Committee weighs requiring counties' capital plans and reserve‑fund status in courthouse funding reviews

During an April meeting, the House Corrections and Institutions Committee discussed proposed language to require the state court administrator to consider a county's capital plan and the status of its capital reserve fund when evaluating requests for state capital funding for county‑owned courthouses.

The proposed change would add two criteria to the list the court administrator already uses when reviewing county requests: whether the request is consistent with the county's capital plan, and the status of the county's capital reserve fund, including whether the county has made "sufficient annual contributions" to that fund. Eric Fitzpatrick of the Office of Legislative Counsel summarized the change as "to add 2 more in that list." He noted the amendment could be offered as part of S.109, a miscellaneous judiciary procedures bill then pending in House Judiciary.

The committee and witnesses described the existing statutory process: a county that seeks state capital funds for a courthouse must submit a request annually on or before Oct. 1; the court administrator applies a specified list of statutory criteria, makes a recommendation to the Buildings and General Services commissioner, and advises the legislative judiciary committees of incoming requests. As Fitzpatrick described the current criteria, the court…