Dept. of Law outlines FY27 civil division budget, asks for $1M supplemental for statehood defense

Deputy Attorney General Corey Mills told the House Finance Department of Law Subcommittee on Feb. 9 that the Civil Division's FY27 budget is driven largely by interagency billings and multiyear appropriations, and that the department is requesting a supplemental of $1,000,000 over three years to replenish statehood-defense work.

Mills said the department's mission centers on public safety and on providing legal representation and advice to executive-branch agencies. "As a department, we have an overarching mission that involves public safety, and then also, providing high quality legal representation to executive branch agencies for the benefit of all Alaskans," Mills said.

Why it matters: much of the Civil Division's work is billed to other agencies (interagency receipts), while the undesignated general fund pays for matters the state cannot bill to a client agency'notably statehood defense and child-protection appeals. Mills told the committee the "blue" portion of the budget (undesignated general fund) is the focus of the subcommittee's review because that is the money the Legislature controls directly.

Key figures and program details
- Collections and recoveries: Mills said the Civil Division's aggregate collections and recoveries totaled about $4,343,000,000 in the most recent year. "There are different ways in which we collect revenues for the state," he said.
- Tax mitigation: Mills highlighted roughly $90,000,000 in oil-and-gas tax mitigation that the department said kept funds with the state after appeals and administrative review. He described mitigation as the difference between what assessors initially determined was owed and the amount ultimately upheld after contest. "This amount just represents what the assessor determined was owed and was paid ... and we successfully got to the point where the court or the administrative officer said, no. The state is correct on that amount," Mills said.
- Consumer protection and opioid settlements: Mills said the consumer protection unit has returned funds to Alaskans and that opioid-related settlements will total about $100,000,000 over 10'20 years; one opioid case remains at the Alaska Supreme Court.

Staffing and structure
Mills described recent reorganization and leadership changes intended to reduce managerial strain and improve responsiveness (for example, new section leads such as Susan Sonneborn and Steven Bookman). He said the civil division was split into smaller units to improve decision-making and training.

Statehood defense and litigation posture
Mills framed statehood-defense work as rooted in Article 8 of the Alaska Constitution and as central to defending state resource-management authority in federal rulemakings and litigation. He described recent navigability successes and said some federal processes (for example, recordable disclaimers of interest) may finalize decisions soon. Mills warned that without replenished funds the state may be unable to participate in future rulemaking or litigation the Legislature expects the state to pursue.

Funding status and request
When asked for a current balance, Mills said approximately $235,000 remained available for statehood defense and that the department is requesting a $1,000,000 supplemental spread over three years to be able to continue active participation in litigation and administrative matters.

What the committee asked
Committee members pressed for historical context on mitigation totals, clarification about what the $90 million figure represented, and how much of the department's work can reasonably be done in-house versus using outside counsel (Mills estimated outside counsel typically costs at least double and often triple per hour, though outside counsel can be efficient when they bring unique expertise).

Next steps
Mills said he would provide more historical mitigation data and follow up on attorney-client/work product limits to what data the department can share. The subcommittee scheduled a follow-up meeting for Feb. 16 to hear the Criminal Division presentation on FY27. The meeting adjourned at 1:06 p.m.