AUSTIN – A fight is brewing over whether the GOP-led Legislature will fund a $3.3 million settlement that Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office struck with a group of whistleblowers.
Last week, Paxton’s agency agreed to pay the money to four former top aides who alleged in a lawsuit that they faced retaliation after accusing Paxton of serious crimes.
But the deal is now facing pushback from some lawmakers, most notably House Speaker Dade Phelan, who said it’s “not a proper use of taxpayer dollars.”
“I don’t anticipate that $3.3 million being in the House budget,” Phelan, R-Beaumont, told CBS DFW this week. “Mr. Paxton is going to have to come to the Texas House. He’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.”
If the Legislature refuses to fund the settlement, the litigation that began in late 2020 will likely continue.
Phelan is the highest ranking state official to weigh in on the matter. Other GOP House members have voiced uncertainty about paying the settlement, saying they want more information. Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, both Republicans, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On Friday, lawyers for the whistleblowers urged lawmakers to fund the agreement and said doing otherwise would send a bad message. In the written statement, they said their clients “courageously reported what they believed to be corruption,” and as a result “were...
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