Attorney General Lynn Fitch delivered the following testimony during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the Judiciary and Public Safety hearing where she discussed the Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Request for the Attorney General’s Office. Excerpts of Attorney GeneralFitch's remarks are below as delivered. Her full testimony as delivered can befound here and a one-pager can be found here.
On the Budget Request Decrease:
"As you know, we have requested an overall decrease in funding for this yearof nearly one million dollars. We take our responsibility to be prudentstewards of the taxpaying public’s dollars as seriously as we take ourresponsibilities for upholding law and order, defending the State’s laws andConstitution, and securing justice for criminal acts."
"In reviewing our mission, programs, and staffing requirements, we believewe can achieve our goals, with an overall budget that is $902,532 smallerthan our Fiscal Year 2025 budget."
On the Attorney General Office's Role:
"We work in both civil and criminal matters, in both state and federal courts.We also provide legal counsel for agencies, boards, and commissions,including in the administrative process."
"By Constitution, statute, and common law, the AGO is charged withmanaging all litigation on behalf of Mississippi. When an agency or official issued in an official capacity, it is an action against the State - An action againstthe people of Mississippi and against how the people’s government has chosento act, in law or otherwise.""It is the duty of this office to represent the State and the State’s interests.At any given time, the Civil Litigation Division has more than 300 activecases. With the addition of our Solicitor General’s shop in 2020, we were ableto add a small team with a specialized practice in appellate law."
"Together, these two divisions include no more than 16 attorneys.
And we tout a 96 percent success rate in cases closed in favor of the State.""For example: we have successfully defended the new 340b prescription druglaw you passed last session against 4 separate challenges – all brought bysome of the best-funded pharmaceutical companies in the world. Allrepresented by some of the largest and most powerful law firms in thecountry.""As a result of our victories in court, that law went into effect as you planned,And Mississippi’s hospitals and the people they serve – particularly the peoplewho live in rural and hard-to-reach communities – can access life-savingmedicines at more affordable prices."
"As expected, the companies appealed, and our Solicitor General will defendthese laws at the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals next month."
On Children's Justice:
"Our new Children’s Justice Division has been an active partner with the ChildProtection Services, as well."
"This team of 18 attorneys and paralegals cleared nearly 600 – 596 childrenin foster care – for adoption in 2024. We asked you for additional attorneypositions for this important work, and we appreciate your giving us thatsupport.""We look forward to working with Commissioner Sanders and with theLegislature to continue to streamline the pathway that children walk fromfoster care to forever homes."
On Consumer Protection:
"Our Consumer Protection Division proactively enforces the State’s consumerprotection and antitrust laws. This division is at the forefront of taking on BigTech and Big Pharma as well, which too often put profits over people.""I noted above the work our office has done to protect 340b prescription drugaccess for Mississippians. In an almost corollary case, Mississippi started anational movement of states taking on the PBMs and manufacturers who reapastronomical profits for insulin – A drug that nearly 350,000 Mississippiansneed to live."
"The work of this division has also been at the forefront of efforts to hold socialmedia platforms responsible for the harms they do to our children.""Again, in an effort that works hand-in-hand with what this Legislature hasdone with the Walker Montgomery Protecting Children Online Act.""We have taken Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok to court in an effort to forcethese companies to do what any responsible corporate citizen would –Not turn a blind eye to the harms they knowingly inflict on the physical safetyand mental health of our children.""Of course, our consumer protection team has also taken on the work yougave us exclusively in 2023 to enforce our telemarketing laws. And in 2024,we investigated 1,943 complaints about illegal robocalls and robotexts."
