A bill that limits attorneys' fees for private lawyers hired by the attorney general's office will pay a return visit to Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin's desk.
Tomblin vetoed the legislation (HB 4007) last month, saying the bill gave too much power to the attorney general.
In response, Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, who requested the bill, took to Facebook and Twitter, urging state lawmakers to override Tomblin's veto.
Instead, the House and Senate voted to adopt Tomblin's suggested changes Thursday and sent the bill back the governor for his signature. Tomblin is expected to sign the amended legislation.
The bill - which mirrors parts of an "outside counsel policy" adopted by Morrisey's office in 2013 - establishes payment rates for outside lawyers hired by the attorney general. Under the bill, outside lawyers would get paid attorneys' fees up to 25 percent on lawsuit settlements of $10 million or less. Larger settlements limit attorneys' fees to an even lower percentage on a sliding scale.
In his veto message, Tomblin said he supported the limits on attorneys' fees, but the governor asserted that other parts of the bill would shift power to the attorney general's office and away from other state agencies.
Tomblin argued that outside lawyers "serve at the will and pleasure of their client state offices and agencies, not the attorney general," according to his Feb. 17 veto.
The revised bill clarifies that it's not intended to affect whether state agencies or the attorney general control lawsuits filed by the state, while the attorney general's office has the authority to supervise lawyers hired by his office to represent the agencies.
"The AG, while he manages the case, does work at the direction of the agency client," said Senate Minority Leader Jeff Kessler, D-Marshall.
In his veto, Tomblin also noted that outside lawyers hired by former Attorney General Darrell McGraw haven't agreed to the attorneys' fee limits dictated by the bill.
At Tomblin's request, the House and Senate on Thursday added language to the legislation, stating that the attorney general can't revoke or alter any existing contingency fee contracts with outside lawyers.
A Tomblin spokesman said the governor's office was reviewing the revisions Thursday and had no immediate comment on the changes.
An ongoing state lawsuit against a dozen of the nation's largest prescription drug wholesalers spotlighted some of the governor's concerns with the bill.
Morrisey's office is representing the state Department of Health and Human Resources and the Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety in the lawsuit, which alleges the companies helped fuel West Virginia's opioid problem by shipping excessive numbers of prescription painkillers to the state.
Morrisey inherited the lawsuit from McGraw, who hired the outside lawyers who are representing the state. Morrisey, who lobbied for a trade group that represented the drug wholesalers before he was elected attorney general, has said he recused himself from the case.
Morrisey spokesman Curtis Johnson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the changes to the legislation Thursday.
Like Morrisey's office policy, House Bill 4007 also requires law firms to bid on contracts to represent state agencies or handle lawsuits for Morrisey's office.
Morrisey pushed the bill unsuccessfully last year. During the 2015 legislative session, the state Senate passed the bill 27-7, but it died in the House.
Earlier this year, the corporate-funded American Tort Reform Association released its annual "Judicial Hellholes" report. The report recommended that West Virginia lawmakers enact Morrisey's outside counsel policy as a state law.
Reach Eric Eyre at ericeyre@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4869 or follow @ericeyre on Twitter.