Focus of contingency bill narrowed to oil spill
By SONIA SMITH
The Associated Press
A House committee substantially reworked a bill Monday that would allow the state attorney general to contract outside lawyers who would collect a percentage of damages awarded but limited the proposal only to cases related to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
The measure, passed by the committee without objection, now heads to the full House.
The version passed by the Senate last week was more open-ended, giving Attorney General Buddy Caldwell the authority to use contingency contracts to hire outside counsel in a large range of cases.
