The Texas Office of the Attorney General hinted on Tuesday that it’s unlikely Ken Paxton will have to pay out-of-pocket for a $3.3 million settlement.

This could mean taxpayers would have to pay the millions of dollars on his behalf.

“Under the [Texas] Whistleblower Act, the agency, the Office of the Attorney General, is the proper defendant,” Chris Hilton, chief of the agency’s general litigation division, told lawmakers. “Because the agency is a defendant, that money needs to be specifically appropriated by the Legislature.”

The multimillion-dollar settlement stems from a 2020 lawsuit brought under the Texas Whistleblower Act. Four of Paxton’s top deputies accused him of using his office to provide political favors for political donors and one of his friends.

Under the recent settlement agreement, Paxton did not admit any wrongdoing. Instead, his attorneys said “Paxton accepts that plaintiffs acted in a manner that they thought was right and apologizes for referring to them as ‘rogue employees.'”

In a House Appropriations Committee hearing Tuesday, Chair Rep. Mary González, D-Clint, asked what would happen if the Legislature decides to not appropriate the funds for the settlement. Hilton responded that the settlement is “in the best interest of the state.”

“The agreement itself is contingent on legislative funding,” he said. “It's a settlement that we made in order to save money for the state of Texas — It was the prudent thing to do to minimize litigation risk.”

Hilton...

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