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No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.
SB 772 would add a new section to Chapter 775 (Emergency
Services Districts) of the Health and Safety Code. Specifically, this
legislation would allow an emergency services district (ESD) in Tarrant County
to employ or contract with private legal counsel. If the ESD does not employ or contract with
private legal counsel then the county attorney, district attorney (DA), or
criminal DA would have to represent it.
If the DA or county attorney already represents the ESD, the
ESD would be allowed to employ or contract with additional representation from
private legal counsel.
Lastly, this legislation and ESD must reimburse the county
for services provided by a DA or county attorney.
This legislation aims at ensuring Tarrant County ESDs are able
to obtain legal counsel. This is good for two reasons: first this would
alleviate the sometimes burdensome workload of a DA or county attorney by
allowing ESDs to obtain private legal counsel instead. Secondly, and most
importantly, this would allow ESDs to acquire effective legal representation,
which is critical in this litigious society we now live in.
We support SB 772 because it is in accordance with the
proper role of government to be able to provide itself legal representation so
that it may potentially reduce the burden on the tax payers to pay significant
rewards arising from a lawsuit.