1,221,491 from the General Fund to pay attorney fees and costs for three claims against the state.

SB 251, carried by Committee Chair Senator Anna Caballero, is the first of two annual claims bills that provide appropriation authority for legal judgments and settlements approved by the Department of Justice and the Department of Finance. Caballero told the committee the judgments and settlements — First Amendment Coalition v. Bonta; Linton v. Bonta; and X Corporation v. Bonta — are binding state obligations that must be paid, and that funds in excess of the amounts required will revert to the General Fund.

Justin Raussa, identified in the hearing as the deputy director of legislative fiscal (speaking on behalf of Attorney General Rob Bonta), said the bill appropriates $1,221,491 from the General Fund and introduced Deputy Attorneys General Bridal Butin, Jerry Yen and John Echeverria as available to answer technical questions. Christian Beltran of the Department of Finance told the committee that Finance supports the bill and has approved the three settlements.

Vice Chair (not named in the transcript) dissented, saying the Linton and X Corporation cases “were loser case[s] from the very beginning” and arguing the Department of Justice should pay attorney fees from its own budget rather than the General Fund. The vice chair urged lawmakers to find ways to prevent similar payouts in the future and said, “They should find it in their budget.”

Chair Caballero replied that anyone can sue the state, that government defendants sometimes win and sometimes lose, and that negotiated attorney-fee payments are the process for resolving such claims.

The committee recorded a final vote of 5–1 to give SB 251 a due-pass recommendation to the Senate floor. The motion was entered as "due pass to the Senate floor"; the mover and seconder were not specified in the hearing record. The committee placed the bill on call for absent members before proceeding to the next item.

The appropriation is an urgency claims bill to cover attorney fees and costs tied to court judgments and settlements; the bill does not create new programmatic spending beyond making the state liable to pay already-established obligations.

Senate staff said there were no opposition witnesses in the hearing. Several Department of Justice representatives remained available to answer technical questions if requested on the Senate floor.