Contracts for legal services – 4/20/11

Q: Rhode Island is considering a solicitation for legal counsel assistance. Do other state tobacco programs have access to in-house counsel, or are legal services contracted outside of their departments/agencies? If your state tobacco program has worked with a contractor for legal services, please share any suggestions you have regarding selecting and hiring a contractor, as well as any relevant sample documents and/or contract language.

A:

1. Alabama: The Alabama Department of Public Health has its own legal division, and has not had to contract for legal services.
    
2. California: California uses in-house counsel for legal assistance, and also contracts with Public Health Law and Policy/Technical Assistance Legal Center to provide legal/policy technical assistance and training to funded projects. Click here to view the most recent procurement released by the California Tobacco Control Program for its technical assistance legal center.
    
3. Iowa: In Iowa, all legal issues for the Department of Public Health are handled by the Attorney General's office.
    
4. Massachusetts: The Massachusetts Tobacco Cessation and Prevention Program funds programs that provide technical assistance to local municipalities working on policy.
    
   Editor’s note: Massachusetts’ procurement document is available from the TCN upon request*.
    
5. Michigan: Michigan has both an internal legal advisor team at the Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH) as well as a long-standing contract with the smoke-free environment legal project (SFELP).
    
   The internal legal team has been of great assistance in interpreting the statewide smoke-free air law, preparing for and implementing/enforcing the law. The internal team also has worked closely with the state attorney general's office defending the law in court.
    
   SFELP has worked with the state tobacco program for a number of years providing legal information and consultation on developing and defending local smoke-free ordinances/regulations. SFELP is also currently focusing on promoting smoke-free multi-unit housing and smoke-free HUD policies. At the time that MDCH envisioned the need for a legal project, SFELP was selected based on sole source contract since there were no other entities in Michigan that had this capacity. Click to visit the SFELP website. An example of the tobacco control program’s contract work plan for SFELP is available from Michigan upon request*.
    
6. New Jersey: The State of New Jersey contracts with Global Advisors on Smokefree Policy (GASP) for technical assistance.
    
7. New York: The New York Tobacco Control Program (NY TCP) has not procured for legal services; however, state had a procurement for a policy center. The procurement can be viewed here.
    
   As a result of this procurement, the NY TCP has a contract with New England Law. More information about the Center for Public Health and Tobacco Policy is at this link.
    
   The tobacco control program was specifically prohibited from procuring for counsel outside of the Department of Health. The NY TCP does have access to in-house counsel but not specifically dedicated to the TCP (and not with tobacco expertise).
    
8. North Dakota: As a state agency, North Dakota’s tobacco control program works with in-house legal counsel through the North Dakota Attorney General’s Office.
    
9. Washington: The Washington State Tobacco Prevention and Control Program does not have a contract per se with our Attorney General’s office, but money comes out of an account automatically so they can handle any legal needs that surface. There is an assistant AG assigned to our agency, as with other agencies.

*Please contact tcn@astho.org to submit a request for materials.

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