Katie Castellani
State House News Service

Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell says her office has warded off federal threats to billions of dollars in funding for Massachusetts, and she's asking for more state support given the battles ahead.

Gov. Maura Healey’s annual budget proposal includes $86.5 million for Campbell’s office, up from about $83 million she was allocated in fiscal year 2026. As budget deliberations shift next to the House, Campbell told budget writers she needs $2.7 million more than was proposed by Healey, herself a former attorney general.

“We need every penny,” Campbell told the Joint Ways and Means Committee during its first hearing on Healey’s latest budget on Feb. 11. 

The funds would allow Campbell to hire 17 employees to support her office’s seemingly constant legal battles with the Trump administration, she said. 

“When I sat before you last year, I stated that the chaos from the federal administration would likely be our new normal, but what we have seen in the past year is worse than chaos. It is a total disregard for facts, processes and the rule of law,” Campbell said. “In this national climate, a strong [state attorney general’s] office is required to hold the federal administration accountable and to protect our state from abuses of power.”

Campbell said her office has filed 47 suits against the Trump administration that have protected $3.14 billion out of a total $3.3 billion threatened by the federal government. Some staff have been specifically assigned to these federal legal battles, mainly because the cases have been cropping up so fast. These employees have also been assigned to consumer protection work when they see a lull in federal legal challenges.

“We’re trying to expand human capital,” Campbell said. “It's almost twofold: The federal government's coming after us, we're fighting back."

Campbell touted funds her office has protected and returned to state coffers, including more than $210 million set to return the General Fund.

She referenced a suit her office won last January against three UnitedHealth subsidiaries over their misleading marketing. The ruling resulted in $50 million going to consumers and a record $115 million in civil penalties awarded to the state, she said. 

“The bottom line is that we deliver real value to the Commonwealth, to our constituents, to your residents, and of course, the reputation of our state, nationally and internationally,” Campbell said.

Campbell suggested two pieces of legislation should be included in the budget’s outside sections. One bill (S 1132 / H 1965) from Sen. Patricia Jehlen and Reps. Jeffrey Roy and Christopher Worrell creates an administrative claims process in Campbell’s office and allows wrongfully convicted people to receive compensation through a “faster and more equitable process,” she said. Those eligible for compensation could receive $15,000 upon release, $115,000 per year of incarceration as well as access to social service advocates and state benefits programs. The House version of the bill is sitting in the Judiciary Committee. The same committee voted 6-0 in favor of the Senate bill in July and referred it to the Ways and Means Committee.

The second is a petition (HD 5329 / SD 3375) Campbell introduced along with Rep. David Rogers and Sen. William Brownsberger that would ban anti-competitive conduct and add fines for those who violate the Massachusetts Antitrust Act. Campbell noted this legislation is crucial now because the federal government is “absolutely backing away” from corporate accountability. Both petitions are in front of the Judiciary Committee.

House Ways and Means chair Aaron Michelwitz, who is leading the effort to redraft Healey's budget for debate in April, praised Campbell’s work during the “unprecedented nature” of the past few years.