The Texas Office of the Attorney General hinted on Tuesday that it鈥檚 unlikely Ken Paxton will have to pay out-of-pocket for a $3.3 million settlement.
This could mean taxpayers would have to on his behalf.
鈥淯nder the [Texas] Whistleblower Act, the agency, the Office of the Attorney General, is the proper defendant,鈥� Chris Hilton, chief of the agency鈥檚 general litigation division, told lawmakers. 鈥淏ecause the agency is a defendant, that money needs to be specifically appropriated by the Legislature.鈥�
The multimillion-dollar settlement stems from brought under the Texas Whistleblower Act. Four of Paxton鈥檚 top deputies of using his office to provide political favors for political donors and one of his friends.
Under the recent settlement agreement, Paxton did not admit any wrongdoing. Instead, his attorneys said 鈥淧axton accepts that plaintiffs acted in a manner that they thought was right and apologizes for referring to them as 鈥榬ogue employees.'鈥�
In a House Appropriations Committee Tuesday, Chair Rep. Mary Gonz谩lez, D-Clint, asked what would happen if the Legislature decides to not appropriate the funds for the settlement. Hilton responded that the settlement is 鈥渋n the best interest of the state.鈥�
鈥淭he agreement itself is contingent on legislative funding,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t's a settlement that we made in order to save money for the state of Texas 鈥� It was the prudent thing to do to minimize litigation risk.鈥�
Hilton added that the state has already spent nearly $600,000 defending the case, and if they were to litigate the case and lose in court, the state could end up paying more than the $3.3 million agreed to under the settlement.
When asked whether the money can come from Paxton鈥檚 campaign account, Hilton said, 鈥渢here is no whistleblower case where any individual has paid anything because the individual is not liable under the terms of the statute.鈥�
Phelan other Republicans show resistance
Securing the funding for the settlement seems like it could be somewhat challenging for Paxton.
House Speaker Dade Phelan recently told that Paxton will have to convince House members to foot the bill.
鈥淗e's going to have to appear before the appropriations committee and make a case to that committee as to why that is a proper use of taxpayer dollars,鈥� Phelan told the news outlet. 鈥淗e's going to have to sell it to 76 members of the Texas House.鈥�
Phelan said he doesn鈥檛 support using taxpayer dollars for the settlement.
Meanwhile, Gov. Greg Abbott told , 鈥渢his is an issue that the attorney general is going to have to fully explain to both the House and the Senate.鈥�
But the attorneys for the whistleblowers have said they are concerned with the opposition from lawmakers to pay for the settlement.
According to , the attorneys for the four former employees said 鈥渟tate employees cannot be expected to report government corruption in the future if they know the Legislature won鈥檛 back their rights under the statute it passed for the very purpose of protecting them.鈥�
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