Jepsen

threatened to defund. If the issue is simply money, however, that is a function of the Congress.

On enforcement of immigration law, Jepsen said that is federal jurisdiction.

The attorney general praised his staff for bringing in more money, by winning suits, than it costs to run the office.

Jepsen said they have suffered fewer staff cuts because the office can demonstrate the value of using in-house attorneys in major cases.

The suit against the Royal Bank of Scotland’s underwriting of mortgage backed securities before the 2008 financial crisis brought $120 million to the state; the attorney general’s office, with 197 attorneys, costs some $31 million a year.

Because they were among the lead attorneys in the suit against Moody’s Investors Services, Connecticut got a 25 percent cut — more than $30 million — in its settlement.

Jepsen said they deal with 1,000 suits a year and by putting enough staff to thorougly review them, they save in settlements. In fully reviewing some 2,000 contracts a year, he said they frequently catch errors that save other departments money.

Jepsen said they have more female hires than male, and have been able to attract staff from top firms. He said if there always was a threat of layoffs, that wouldn’t be the case.

State employees are expected to go through another round of layoffs as Connecticut faces a $1.3 billion deficit.