HB 2236 -- Private Attorney Retention Act

Sponsor:  Cox

This bill establishes the Private Attorney Retention Act which
specifies the procedures a state agency or state agent must
follow when retaining a lawyer or law firm to perform legal
services on behalf of the state if the anticipated fees and
expenses for the services will exceed or can be reasonably
expected to exceed $100,000.  In its main provisions, the bill:

(1)  Prohibits any state agency or agent from retaining a lawyer
or law firm until an open and competitive bidding process has
been undertaken;

(2)  Prohibits a state agency or agent from entering into a
contract for the legal services without the opportunity for
legislative review of the terms of the contract;

(3)  Requires a state agency or agent to file a copy of a
proposed contract with the Chief Clerk of the House of
Representatives and provide a written statement that identifies:

(a)  The reasons for retaining private counsel and the
consideration of alternatives;

(b)  The open and competitive bidding process undertaken for the
proposed legal services;

(c)  The reasons for the selection of the lawyer or law firm that
is the proposed contracting party;

(d)  The past or present relationship, if any, between the
lawyer, law firm, or any partner or other principal in the law
firm and the state agency or agent of the proposed contract; and

(e)  The reasons a contingent fee arrangement is believed to be
in the state's interest if the contract includes a provision for
fees contingent on the outcome of the legal proceedings and any
efforts made to obtain private counsel on a noncontingent fee
basis;

(4)  Requires the chief clerk, with the approval of the President
of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives, to
promptly refer any proposed contract and written statement to the
appropriate committee for review;

(5)  Specifies that within 45 days after the filing of the
proposed contract the committee may hold a public hearing on the
contract and must issue a report with any recommended changes to
the referring state agency or agent whether or not a public
hearing is held;

(6)  Allows the state agency or agent to enter into a proposed
contract if the committee recommends no changes to the contract
within 45 days of the initial filing with the chief clerk;

(7)  Specifies that, if the committee's report recommends changes
to the proposed contract, the state agency or agent is required
to review the report, prepare a revised contract as deemed
appropriate, and file a copy of the revised contract with the
chief clerk;

(8)  Specifies that, if a revised contract does not contain all
the changes recommended by the committee, the state agency or
agent is required to include with the revised contract a letter
stating why the recommended changes were not adopted and requires
the chief clerk to refer the letter and revised contract to the
committee;

(9)  Allows the committee to hold additional hearings and issue
additional reports if a revised contract does not contain all the
changes recommended by the committee and allows the state agency
or agent to enter into the revised contract not earlier than 45
days after the filing of the letter and revised contract with the
chief clerk;

(10)  Requires the proposed contract and written statement to be
filed with the Governor and the chief clerk if the legislature is
not in session.  The Governor must establish an interim committee
to act as the reviewing committee consisting of five legislators,
one appointed by the Governor, Speaker of the House of
Representatives, President Pro Tem of the Senate, Minority Leader
of the House of Representatives, and Minority Leader of the
Senate;

(11)  Specifies that the Governor must establish a committee
consisting of the same five legislator appointments as the
interim committee to consult with the state agency or agent to
establish an expedited schedule for review if the state agency or
agent states that time exigencies require counsel retention prior
to the time periods specified for review;

(12)  Requires outside counsel retained by the state on a
contingent fee basis to provide to the state, at the conclusion
of the legal proceedings, a statement of the hours worked on the
case, expenses incurred, the aggregate fee amount, and a
breakdown as to the hourly rate based on the hours worked divided
into the fee recovered, less expenses; and

(13)  Prohibits the state from incurring fees and expenses in
excess of $250 per hour for legal services and requires any
proposed contract with an hourly rate of more than $250 per hour
to reduce the fee amount to $250 per hour.

Missouri House of Representatives
95th General Assembly, 2nd Regular Session
Last Updated September 14, 2010 at 3:13 pm