Contact:
PO Box 40108
Olympia, WA 98504-0108
E-mail
The Government Operations Division is comprised of 16 attorneys and 8 professional staff. The division handles the litigation for, and provides legal advice to over 40 state agencies, boards, commissions, and elected officials. These clients include the departments of General Administration, Retirement Systems, Printing, Military and Emergency Management, Information Services, and Personnel; Washington State Senate and House of Representatives; Convention Center; State Treasurer; State Investment Board, Public Employment Relations Commission, State Actuary, Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council; Office of Financial Management; certain divisions and programs of the Office of Secretary of State; several bond issuance finance authorities; and other departments that provide services to government agencies or employees. In addition, the division provides representation to numerous boards and commissions including the Public Works Board, Arts Commission, Historical Society, Interagency Committee for Outdoor Recreation, Board of Industrial Insurance Appeals, and the commissions on African American, Asian Pacific American and Hispanic Affairs.
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The division provides a wide range of legal services to its clients, including defense of multi-million dollar class-action lawsuits, construction litigation, advice on complex real estate transactions, public pensions, financing and bonding issues, state investments, anti-terrorism efforts, and emergency management as well as work on federal tax issues. In addition, the members of the division provide client advice and handle litigation on a myriad of other issues such as contracts, computer hardware acquisition, software licensing, the siting of major energy facilities, the purchase of goods and services for government agencies, labor law, employee benefits, state employment, and National Guard matters. Most attorneys in this division are recognized experts in a variety of subjects and are consulted by other AGO divisions on contract law issues, real estate matters, construction claims, public works, prevailing wage, e-commerce, state budget and finance issues, and public pensions for state and local government employees.
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The year 2007 continued to be a busy year for the division. An increased workload associated with Homeland Security and emergency preparedness issues continues as a result of threats to state and national security and natural disasters such as flooding, hurricanes and the like. The volume of work relating to debt financing for the State Finance Committee and the Office of the State Treasurer has continued to be steady. Similarly, the volume and complexity of investment issues and agreements we review for the State Investment Board continues to grow due to a variety of factors including increases in private equity investments, continuation of favorable market conditions, heightened scrutiny resulting from corporate scandals, divestment issues arising from international social and economic factors, proxy voting, and other corporate governance issues. Legal work associated with the permitting of proposed energy facilities (wind power projects and a coal gasification plant) is also increasing. The Department of Retirement Systems is currently involved in several class action lawsuits. There are also 3 new buildings being funded on the capitol campus, resulting in financing and public works issues.
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Public Pension Litigation: Attorneys for the Department of Retirement Systems (DRS) are defending several challenges to the 2007 Legislature's repeal of gain-sharing. These lawsuits are currently filed as class actions and affect members in PERS (Public Employees' Retirement System) and TRS (Teachers' Retirement System) 1 and 3 plans, and SERS (School Employees' Retirement System) 3 plan. Divsion attorneys are also working with DRS to prepare for the 2008 IRS review of Washington's public pension systems, a review which is federally mandated for all states' and local governments' pension plans.
Anti-Terrorism/Emergency Preparedness: Attorneys in the division continue to coordinate with other members of the AGO in providing uniform advice on disaster planning, National Guard deployment, and the state’s response to potential terrorist activity and natural disasters such as floods and hurricanes. As nationwide efforts on Homeland Security develop, division attorneys are working on a broad variety of security and preparedness response issues.
State Finance Activities: The Treasurer’s Office has continued to work on refinancing significant portions of the state’s general obligation debt to take advantage of relatively low interest rates. Attorneys expect to work with a wide variety of financing questions over the next several years as the state explores options for handling budget and revenue issues.
State Investment Board: There continues to be a steady pace of large private equity and real estate investments which involve complex document drafting and review. The SIB has also been working on developing policies for proxy voting, policies to address concerns about corporate scandals and issues concerninig investments in companies that do business with terrorist sponsoring states. Attorneys in this division continue to work with the board to monitor class actions involving securities, and work closely with outside class counsel on WorldCom and Enron litigation.
Energy Facility Siting: The Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council (EFSEC) is working on several permits to locate new power facilities in the state, including wind farms and a coal gasification plant. Attorneys in this division advise the council and assist with permit decisions. With the new state law mandating electric utlities to have certain levels of renewable energy resources, EFSEC anticipates receiving additional applications for alternative energy facilities.
Board of Industrial Insurance Appeals: Attorneys in this division are defending several actions that allege a right to interpreter services at state expense for meetings with attorneys, doctor visits, interviews with other witnesses and the like which are not part of the administrative hearing process. These lawsuits are brought on behalf of the claimants who do not speak English.
Public Works Projects: The 2007 Legislature appropriated funds or authorized alternative financing for 3 new buildings on the Capitol Campus. Division attorneys will be advising on financing, bidding and construction issues as these buildings are planned, financed and built.
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