House Bill 3390 would bring a new level of transparency focused on state agencies hiring outside lawyers. Representative Terry O’Donnell is the author of the measure and says that his measure would require the state of make public the list of attorneys and firms an agency has hired and their fees schedule.
It passed the House Judiciary Committee this week by a vote of 15 to zero.
“The goal of this measure is to bring transparency to state lawsuits,” O’Donnell said. “A more transparent bidding process is good for everybody in the state.”
HB 3390 also caps the fees and requires any case believed to cost more than a million dollars will have to first need to ask the Legislative Oversight Committee overseeing the Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency (LOFT).
O’Donnell says more work needs to be done to the language of the bill, so amendments should be expected as it winds through the legislative process.
