Judiciary committee to send Appropriations memo prioritizing pre‑charge diversion, transport deputies and victim services

Committee members discussed a draft memo to the Appropriations Committee that would present the Judiciary Committee's priorities for supplemental budget requests, with a focus on reducing the court backlog and strengthening victim services.

The committee chair (name not specified) opened by saying the purpose of the memo was to identify “what our priorities are for the budget,” and noted committee liaison Trevor Swirl had provided a list of requests beyond the governor’s recommendation that the committee needed to prioritize.

Members coalesced around three top priorities for the memo: funding pre‑charge diversion programs, adding state transport deputies, and increased support for victims’ services, though they disagreed about the order and whether to fully fund any single item.

Committee debate centered on how to present priorities to Appropriations — the chair proposed ranked 1 through 9, while several members suggested a three‑tier approach (top, middle, bottom) so Appropriations could see which items the Judiciary Committee considered most urgent. The chair said the top two items were the clearest in terms of immediate impact on case movement:…