On Criminal Justice:
"It is the Attorney General’s Office that takes all felony appeals, whether fromour prosecutions or from any of the State’s 23 District Attorneys. Theseinclude all death penalty cases, including habeas proceedings.""And in this past year, that meant nearly 600 appellate filings, includingseveral at the Supreme Court of the United States. Our prosecutors cover a wide variety of cases, including Medicaid provider fraud, abuse, neglect, andexploitation of vulnerable adults, child exploitation online, human trafficking,public corruption, and election integrity.""Beginning in July 2022, the Legislature gave the responsibility of reviewingand prosecuting all Officer Involved Shootings throughout the State to theAttorney General’s Office. There have been 82 such instances.""We have closed 40 of those cases, including most notably the Rankin 6 case,which resulted in jail sentences for five Rankin County Sheriff’s Office and oneRichland Police Department law enforcement officers."
"And, as noted earlier, we will soon be prosecuting cases in the new CCIDCourt, when it opens.""We don’t just prosecute crimes. The Attorney General’s Office investigatescrime, too. Our investigators field thousands of criminal complaints eachyear:
2,818 complaints came into our Medicaid Fraud Control Unit;6,306 tips came to our Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force,and that is an increase of 1,000 over what the National Center forMissing and Exploited Children referred to us a year before;5,658 complaints were received and investigated by our Public IntegrityDivision, and that represents a wide variety of crimes from electionintegrity to human trafficking to fraud.And more than 14,000 consumer complaints were handled by a combinationof law enforcement personnel and trained consumer mediators."On Working with Local Law Enforcement:"We have also established a number of task forces, through which we trainlocal law enforcement, work operations collaboratively, and multiply our lawenforcement impact for all of Mississippi.""In addition to the State’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, whichincludes 80 law enforcement agencies across Mississippi, our Cyber CrimeDivision runs the State’s Cyber Fraud Task Force, which was established in2021 through a cooperative effort with the U.S. Secret Service."
"When we established our Task Force, we became part of a network of 40domestic and international cyber operations. In 2024, our Cyber Fraud TaskForce was instrumental in the financial recovery of more than $2.5 million forMississippi victims.""In 2023, we established the Fentanyl Strike Force.
Over 400 law enforcementofficers have been trained to fight the fentanyl epidemic as part of theFentanyl Strike Force.""And our fourth task force is our Human Trafficking Task Force. To date, wehave certified 516 law enforcement officers, conducted 56 multi-jurisdictionaloperations, made 86 arrests, and recovered 331 victims – including 21minors.""The Attorney General’s Office also trains prosecutors, law enforcement,judges, and other partners in criminal justice. Last year, we conducted 141trainings, which accounted for 154 training days, and 5,797 partners trained."
On the Victims of Human Trafficking and Commercial Sexual Exploitation Fund:
"We administer the Victims of Human Trafficking and Commercial SexualExploitation Fund created by the Legislature in 2020.""In just the first two years, we distributed more than $4.6 million in this funding. We will soon administer the third year of grants to shelters and otherservice providers across the State."
"Through this funding, for example, we have established new shelters forhuman trafficking victims – including the first shelters for child victims.We are grateful to be your partners in helping Mississippi’s victims of crimebecome survivors who can rebuild their lives without shame or blame.""You will note that this year’s budget request includes another appropriationsrequest for a fourth year of victim service provider grants."
"However, because our outreach to courts and prosecutors has been sosuccessful, we currently have about one million in the Fund and so we haveasked for less money from the General Fund in FY 2026, but with theexpectation that we will be able to distribute the same amount of funds in thatyear."
On the Passage of MAMA:
"The Mississippi Access to Maternal Assistance program is one of Mississippi’sgreat successes in meeting the needs of women and families in recent years,and the Attorney General’s Office is proud to manage it for the State."
"With no State appropriation, we launched the website in October 2023, andwe have had more than 56,000 visits to the site. We have added more than400 public, private, and faith-based resources to MAMA.""We appreciate your providing us with most of our requested funding lastyear. That funding will help us to reach the women and families that MAMA ismeant to help. We did include the additional $50,000 in this year’s budgetrequest, which we still think necessary to help MAMA live up to the promise itoffers vulnerable women and families in Mississippi."
Original source cna be found here.