Nevada Supreme Court seeks funding to restore merit pay, training and cloud separation

Chief Justice Douglas Herndon told the Legislative Commission's budget subcommittee that the Nevada Supreme Court is asking lawmakers to restore merit salary increases, finish several large one‑time technology projects and fund staff and training to sustain recent modernization gains.

The court presented a high‑level biennial budget request that includes an adjusted base of about $197 million in total funding, requests to restore roughly $6.7 million in personnel funding to reinstate merit increases, 10 new full‑time positions tied to converting ARPA‑funded contractors, funding for a statewide continuous learning plan and one‑shot funds to complete case management and e‑filing projects.

The Chief Justice said the legislature's actions during the 82nd session — COLA increases and the move to a lump‑sum budget separate from administrative assessment revenue — significantly improved recruitment and retention. “You funded judicial independence, and I cannot repeat or overstate that enough,” Herndon said, adding that payroll and accounting separation helped the branch build independent, paperless processes.

Court administrator Catherine Stocks and CFO Todd Meyler outlined staffing and technology priorities. Stocks said accounting and payroll separated on July 1, 2023, and reported a 99.7% payroll accuracy after moving to ADP. She requested $716,694 for a continuous learning plan to deliver hybrid and on‑demand training for judges and staff and described a $245,000 net request to separate certain internet and cloud services from the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) to reduce outages in rural trial courts.

Meyler said the court will continue several one‑shot requests begun with American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding — statewide case management, statewide e‑file and the Supreme Court case management system — with additional one‑shot asks to bridge the projects until ARPA funds expire on Dec. 31, 2026. He said an audiovisual upgrade, equipment replacement and a multijurisdictional system upgrade (Magyegis) are included as one‑time items to avoid repeated biennial requests.

Committee members asked about ongoing license and maintenance costs, the period during which merit increases were frozen (FY24 and FY25), and how federal grants that support programs such as the court improvement program could affect operations if federal funding changes. Stocks said the court will provide breakdowns of federal grant exposure and stand ready to meet with members during session on report details.

The presentation emphasized restoring merit pay and training to maintain staffing gains, finishing ARPA‑funded IT projects, and moving some IT and internet services outside OCIO oversight to improve reliability in rural courts.

The court did not bring any formal motions for the subcommittee; the session was a budget presentation and Q&A.