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Nebraska Supreme Court warns budget shortfall could close problem‑solving courts and cut juvenile services
Summary
Chief Justice Jeffrey Funk told the Appropriations Committee that the judicial branch faces a projected general‑fund deficit and exhausted cash reserves in the next biennium, and outlined specific funding requests and potential program cuts if the Legislature does not act.
Chief Justice Jeffrey Funk told the Nebraska Legislature’s Appropriations Committee on the record that the judicial branch will exhaust key funds in the next biennium and needs targeted appropriations to avoid program reductions.
Funk said the Supreme Court requested specific general‑fund amounts in its biennial budget submission, including $5,400,000 for fiscal 2026 and $11,100,000 for fiscal 2027 to cover cost‑of‑living salary and health insurance increases; roughly $8,100,000 per year to sustain initiatives approved in earlier legislation; about $1.4 million per year to continue an IT migration; $600,000 per year to sustain recently increased contracted interpreter rates; and approximately $4.6 million in fiscal 2026 and $4.4 million in fiscal 2027 to implement the veterans justice program enacted in 2024.
“The requests are necessary to keep the constitutional and statutory functions of the judicial branch operating,” Funk said in his opening remarks to the committee.
Why it matters: Funk presented multi‑year projections that show the judicial branch ending fiscal 2025 with no unobligated general funds and drawing on cash…
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