H97 - 2015 Appropriations Act, Sec. 29.8: Department of Transportation/Outside Counsel (SL 2015-241)

Overview: Sec. 29.8 of S.L. 2015-241 expands the authority of the Department of Transportation (DOT) to engage the services of private outside counsel. DOT may obtain private outside counsel to provide legal services related to any project undertaken by the Department, and, except for legal services related to workers' compensation claims brought by DOT employees, must not be required to obtain written permission or approval from the Attorney General. DOT must develop performance metrics to evaluate its utilization of in-house and private outside counsel, and provide a semiannual report to the Joint Legislative Transportation Oversight Committee and the Joint Legislative Justice and Public Safety Oversight Committee on those performance metrics.

This section became effective July 1, 2015.