Chief Justice asks Senate Finance for $45 million now, says statewide court IT overhaul could top $100 million

Chief Justice John Kittredge told the South Carolina Senate Finance Committee that the judicial branch is requesting $45,000,000 in nonrecurring funds to begin modernizing the statewide trial court case management system and asked legislators to consider a larger program that could top $100,000,000.

Kittredge told senators that the branch already has roughly $25,000,000 remaining from a prior $28,000,000 appropriation, and that his team identified nearly $35,000,000 in discretionary carryforward funds they could reallocate, but that the branch would still need additional nonrecurring money to reach a workable minimum. “I respectfully request from this committee that you allow me the opportunity to begin in earnest with a request for $45,000,000 in nonrecurring funds,” Kittredge said.

The $45 million request is intended to restart a statewide trial-court case management modernization project that Kittredge described as necessary to provide complete, accurate information about hearings, workloads and court schedules across municipal, probate, magistrate, family and circuit courts. He told the committee the branch lacks comprehensive data on matters such as probation revocations, juvenile hearings and Department of Social Services (DSS) hearings and said that incomplete records make it difficult to allocate judges, staff and courtroom…